ã€ŠHarem Rulerã€‹


 Chapter 1: Box to Another World

    Hey there. My names Axel Savoncho. I¡¯m a twenty-three-year-old office worker who was currently taking a break from his job.

    So what was I doing with my spare time, well I¡¯ve just been playing through a bunch of visual novels. However, for me, that¡¯s nothing new. After all, I¡¯ve been playing visual novels for ages now.

    Some of them were good, while others were bad. However, there was always one thing that remained consistent throughout all of them. And that¡¯s no matter how many girls there are, you can only win over a single heroine.

    Whether you choose one girl, one guy, or one something or other, no matter what visual novel you play, it was only possible to choose one.

    The closest thing you can get to having more is by just going through everyone''s routes and collecting all the CGs. But that¡¯s just not the same.

    Now, there are a few games that let you choose more than one, but none of them are that good in terms of their overall story.

    So what type of games am I looking for?

    Why, they¡¯re none other than harem games of course!

    ¡°¡­..¡±

    D-Don¡¯t look at me like that! I¡¯m one hundred percent serious. I¡­I just really like the idea of multiple girls falling for the protagonist and him returning all their feelings. The idea of no one being left out is such an amazing thing that I could talk about it for hours on end.

    Sadly though, as I mentioned, there aren¡¯t too many harem-based games out there that are actually that good.

    Most just make the girls fall for the main character for practically no reason other than he was nice to them.

    There were never any events that caused the girls to fall for the MC. Just compliments were enough for the girls to start blushing and swooning like crazy. Honestly, it makes me kinda sick.

    That¡¯s why I mostly just play visual novels without harem endings.

    They may not have what I want, but at least the writing for each heroine is usually pretty good.

    Right now, I¡¯m playing a visual novel called Medieval Fantasy which is the first part of a multiple-part series.

    The way the story begins is you¡¯re a young boy around the age of sixteen about to go into the High School of Magic and Swordsmanship.

    But when everyone looks at you, they make fun of you and think you¡¯re just some street urchin who snuck into the school despite the fact you''re technically a noble.

    Of course, none of the five heroines nor the sixth secret one see you that way. In fact, they¡¯re the only ones who treat you with respect because of course they do.

    Later on, it¡¯s revealed the MC is actually pretty skilled in both magic and swordsmanship. Because of this, you can go on to choose which one of the six heroines will support you in future endeavors, and that sets things up for the route you play on for the rest of the visual novel.

    As of right now, I¡¯m just about to finish off the sixth and final route in this game. And while the story¡¯s pretty generic, it was still pretty fun.

    Thus, as I clicked my controller one last time, I happily laid down on my back while the credits started to roll.

    Letting out a sigh of relief having finally finished this game.

    In case you couldn¡¯t figure it out, I¡¯m somewhat of a shut-in who only really goes outside to go do his job so he has money to purchase more games.

    Since my mom died when I was six, and both my dad and step-mom died when I was ten, I don¡¯t have any other family except my step-sister who just turned twenty-eight this year. That made her five years older than me.

    Sadly, though, she doesn¡¯t seem to like me very much, probably due to how clingy I was when we were younger but whatever.

    I¡¯m not in any relationships, and I don¡¯t have any real friends other than the people I talk to on the internet.

    My house is just a small apartment and I tend to keep it fairly clean so I don¡¯t piss off the landlord.

    I guess this information really isn¡¯t important though. So it might be best for me to just get some sleep while I let the credits roll.

    In the end, my life as a shut-in will only get more lazy from here.

    ¡°...¡±

    ¡°¡­but what if you could change that?¡±

    Hearing a voice, my eyes immediately shot open and I pushed myself up. Only to find myself in an empty white room.

    ¡°Huh!?! Where am I?! What''s happening!? And why is this light so bright!?! This isn¡¯t something a shut-in should deal with!¡±

    ¡°My. You¡¯re an energetic one aren''t you?¡±

    Looking around the blinding room with a confused look on my face, I struggled to see anything so I put my hand above my head to block out some of the light.

    Sadly, that did absolutely nothing.

    ¡°W-Who are you!? Where am I!?¡±

    I couldn¡¯t explain why, but I felt like when I asked that, the room rolled its eyes.

    ¡°My name is the God of Games. As per the request of a close friend, I¡¯ve been asked to send you into their world where they hope to meet you someday.¡±

    ¡°What the-!? Who the hell would be close friends with a god!? And at that, how do they know about me!?¡±

    I didn¡¯t understand why I blurted out these thoughts, I just couldn¡¯t help but question what this God of Games was saying to me.

    ¡°It doesn¡¯t matter if you understand or not. The fact of the matter is, as of right now, I will be sending you to another world. Though, I won¡¯t be able to use the traditional methods.¡±

    ¡°Traditional methods?¡±

    ¡°Yes. Normally, you¡¯d be reincarnated into a new body, however, this person requested I just refresh your body and send you down with just a few extra gifts intact.¡±

    I found myself confused by the room''s words.

    ¡°So you¡¯re saying I¡¯ll still have my old body?¡±

    As I asked that, I looked down at my body. Thankfully I had a fast metabolism so I was fairly skinny. However, since I struggled with going outside consistently, I didn¡¯t exactly have any meat on my bones. I go out so little that even my blonde hair which used to be pretty short now fell all the way down to the bottom of my neck since I never really bothered to get it cut.

    ¡°Yes. You will. However, someone at your age is unable to enter the world without proper measures. So in order to avoid any trouble, I shall be aging you down so that you can travel without issue.¡±

    ¡°...What?¡±

    Processing whatever that voice said, I looked around with a frustrated expression on my face.

    ¡°Won¡¯t having a younger body make me kinda weak though? Isn¡¯t someone transferring to another world meant to get overpowered abilities?¡±

    After asking that, I could almost swear I heard the room laugh.

    ¡°Sadly for you, if you wish to gain power like that, you must win them with your own abilities. Now then, I have other matters to attend to so I must wrap this up quickly.¡±

    As the god room thing said that, I suddenly felt a sharp pain hit my chest.

    I clenched my fists tightly as I looked around once more.

    ¡°Wait! You haven¡¯t even told me what my gifts are!¡± I shouted.

    The room remained silent for a moment before speaking.

    ¡°You¡¯ll find out in due time. All I can tell you is that I have bestowed upon you three gifts. One should be obvious upon your arrival. The other two¡­well let¡¯s just say they''re a surprise.¡±

    ¡°Wha-! Now hold on a seco-!¡±

    At that moment, it felt like a hole had been shot through my chest.

    I looked down to see my body slowly changing into something completely different. Something¡­younger.

    As my voice started to rise in octave, I let out a scream of terror before the pain finally stopped. And then, after a moment, everything went dark.

    After what felt like an eternity, I finally started to wake up. And for some strange reason, I could hear the sound of wind blowing past me.

    ¡°What the¡­what happened?¡±

    My vision began to clear and I found myself looking at what seemed to be a big empty blue void.

    At least, I think it was a void. Every now and then I¡¯d spot a strange puff of whiteness zoom by so I guess it wasn¡¯t all just a blue void. But I thought that guy was going to send me to another world. Honestly, I would¡¯ve probably rejected the idea if he let me talk. Sadly, he made it clear that it was non-negotiable.

    Well, I called the room a he, but I wasn¡¯t too sure if it was a man or a woman talking to me. There was a bit of a masculine tone to it, but there was also a hint of femininity as well.

    I guess I could keep pondering whatever the heck a room¡¯s gender could be, but something else is bothering me. And that¡¯s why a strange green circle below seemed to be expanding at a rapid rate.

    Not just that, but it also felt like it was getting closer¡­wait a minute!

    Coming to my senses, I realized I wasn¡¯t in a blue void, but the sky! And I was rapidly zooming toward the ground.

    Looking at what I could only imagine as my doom, I watched my doom get closer bit by bit.

    Soon enough, the white puffs started appearing more and more frequently, and before long, It was easy enough to realize that those white puffs were actually clouds.

    This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source.

    Confused about this tun of events, I scratched my head in frustration before opening my mouth.

    ¡°Why the hell am I falling from the sky!?¡± I screamed as the ground below me grew closer.

    ¡°AAAAAHHHH!¡±

    There was nothing to stop it. I had no parachute, and that damn room god thing didn¡¯t teach me any neat tricks either so it looks like I was really going to die. This was so screwed up!

    Six seconds before impact.  I calculated in my mind.

    If I didn¡¯t do something soon, I was going to die.

    Searching spell registry. Current amount available: six. Amount useful: one.

    As that realization dawned on me, I let out a sigh.

    ¡°I guess I don¡¯t have a choice,¡± I muttered.

    Feeling energy flow into my hands, I visualized the spell in my mind.

    ¡°Bring forth the wind and enable its protection! Wind Terrain!¡±

    Pushing my hand downward, a gust of wind began forming from below me, and almost instantly everything began to slow down.

    Relieved, I let out a sigh as I landed gracefully on the ground before collapsing and waiting for my nerves to calm down.

    ¡°Man. If I didn¡¯t activate wind terrain when I did, I would¡¯ve been a goner,¡± I said aloud as I looked out at the blue sky.

    ¡°Huh? Wait a minute.¡±

    Sitting up, I began wondering why the heck I even thought up something like that and what wind terrain even was. Also, how the hell did I know it was six seconds before I¡¯d hit the ground? It was like my brain was put into overdrive and despite not knowing what to do, it all flowed into my mind so naturally.

    Thinking back, I recalled how my thoughts were acting during the event.

    And as I tried to think of a solution, it came to me.

    Answer: a gift from that strange room thing.

    That was most likely the right answer.

    So it appears one of those gifts has heightened my thinking abilities.

    However, there was something strange about it. Like, when I entered that state of mind, my emotions seemed to disappear.

    It was like I had almost no emotion at all. Strange.

    Also, my brain seemed to think almost robotically when it tried to comprehend answers. I guess this is what that room meant when it said I¡¯d know the first gift when I arrived.

    Question: Would it not be best to look around?

    Wow, even my regular thoughts sounded robotic. But yeah, it might be best to look around.

    Getting up onto my feet, I found my gaze turning downward.

    It appears what the room said was true. My body really has reverted back to when I was younger. If I were to estimate, I¡¯d say I was ten years old right now.

    And not only was I younger, but also my hair was shorter and lighter.

    ¡°Whoa.¡±

    Not to mention I sounded a lot younger too. Hopefully, this means I¡¯ll grow up to look similar to my old self.

    As I looked around, I found myself standing in what I thought to be a giant grass field.

    Honestly, it was actually really beautiful.

    But now wasn¡¯t the time to be impressed.

    Getting onto my feet, I walked across the open field for almost an hour while trying to keep an eye out for anything that looked off.

    But even after an extra twenty minutes of searching, I failed to find anything. This field felt completely and utterly empty.

    If I remember correctly, the room called itself the God of Games, and that was the case, did it mean I was in a game of sorts? And if that was the case, what kind of game just has a giant empty grass field?

    Wandering around a bit longer, I started to worry about if I was stuck in this giant empty landscape.

    That is until I finally saw something off in the distance.

    ¡°Is that¡­a house?¡±

    It appeared to be a small wooden house.

    It didn¡¯t look dangerous, still, I tried approaching it cautiously.

    I couldn¡¯t explain why, but the gamer inside me said it was worth checking out.

    Walking up to the door, I knocked on it as loudly as I could. However, no one answered.

    ¡°Maybe no one¡¯s home?¡± I muttered.

    Still a little hesitant, I slowly opened up the door and walked through it.

    Once I was inside, I looked around and while it may have been small, this place looked like it well taken care of.

    Giving myself a quick tour, I saw there was a single bedroom, kitchen, bathroom, and living room. The most basic rooms you¡¯d need to survive on your own.

    However, they appeared to have a medieval-like theme to them. The bathroom was more like an outhouse, and the bed was made of hay so it¡¯s not exactly something I could sleep on with ease. Even the kitchen¡¯s design was pretty primitive.

    Looking through the cabinets, I found some wheat seeds as well as a few loaves of bread.

    Suggestion: It may be best to save that bread for later.

    ¡°Makes sense.¡±

    Dang, this strange ability seems to be working even when I don¡¯t use it intentionally.

    Backing away from the cabinet, I walked into the living room when something caught my attention.

    A single book with a hard blue-colored cover was lying on the couch. And while you may not care, I noticed the couch was also made of hay.

    Picking the book up, I flipped to the front page. Surprisingly, most of the pages were blank. The only pages with any words were the first twelve or so.

    Reading it, my eyes widened as I flipped through page after page.

    Since it would take too long to go over it all, I¡¯ll summarize.

    Basically, the book contained a letter inside it from the God of Games who appeared to have made this place for me to live for a while.

    They even made sure to supply me with the necessary equipment in order to survive.

    After the initial message, the rest of the pages went over a few necessities that I needed in order to keep everything in order, eventually, I reached the final page with words on it.

    At this point, I assume you¡¯ve learned the first gift I gave you. Whether you choose to use it or not is your choice. Well then, I wish you the best of luck. Enjoy your time in this new world of yours.

    With those last lines, I let out a groan. Talk about a carefree god. They didn¡¯t even bother giving me any information on what kind of place I¡¯m in. Only giving me the bare necessities.

    Sighing, I walked out of the house and looked around.

    This place really was strange. Is there even anyone else that lives here? And If I was sent into a game, what kind of game was I sent into?

    Well, no point in reflecting on it now I guess. Time to get focused and try my best to survive out here on my own!

    Pumping my fist in the air, a flow of energy rose up from within me. I¡¯m gonna do it. I¡¯m gonna survive in this new world!

    At least what I thought at first. Turns out that when you¡¯re someone who¡¯s always lived off fast food and instant ramen your whole life, surviving like a boy scout out in the wild is a lot harder than you¡¯d think.

    Standing on a stool, I cut into some vegetables I¡¯d recently harvested.

    As of now, it¡¯s been a total of two months since I first came to this world.

    It may be expected, but I¡¯m struggling quite a bit to survive out here.

    Since I was a shut-in, I never really went out of my way to learn too much about farming, cooking, or any other things you would need to know in order to hustle it out in a medieval time period.

    Even though I worked a decent office job, I didn¡¯t have many chances to learn more life skills. A rather unfortunate twist of fate.

    And now that I have to constantly leave the house to tend to my fields, I struggle to really find any time for myself.

    ¡°Dammit. Where¡¯s my overpowered journey with a harem of girls that all those dumb protagonists get?¡± I muttered angrily while continuing to chop up vegetables.

    The only thing I can really say has made any progress over all this time was that I¡¯ve been improving my expanded thinking. That¡¯s what I¡¯m calling the thoughts that come out robotically in my head. Thanks to things like meditating, I can almost make those thoughts sound like my own.

    Suggestion: It might be best to check if the tomatoes are ripe.

    As that thought crossed through my mind, I placed the chopped veggies and walked outside.

    Oh yeah, before I forget to mention it, something else I learned through trial and error is that this world not only has a magic system, but it seems to run on oxygen instead of mana. Meaning that as long as you have some air in your lungs, it¡¯s possible to cast magic.

    However, once all your air¡¯s gone, you can¡¯t do a thing about it until you breathe again. That sounded easy enough to deal with, but it scared me to think what kind of stuff this world might¡¯ve created to counteract such a seemingly limitless resource like magic. But enough about that for now.

    Going back to my expanded thinking, there¡¯s still progress to be made, so my hope is that soon enough I¡¯ll be able to take full control of these thoughts and make them my own. Although, the real issue with it is my emotions. As I grow more and more connected with my expanded thinking, I feel like I¡¯m losing more and more of my emotions. So right now my focus was trying to keep that from happening while also improving my skills.

    Picking the tomatoes, I checked to make sure they were all good and ripe before plopping them in a basket and making my way back inside.

    Once I was done with that, I cook up my first meal involving more than bread in almost a month and enjoyed every bite.

    After finishing, I clasped my hands in thanks before getting up and preparing for a shower.

    However, just as I was about to take off my clothes, I heard something strange.

    ¡°Caw! Caw!¡±

    It sounded like a bird''s call.

    Walking outside, I saw what appeared to be some kinda seagull-looking bird flying above me.

    Strangely enough, as it soared over my head, something that looked like a newspaper slipped out from the bag attached to its chest and I had to reflexively jump back as the paper plopped onto the ground in front of me.

    ¡°What the?¡±

    Picking it up with a confused look on my face, I watched as the bird flew away seemingly ignoring that it left a newspaper behind.

    Well, the bird''s loss I guess. I was pretty bored anyway so this¡¯ll pass the time for a little bit.

    Without a second thought, I walked back inside and plopped the newspaper on my couch before going to take my shower.

    After I was finished, I walked back to the living room and began flipping through the newspaper.

    I know I lived in the middle of nowhere, but I was positive there was a bigger world out there. So if this newspaper could give me a clearer picture of where I was, I¡¯d really appreciate it. However, as I flipped through the paper, most of the stuff seemed to involve countries I¡¯ve never heard of before. It almost astounded me how much stuff there seemed to be outside my little shack here in the middle of nowhere.

    Sadly, most of it didn¡¯t really pique my interest. There also didn¡¯t appear to be anything I could say sounded familia-huh!?

    My fingers suddenly stopped at a page with a picture I instantly recognized.

    ¡°Th¡­That¡¯s¡­ The High School of Magic and Swordsmanship!¡±

    Even though the paper was in black and white, with how many hours I went into playing this game it was easy for me to recognize the school''s design. And if that¡¯s the case, that means the world I¡¯ve been put in is none other than that of Medieval Fantasy which was the game I had just finished playing before I was brought here.

    When I realized that, I felt a thrill of excitement in my body. But moments later, that excitement turned to anger as that meant something else was probably here as well.

    ¡°This means¡­that MC is here too.¡±

    The MC I¡¯m referring to is the game''s protagonist. Also known as Rito Ayoki. He acts as the game''s protagonist which most people refer to as the MC or Main Character. And his bland personality irritated me to no end. Honestly, if it wasn¡¯t for the girl''s stories being so interesting, I¡¯d probably have quit the game thanks to him. And the fact that we might be in the same world now made me won¡¯t to go out and punch him in the face for being so bland.

    But moving past that for now, memories of the game started flashing through my mind. And among those memories, one stood out more then all the others. And that was the moment when you choose which heroine to follow for the rest of the story.

    Why was this such a prominent thought in my mind? It¡¯s quite simple. It¡¯s because that¡¯s the moment this story made it clear there wouldn¡¯t be a harem route.

    Despite all five heroines being clearly into the protagonist by the time you need to choose, the rest give up the minute you select one specific person.

    And thinking back, that choice screen still causes my blood to boil even now.

    Slamming the paper down, I looked at the date the newspaper was released and realized it came out today in the year 1390. Upon seeing that, I let out a sigh of relief. The game''s story took place in the year 1396 so the game''s main story had yet to occur.

    Why am I relieved you might ask? Why the answer is quite simple.

    Pinning the picture of the school on my wall, I looked at it with a grin on my face.

    ¡°My plan is decided. In six years¡¯ time, I¡¯m going to that school and stealing those heroines from under the protagonist''s nose and making them my harem!¡±

    It was that day, I made this proclamation and planned to see it through. Little did I know at the time just how quickly that would all go downhill.

 Chapter 2: Adventures and Cruelty

    Over a year has passed since I made that decision. And since then, I¡¯ve been working hard to improve myself in many fields.

    As of now, I can wield over twelve different spells and even have pretty much full control of my expanded thinking.

    Since the spell seems to still be working as long as I utter the final word, the rest of the incantation will be processed through my body.

    Once I realized that, I started training myself to cast spells at a much more rapid pace.

    While there were a lot of restrictions, I¡¯ve managed to find three loopholes that have made it possible to cast my spells less than two seconds after I begin chanting. So that¡¯s going pretty well.

    However, the same can¡¯t be said for my physical strength sadly.

    For some reason, no matter how hard I try, I just can¡¯t seem to make myself any stronger. Even my expanded thinking is drawing a blank as to what the cause is behind this.

    Hmm¡­maybe the reason behind it is because all my strength is being put into my magic abilities?

    That didn¡¯t sound right, but since nothing else I came up with worked, it would have to do for now.

    Leaving that talk about training be for now, I also needed three very important things to get myself into the school in the first place. Those being money for the academy entrance fee, incredible accomplishments so that the royals and nobles recognize my abilities and find me worth bringing into the school, and a mode of transportation so I can get there without issue.

    To complete all three of these, I first had to focus on finding a way to make money.

    Despite my understanding of the game, I didn¡¯t necessarily know where every little thing is located.

    While my expanded thinking seems to know a lot of how my own body works in this world, it doesn¡¯t know much of anything when it comes to anything else.

    That¡¯s why every now and then, I¡¯d see the same bird from before fly by my house and I¡¯d use some magic that boosted my leg strength to jump up and grab a paper before the bird was gone.

    Thanks to that, I¡¯ve managed to keep up to date with what was going on in the world.

    Unlike in the game where named characters are extremely limited and a majority of the characters are nameless NPCs, everyone here seemed to have completely fleshed-out stories that showed how different this was to the game world.

    How did a world like this even come to be? And why?

    I¡¯d ponder these questions time and time again. But in the end, I just decided to forget about it for the time being since I was sure I wouldn¡¯t get the answers any time soon.

    Anyway, before I knew it, another year had passed and I was finally in full control of my expanded thinking.

    Every thought was now my own and I¡¯d become more calm and calculating than I¡¯d ever been back in my old world.

    Sadly, I still couldn¡¯t find a way to get any stronger physically. So I began thinking up other ideas that could help me protect myself since while some say brain trumps brawn, there are times when having brawn can still win in the end.

    Since magic exists here, maybe it¡¯d be possible for me to remake a gun here in this medieval world.

    As crazy as that sounded, I¡¯d already begun drawing up blueprints using some newspapers while using water and air magic to clean off the ink. It almost astounded me how easily I was able to create the blueprints. Especially since I never had any knowledge of how to build a gun in my previous world.

    Although, after attempting the building process several times, none of my blueprints seemed to work so I ended up scrapping the idea of a gun for the time being.

    But moving past that, I only had three more years before school started. And if I was gonna make any progress, I needed to do it sooner rather than later.

    Two more months passed before I was finally ready to leave my little hut.

    Hunking a bag over my shoulder, I checked to make sure my meals, clothes, and other necessities were all set and ready to go.

    I wasn¡¯t gonna get anywhere if I continued to stay here after all. So I needed to start exploring.

    Waving goodbye to the house I¡¯d been staying in ever since I got here, I took in a deep breath before letting it out. After that, I turned to look out at the sun which had already risen high into the sky.

    As of today, my adventure into this familiar yet unknown world had officially begun.

    A month later, I found myself trudging through a murky forest as I was looking for something.

    Upon leaving my home, I spent about two weeks searching for a town. Thankfully I managed to find one, but it wasn¡¯t exactly a fun place to be.

    It was old, run-down, and lacked any cute girls. Well¡­they did have a few, but they were already married and I¡¯m not exactly into girls who already have lovers.

    You might say I¡¯m simple-minded for only really caring if a town had cute girls or not, but it was more the fact that since I already planned to make a harem, I might as well grow my roster. That¡¯s just how I feel.

    But moving past that, when I went into town, I managed to find what seemed to be an adventurers guild that was run by some strange muscular dude who kept giving me a look that creeped me out.

    Thankfully, there didn¡¯t appear to be any registration fees required to get a license so I was handed one almost immediately.

    Upon receiving it, I took a job right away that seemed to require the least amount of physical labor. That choice ended up being a search for a lost child in some nearby woods.

    Thanks to my expanded thinking, I easily managed to find a trail and began following it in hopes of finding the kid sooner rather than later.

    ¡°Hm?¡±

    Hearing a strange rustling nearby, I hid behind some bushes and peeked my head out through an opening.

    ¡°Gotta tell ya dude, that little girl you found was great!¡±

    ¡°Hah! Yeah. She didn¡¯t even put up a fight. I wouldn¡¯t be surprised if her mind¡¯s broken after that lesson we gave her!¡±

    Two bulky and ugly men walked past me on a path back to town.

    ¡°Little girl?¡±

    The job didn¡¯t say what gender the kid was, but considering I was just handed this blatant clue, I might as well check it out.

    Stealthily making my way through the woods, I figured it¡¯d be imperative I completed this quest without fail. If I didn¡¯t, I wouldn¡¯t receive the payment for the job.

    A few minutes later I came across a small cave.

    Walking into said cave, the whole place was dimly lit which made it a bit hard to look around. However, my eyes could just make out a single small girl lying there chained up to the walls.

    This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

    She didn¡¯t look to be older than the age of ten. Her clothes were ripped to shreds and her body was bleeding like crazy.

    Judging from the mix of urine and blood under her legs, I assumed she wet herself after being assaulted and deflowered. Talk about a disturbing sight. It was strange though. Despite staring at the girl''s condition, I felt surprisingly calm about this.

    That was a bit weird, but even so, this situation still didn¡¯t sit right with me.

    It didn¡¯t anger me that much, I just felt frustrated that this girl, who was just a child, would need to carry this scar for the rest of her life. And that sounded absolutely awful.

    And with her purity destroyed, there¡¯s no doubt she¡¯d struggle to find a good husband in the future.

    I wanted to heal her wounds, but seeing as I couldn¡¯t use healing magic, there wasn¡¯t much I could do.

    That meant I needed to get her to the town doctor as soon as possible. That is if there is one. But now¡¯s not the time for what-ifs. She needed help right now and that¡¯s exactly what I was gonna give.

    Walking up to the girl, I saw an empty void within her pupils. She looked completely dead inside. Her mind looked like it was on the brink of breaking.

    ¡°Fireball.¡±

    As I uttered those words, a ball of flames appeared in my hand.

    Being as careful as possible, I slowly melted the chains enough to the point they no longer prohibited the girl from moving.

    Her hands fell to the ground and I lifted her face up to mine.

    ¡°Hey there. Can you move?¡±

    She gave me no response. Her lips barely moved. ¡°Geez.¡±

    Holding her up with one of my arms, I tried my best to keep a good grip on her. However, she was surprisingly heavy. A kid really shouldn¡¯t weigh this much. Or maybe it¡¯s just because I¡¯m still physically weak. Yeah. That¡¯s probably it.

    Thus, I wrapped her arm around my shoulder and started to walk out.

    But just then, I heard footsteps ahead of me.

    ¡°Hey now. Where the hell do you think you¡¯re going with me and my bro¡¯s toy?¡±

    Hearing a deep voice, I looked at the entrance to find a man with muscular arms standing there with two other dudes behind him who looked like the guys I had overheard earlier.

    I stared at them with a blank expression.

    ¡°I¡¯m bringing her back to the village. You got a problem with that?¡±

    Despite my calm exterior, my voice had begun to rise little by little. I couldn¡¯t explain why, but just looking at these guys really pissed me off.

    More than likely it¡¯s because they look exactly like the exact definition of the ugly bastard tag in a certain genre of nsfw content.

    Yeah. That was probably why.

    With no weapons at my disposal, I didn¡¯t have anything to protect me and the girl. Well, besides my magic. So I guess that¡¯s why I¡¯ll need to rely on for the time being.

    ¡°Yeah. I do actually. You see, my bro¡¯s here messed with her so much, all I get is the leftovers. But if you¡¯re gonna try to take her away, I wouldn¡¯t mind ending your life here and now.¡±

    What a stupid threat.

    Looking the man in the eye, I couldn¡¯t help but let a small laugh slip from my lips. This caused a vein to pulse on the man''s forehead.

    ¡°What¡¯s so funny punk?¡±

    I shrugged.

    ¡°Just that I find your threat amusing. You really shouldn¡¯t try to make threats you can¡¯t back up.¡±

    The man gritted his teeth in frustration.

    ¡°Why you!¡±

    He charged straight at me just as expected of a loser like him. I let out a bored sigh and my hand began to glow.

    ¡°Earth Guillotine!¡±

    It all happened so fast it was almost impossible to see as the moment the man stepped into the cave, the walls slammed into him at full force. Making his body explode into a mountain of blood.

    Making sure the kid''s eyes were closed, I pushed my hand out towards the earth once more.

    ¡°Earth Absorption.¡±

    The blood and guts immediately sunk into the ground and less than a few seconds later, it was like there was never a murder in the first place.

    The two other guys took a step back in horror.

    ¡°Now tell me, are either of you as foolish as he was?¡±

    I glared at the two men for a moment. Terrified, the duo ran away as fast as their legs could carry them. Wise choice. Now I don¡¯t have to put any extra effort to kill them.

    Finally finished with that, I made my way out of the cave with the girl still in my arms.

    After several minutes of walking, I was met with a pit in the road. Inside, I was met with the dead bodies of the two who had run away earlier. Looks like setting up a spike trap was worth it. However, I was still confused about how they didn¡¯t fall into it on their way back to the cave.

    More than likely they took a different path to get here before.

    Well, whatever.

    Pulling out the bodies, I took all their extra equipment and money before burying them deep in the ground. They¡¯ll more than likely be found by some archeologist in the future who¡¯ll assume these guys just died of natural selection or something like that.

    Putting the extra items in a bag, I heaved it over my spare shoulder and I began making my way back to town.

    But y¡¯know, I¡¯m almost surprised how calm I was during all that.

    I¡¯d thought I¡¯d feel bad taking a human life, but nothing really came to me. I just did what needed to be done and moved on. That¡¯s a bit concerning, but maybe I should just forget about that for the time being since I need to get this girl back safely.

    Reaching town, I gave the kid over to the authorities. Turns out this girl was in fact the missing kid I was looking for.

    She was immediately brought to a doctor and I was given my reward for the quest.

    Adding it to my bag, I stretched my free arm while the other kept hold of the money and equipment. But as I did so, my pants started to slip a little bit. They¡¯d been doing that a lot since recently.

    It might be best to get a belt.

    That was probably for the best. With that in mind, I made my way over to a clothing store that was run by an elderly woman and bought a belt that I wrapped around my waist. It was actually a pretty nice belt for its price. I even made sure I wasn¡¯t being ripped off in any way by inspecting the belt before my purchase. From what my expanded thinking said, it was a great belt. So with that, I also bought myself a cool looking red cloak and wrapped it around my neck.

    Glancing at myself in the mirror, I almost started looking like an adventurer.

    If this was a normal fantasy story, I¡¯d one hundred percent be down for being an adventurer. Who knows, I might have even gotten myself a harem.

    But my mind was set. If I was gonna be brought to another world that was identical to the game I played, I¡¯d rather steal the heroines for myself rather than let them all fall for some half-ass excuse for an MC.

    About a day later, I learned the girl was gonna need some time to recover, but she¡¯d be fine. That was nice to hear, but considering she wasn¡¯t someone I was close to, I couldn¡¯t exactly feel happy or sad about the news.

    So, without saying a word, I left the town and continued my journey once more.

    Oddly enough, that wasn¡¯t a bad first adventure. Though I definitely would¡¯ve preferred for it to be less gruesome.

    All I really hope for it that the girl I saved grows up to be a beautiful woman who finds a guy who¡¯ll treat her kindly.

    Had she been a little older, I might¡¯ve taken her for myself. Though, I¡¯m not really one to talk since I¡¯m technically only twelve years old. Although I was about to be thirteen¡­I think. Though I wasn¡¯t too sure.

    Trying to figure that out, I ended up asking some citizens before I left the town and learned that apparently, this world worked under the same month and day schedule as my world did.

    That made it pretty convenient for me, but it was also a bit strange since I thought other worlds were supposed to be different from my own.

    Not wanting to think about it any further, I made my way across the land in hopes of finding a new town where I could make some money.

    As of right now, I¡¯d made forty copr, and stole six silvr from those disgusting assholes that died before.

    To quickly explain, copr was basically just copper. In terms of money, one coin was around fifty cents. As for silvr, you might have already guessed they were meant to refer to silver which was about two dollars. There were two other types of coins. Those were Gld and Platnm. Gld equated to around a hundred dollars each, while Platnm equated to about a thousand dollars each. And of course, they¡¯re referring to Gold and Platinum.

    With all these calculations in mind, the robbers also had around twenty copr coins on them along with the silvr. Doing the math, that meant in total I had around forty-two dollars on me right now. That¡¯d be just enough for a full-course meal at a small diner.

    That¡¯s what I calculated at least.

    Before I knew it, the moon was high in the sky above me.

    Using my earth magic, I created a small box to rest inside and lied down while using my bag of coins as a pillow.

    While I didn¡¯t look to be anything of worth right now, I was sure things would change in the future.

    As a saying went in my world, ¡°You don¡¯t choose your moment to shine. That moment chooses you.¡±

    If I had been patient and waited for that moment, I¡¯d finally accomplish my goal of taking the MC¡¯s harem for myself.

    So, as my eyes began to shut, I found myself getting lost in my thoughts. Thinking about the amazing future that awaited me.

    And before long, I drifted off into a peaceful sleep.

 Chapter 3: An Unexpected Meeting

    It¡¯s now been six months since I started adventuring.

    Since the day I started, I¡¯ve done multiple small things here in there around several towns and made the lives of those around me better¡­all except me.

    While I may be getting recognition in small towns, I¡¯ve yet to even get close to gaining the attention of this world''s nobles.

    As the academy is a school for nobles and those of rich blood, the only way for someone like me to get in is by proving my worth as a student.

    But unlike in my world where things are proven through academics to which my expanded thinking could help me out with stuff like that, this world pays more attention to brute strength and accomplishments.

    That meant unless I did something big like finding ancient technology or discovering undisturbed dungeons or defeating a massive threat, I was basically a little speck the nobles didn¡¯t even bother paying attention to.

    At this point, I don¡¯t even think they know I exist. Although, I did mention I only started this six months ago so things are bound to change in the future.

    I couldn''t have been more wrong.

    Before I knew it, two more years passed and only two more years remained before school with the MC and the heroines would begin.

    Sadly, I¡¯d made practically no progress in drawing the attention of nobles.

    I was still helping out in towns and other small areas, but when it came to getting noticed by nobles, I wasn¡¯t even close to my goal.

    I¡¯ve already taken notice of the dire situation and have been pushing my expanded thinking into overdrive to think of a solution.

    But no matter what I came up with, they all ended with less than an eight percent success rate. Not exactly great odds.

    Letting out a sigh, I stood in the adventurer''s guild looking up at the large selection of jobs.

    If there¡¯s one good thing that came out of these two years, it¡¯s that I¡¯ve leveled up as an adventurer. And I mean that quite literally.

    In this game, there were eighteen levels an adventurer could reach. However, since people didn¡¯t want to give these levels names, most just called them level 1, level 2, level 3, and so on.

    The odds of going up in levels were low and very few adventurers went past level eight. Since I began, I¡¯ve managed to get all the way up to level four. But despite that, I still appear to be lacking when it comes to making any real progress. And if I really wanna be noticed, I¡¯d need to get much higher at a much quicker pace.

    Stretching out my arms, I finished scanning the quest board and picked off one of the papers, and made my way over to the receptionist.

    The woman at the receptionist''s desk looked it over and put down a stamp that showed I had taken on the job. After that, I left the guild.

    Today¡¯s mission was simple. All I had to do was go into some dungeon and find something some dude accidentally dropped.

    I¡¯d only been in a few dungeons since I became an adventurer, so I¡¯d be lying if I said things would go smoothly. But even so, I needed to get my name out there. So I sucked it up and got moving.

    Dodging an acid attack from the giant scorpion in front of me, I could already feel myself growing exhausted.

    Its weak spot appears to be in a small crack in its back.

    With my expanded thinking giving me information, I gripped my recently acquired sword tightly while trying to come up with a way to hit that weak spot.

    The monster charged at me and I barely managed to avoid its body as a bit of the scorpion''s acid dropped from its mouth and onto my right arm causing a burning sensation to shoot through my nerves.

    ¡°Dammit,¡± I muttered under my breath as I put my left hand over my right.

    ¡°Bring forth a healing chill. Chill Patch.¡±

    As I said those words, a small batch of cold water began covering where the acid had landed and I felt my arm beginning to cool. It still hurt like hell, but I could easily get it healed up later.

    Dodging the monster''s giant claws, I attempted to run behind it using a little bit of a boost from my wind magic but it quickly blocked my path. That¡¯s something that bugs me about this world. For some reason, these guys appear to be much more intelligent than humans.

    To be clear, I don¡¯t mean they¡¯re smarter when it comes to evolution. Rather, they¡¯re smarter when it comes to defending themselves and their turf. They seem to understand when they have a weak point and try their best to use their abilities to cover said weak points.

    For reasons like this, I try to avoid taking any jobs that require slaying too many monsters. After all, If I was actually trapped in a room with more than three or four monsters, I don¡¯t think I¡¯d make it out alive.

    The scorpion hissed at me as it attempted to spit acid at me once more.

    Holding up my sword in an attempt to block it, the acid splashed onto both my blade as well as my legs causing the latter to go numb while my sword disintegrated.

    ¡°Well damn,¡± I muttered before tossing my blade to the side.

    This kind of stuff is why I prefer magic. It requires little effort to produce and doesn¡¯t way enough that it ends up slowing down my movements.

    I might just be making excuses for my lack of physical strength, but magic really is my only strong suit.

    Dodging for what felt like the hundredth time, I didn¡¯t know how I was supposed to beat this thing.

    The smell of its acid began to make the air stink and I was beginning to wonder if the best course of action would be to run away. Sadly, that wasn¡¯t exactly a viable option.

    As I mentioned, these guys are smart when it comes to defending themselves. So by the time I got into this cave, the scorpion had already sprayed its acid across the walls and made going back an impossibility.

    I glared angrily at the monster as I worked my expanded thinking as hard as I could to come up with a solution.

    What if I¡­nah. I¡¯d die before I realized what hit me. Then what if I¡­nope. That¡¯s just plain stupid¡­wait! All I have to do is-!

    The solution coming to my mind, I clenched my fists tightly and I began pouring magic into my feet.

    ¡°Wind boost!¡±

    Launching forward, I used wind magic to increase my running speed which let me fly at the scorpion who seemed a little surprised by my sudden increase in speed before regaining its composure and preparing its next attack.

    It brought its giant claw down on me as fast as it could. Little did it know, that was exactly what I¡¯d thought it would do and I grabbed hold of its claw.

    As it reeled back in surprise, I used its claw like a piece of parkour equipment and flipped myself onto its back.

    Immediately noticing what was happening, the monster thrashed back and forth in an attempt to get me off before turning to a nearby wall and dashed towards it in hopes of smashing me into a puddle of blood.

    ¡°Like hell I¡¯m gonna let you do that!¡±

    As it dashed forward, I dug my hand into its weak spot, it responded to my hostility with a loud screech that echoed through the cave as I continued digging into its flesh.

    It let out several more ear-piercing screeches, but I didn¡¯t care. Taking in a deep breath, I poured my heart into my magic. Casting one spell in rapid succession.

    ¡°Fireball! Fireball! Fireball!¡±

    As I repeatedly shot my fireball spell into the monster''s flesh, the insides of the monster''s body began to grow hotter as blood sputtered from its mouth.

    ¡°FIREBALL!¡±

    Pushing out one final attack, the scorpion let out one last painful noise before collapsing to the ground.

    Taking in a few heavy breaths, I removed my hand from the monster''s body and put my ear on its back. Thankfully, the monster''s heartbeat had completely stopped. And moments later, it vanished into pixels that floated into the sky.

    With that problem over and done with, I stretched out my arms before wincing in pain from the poison burns on my arm.

    Taking off the new bag I¡¯d recently purchased from my back, I pulled out a small bottle containing a strange greenish-blue liquid and chugged down its contents.

    ¡°Bleh.¡±

    As someone who could never get into coffee, the bitter taste of this potion never ceased to disgust me.

    Slipping the empty bottle back into the bag, the wounds on my body slowly began to heal and I swung my arm around to make sure it was working properly.

    ¡°Good thing potions exist in this world. Otherwise, I would¡¯ve been screwed a long time ago,¡± I muttered aloud.

    Slinging the bag back over my shoulder, I let out a sigh of frustration as I looked at the tunnel I came in from.

    ¡°Looks like I won¡¯t be going back that way. What¡¯ll I do now?¡±

    Maybe there¡¯s some way out further ahead.

    ¡°Perhaps. Well, deeper in I go then.¡±

    With another sigh, I made my way deeper into the cave.

    Despite traveling deeper, I didn¡¯t really encounter too many obstacles. Thankfully, all I found monster-wise was a slime which I took care of with relative ease.

    However, upon reaching what I thought was an exit¡­

    ¡°A dead end¡­crap,¡± I muttered while scratching the back of my head trying to figure out what to do next.

    Looking around the dead end, I attempted to find some kind of secret door or hidden puzzle. While that didn¡¯t seem likely, I had a nagging feeling there was something I was missing here.

    As I looked around the barely lit room, I suddenly noticed something sparkling somewhere in the shadows.

    Moving in closer, I got down on one knee and looked down to find something sticking into the ground.

    ¡°A diamond?¡±

    I picked up the jewel and held it in my hand.

    This is probably what the person who put up the job wanted me to retrieve.

    That was my initial thought. But considering how average the reward was for something like this, was this guy really willing to believe your average adventurer wouldn¡¯t just pocket the diamond and run away with it before selling it off to live the easy life?

    That may have sounded crazy, but considering how rare diamonds are, it was more likely someone would just pocket the diamond and then give it back. This dude needs to be a lot more careful.

    Slipping the diamond into my bag, I got up and started leaving the dead end.

    Since it appeared there wasn¡¯t another way out, I guess all I could really do was try and make some kind of mask using air magic until I got out of the cave. But considering I¡¯ve never tried such a thing before, I wouldn¡¯t know if it¡¯d actually work.

    Thrusting my bag over my shoulder once more, I began making my way back to the entrance. That¡¯s when I noticed something odd.

    ¡°Hm?¡±

    It was hard to see because of the darkness, but near where I¡¯d found the diamond was some form of drawing.

    ¡°Fireball.¡±

    Making a flame appear in my hand, I leaned down and looked at the strange drawing.

    However, when I scanned it over, I quickly realized what it really was.

    ¡°Is this¡­some kind of map?¡±

    Etched onto the ground were three different locations.

    One looked to be some kind of snowy mountain, another looked like a clock tower, and the third was¡­a floating island?

    That was all I could really call it. For some reason, the third drawing looked fairly similar to an island I once saw in an anime where everyone lived on floating islands.

    ¡°I recognize these first two locations, but I don¡¯t remember there being any floating islands in this game.¡±

    Using my knowledge of this world, I immediately was able to recognize the snowy mountain as Mount Freveris. It was basically this world''s version of Mount Everest.

    This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source.

    While not as cold, the mountain was still treacherous and couldn¡¯t be climbed by someone who lacked the necessary equipment.

    The second drawing looked almost identical to the Grand Magic Clocktower which was located within the town of Wizardo. Otherwise known as the birthplace of the creator of magic. As magic was still a fairly new thing having only been introduced around forty years ago, the young boy born in that land led generations down the path toward magic.

    Despite having his name etched into the history books, the man still lives to this day and should probably be around his fifties to sixties right now.

    Since he works as the head of the school where the story takes place, I¡¯ve actually had a few run-ins with him during my first playthrough of this game. He was actually a pretty nice dude and I helped him out plenty of times as the MC.

    But moving past that, the only place I wasn¡¯t able to understand was the floating island.

    While this may be a world of magic, there was never a floating island in the game. Does this mean this world isn¡¯t completely the same?

    Still confused, I pulled out some paper and ink before copying the map on said paper.

    With nothing else to do there, I put the map in my bag and left the room.

    Thankfully the air mask did end up working and I managed to escape without any issues.

    On top of that, I¡¯ve now created a new way to handle myself with enemies who rely on stuff like poison or sleeping gas.

    But anyway, I returned to the guild and got the payment for the item before going on my way.

    After that, I thought back to the strange drawings I saw.

    Judging by how they were structured, it couldn''t have been anything but a map. But where the heck does it lead?

    As I tried to come up an answer, I went shopping and bought up some potions among other things.

    Finally done for the day, I returned to the inn I was staying at and laid down on my bed before looking up at the ceiling.

    After pondering about the map for a bit longer, I finally came to a decision.

    Sitting up, I began making a mental list of what to do in my brain before lying down in bed and closing my eyes. I needed to get as much sleep as possible. Because where I was about to go, I¡¯d need as much sleep as I could get.

    Two more months of traveling later, I finally reached my destination.

    The snow under me made a loud crunch as I pressed forward.

    Looking into the sky, I saw the snowy mountain I¡¯d been looking for far off in the distance. Mount Freveris.

    This all started that night when I decided to set out and find exactly where this map was leading.

    Even if someone else had already beaten me to it, I still wanted to see what it was all about.

    Taking in a deep breath, I started the trek toward that mountain.

    Finally reaching Mount Freveris, I looked up to try and spot the top only for my eyes to be blinded by the snow blowing past my face.

    After spending almost all my money on the required equipment, I just hoped whatever that map was leading to was worth it.

    As I said before, I might already be a bit late. But even so, my curiosity pushed me forward and I intended to see this through.

    As the sun rose into the sky, I took in a deep breath and began making my way up the snowy mountain.

    At first, things were going pretty smoothly. There wasn¡¯t too much wind, my gear was holding up quite well, and the snow wasn¡¯t too deep. My only real complaint was how chilly I was but that could easily be fixed up with some fire magic when I found a resting spot.

    Feeling confident I could push through this, I continued forward with a small grin forming on my face.

    That was two hours ago. Now, I find myself trying my hardest to keep my body from freezing. I kept a small fire in my hand in order to keep me warm, but I was still struggling to stay conscious. I knew it¡¯d be hard to climb a mountain of snow, but I never imagined it¡¯d be this hard.

    Letting out a huff of cold air, I kept walking forward.

    If I don¡¯t find a place to use as shelter within the next twenty minutes, I¡¯ll collapse from hypothermia.

    Growling in frustration, I walked for a bit longer until my legs started shaking like crazy. There¡¯s no way in hell I¡¯d make it to the top in a condition like this.

    Another ten minutes passed. My arms had gone completely numb and I couldn¡¯t cast fire magic anymore because my hands wouldn¡¯t listen.

    Taking in several deep breaths, I felt like my legs were about to give up.

    ¡°Dammit! I can¡¯t die here! I wasn¡¯t brought to this stupid-ass world just to die!¡±

    Running several calculations in my head with my expanded thinking, I tried coming up with solution after solution only for every single one to end in failure.

    ¡°Grrr¡­Dammit!¡±

    Those were my last words before my legs gave out and I collapsed to the ground.

    There I was¡­stuck in the snow.

    I couldn¡¯t move my body at all.

    I didn¡¯t know if my body would respond, but I wanted to clench my fists tightly.

    Why¡­.why am I in this position?

    Despite knowing why, that question remained in my head as my consciousness began to slip away.

    However, out of the corner of my eye, I could¡¯ve sworn I spotted a shadow.

    Looks like somebody¡¯s found me. I just hope¡­they¡¯re friendly.

    With that as my last thought, I closed my eyes and fell unconscious.

    I woke up about an hour later as a strange warmth enveloped my body.

    Groggily opening my eyes, I noticed I was lying on some kind of couch and I thought I heard someone humming nearby.

    Slowly getting up, a strangely cute voice spoke out to me.

    ¡°You should rest up a bit more. We don¡¯t want ya collapsing a second time would we?¡±

    Turning my head to the voice, I found a girl standing there. She looked to be around the age of twenty and had long orange hair. She seemed to be a little taller than me and wore a cozy-looking dark blue sweater and a purple skirt that went all the way down to just above her feet.

    Wanting answers, I spoke up.

    ¡°Tell me. Were you the one who brought me here?¡±

    Cutting to the chase, I waited for her response to which she smiled kindly and nodded.

    ¡°You looked like you were gonna die out there so I brought you to the cabin I rented for my week off.¡±

    ¡°Cabin?¡±

    Looking around a bit, I noticed what she said was true. We appeared to be in a fairly large wooden cabin. I could even hear the cold wind blowing outside as snow flew past the windows.

    ¡°I see. When I look at this place, it seems more like a hotel than a cabin. Is anyone else staying here?¡±

    The woman shook her head.

    ¡°Just me I¡¯m afraid. My friends aren¡¯t exactly fans of the cold.¡±

    ¡°I¡­see.¡±

    I tried to respond casually, but I was too busy being put off by how close this woman was.

    For some reason, while we were talking, she¡¯d moved closer and closer and was looking me over with a curious expression on her face.

    ¡°Uh¡­is something wrong?¡±

    ¡°Hmm¡­Yeah. I like what I¡¯m seeing.¡¯

    ¡°Excuse me?¡±

    The woman backed up with a grin on her face.

    ¡°Yep! Looks like you really do know what you¡¯re doing! I¡¯m happy to see it!¡±

    ¡°Thank¡­you?¡±

    This woman seemed to be a bit weird. Does she have a screw loose or something?

    It¡¯s probably best just to roll with it right now. I don¡¯t want her kicking me out back into the cold after all.

    Having thought that, I let out a sigh and rubbed my temples.

    ¡°Anyways, is it okay if I ask for your name?¡±

    Not wanting to refer to this woman as her or she anymore, I figured it¡¯d be best to ask to at least know her name.

    ¡°Oh! I guess knowing the name of your savior is important! Very well! I shall give you my name!¡±

    ¡°Um¡­I appreciate it.¡±

    Puffing out her sizeable chest, the girl smiled while resting her arms on her hips.

    ¡°My name¡¯s Alicia Frindred! A pleasure to make your acquaintance!¡±

    ¡°Uh¡­Nice to me you¡­Alicia.¡±

    I held out my hand and she shook it without a second thought before taking a few steps back.

    ¡°Now then¡­mind telling me your name?¡±

    ¡°My name?¡±

    Oh yeah. Come to think of it, I haven¡¯t used my name for anything in a while. Not since that god brought me here in fact. Well, unless you count putting my name down on the adventurers guild registration form. But I don¡¯t know if that counts.

    A part of me thought about using a fake name. But seeing as Alicia helped save me, that would probably be a bit rude. So, I ended up telling her the truth.

    ¡°My name¡¯s Axel Savoncho. But you can just call me Axel.¡±

    ¡°Axel huh? Nice to meetcha!¡±

    This woman was quite the strange one.

    When I saw her after waking up, I thought she was a beautiful hostess who made it far in life as a model or something. But now that she seems to have shown her real personality, she feels more like a kid in the body of a woman. That was my interpretation of her at least..

    ¡°Hmm¡­¡±

    Hearing her voice, I noticed she was staring directly into my eyes.

    ¡°What is it?¡±

    ¡°You just started staring at that blank wall. It was kinda funny how serious you looked.¡±

    ¡°Uh¡­Sorry.¡±

    As I scratched the back of my head, Alica turned her head to a door nearby.

    ¡°You can stay here for the night if you want. No one else but me is here so don¡¯t worry about stuff like accidentally walking in on someone changing or something like that.¡±

    ¡°Weird of you to specify but okay. I¡¯ll take you up on that offer.¡±

    Trying to shrug off her rather weird comment, I made my way over to the door she was looking at and opened it wide.

    Inside was a nice fluffy bed as well as a basket that looked to be where I could put my stuff.

    Dropping my stuff in the basket, I stretched out my arms and plopped onto the bed.

    ¡°Damn. If Alicia didn¡¯t show up when she did, I would¡¯ve been a goner,¡± I muttered with a sigh of relief.

    I looked up at the ceiling as I thought of Alicia.

    When I first looked at her, I had almost considered adding her to my harem. However, I don¡¯t know if I could handle someone with such a strange personality.

    Deciding to think about that another day, I plopped down in bed and closed my eyes. Tomorrow I¡¯d continue climbing up the mountain. I don¡¯t know if I¡¯ll find anything, but I¡¯ve already come this far so it¡¯d be kinda dumb to turn back now.

    With that last thought crossing my mind, I drifted off into a peaceful sleep.

    The next morning, Alicia looked at me curiously as I put on all my equipment.

    ¡°So you¡¯re really gonna try and keep going?¡±

    I nodded as I continued getting ready.

    ¡°I¡¯ve already come this far. I¡¯d be a coward to turn back now.¡±

    Looking a bit concerned, Alicia tried to move on by shrugging her shoulders and giving me a warm smile.

    ¡°Well, I won¡¯t stop you. Just know that I can¡¯t help you from here on out. I¡¯m not planning on traveling higher than this myself after all.¡±

    I nodded.

    ¡°Understood. See you, Alicia.¡±

    ¡°Take care.¡±

    With that final goodbye, I closed the door behind me and stepped back into the frosty mountains.

    I was immediately met with a cold wind that made me miss the warmth of the fire in that cabin.

    But I couldn¡¯t go back now. If I did, I¡¯d only be intruding on Alicia more than necessary.

    Taking in a deep breath, I continued making my way up the steep mountain with a small fireball in hand to keep me warm.

    Before I knew it, four more hours passed by and I saw the top of the mountain off in the distance. I just had to push a little bit farther.

    Ten minutes later, I was starting to get close to the top. And after another twenty minutes, I let out a sigh of relief.

    I¡¯d finally reached the top.

    From what the people near the mountain said, very few ever made it this far, and the last one to do it was the creator of magic. Talk about crazy.

    Well, I say crazy, but this actually is something you can do in the game when you''re following one of the heroine''s routes. That is¡­the secret heroine''s route.

    One huge staple in visual novels is that they love tagging on a secret character you¡¯ll only know about if you play the game. The sixth heroine who¡¯s also the secret one is a girl you get introduced to on campus. Although, I can¡¯t really say I was big fan of her.

    She was constantly causing problems for the MC despite always being by his side and by the end of the game, I was sick of her. That was probably why I never beat her route in the game like the others. Instead opting to simply watch another person''s playthrough of her route instead.

    But leaving that be for now, I decided to search around a bit for some clues that connected this place to the map I¡¯d found.

    Sadly, while I indeed had reached the top, I still hadn''t found what I was looking for. And no matter where I searched, I couldn¡¯t see anything. It¡¯s times like these I wish whatever I had to look for was in plain sight. But if that was the case, someone else would¡¯ve probably found it way before me so I guess I¡¯m just gonna have to live with it.

    Scanning the area for a bit longer, I finally noticed something hiding in the snow.

    As I got closer, I saw that it seemed to be some form of plating.

    Wiping the snow off of it, I saw some handles attached to the plating''s sides and I gripped them tightly.

    It took all the strength I had to lift it up a few centimeters, but I heard a small click and lowered the strange plate back onto the ground.

    Upon doing so, I heard a strange rumbling sound and turned around to find a small pillar rising out of the ground.

    Moving over to the pillar, I looked at what lay on it only to find a single key that seemed frozen onto the pillar.

    Confused, I created a fireball and quickly began melting the ice while being cautious as to not melt the key.

    Upon completion, I took the key off the stand and looked at it curiously.

    ¡°This key¡­is it made of obsidian?¡±

    Obsidian here was a bit different from my old world. Here, obsidian is made by putting steel above lava for just long enough that it basically turns into a roasted marshmallow before having to be dropped into water that was around negative eighty degrees Celsius. It¡¯s a pretty tough process to go through.

    Because of this, making obsidian has almost become a lost art that pretty much everyone tries to avoid as just being near lava is dangerous much less using it to create obsidian.

    Another difference with obsidian here is that it¡¯s a very powerful type of metal unlike where I¡¯m from where it¡¯s more or less just a rock made from molten lava being cooled down.

    Put simply, obsidian is quite a rare material in this world. Meaning it¡¯s highly valued and can be sold for a fairly high price in the market.

    And with the addition that it can make powerful weapons, this stuff becomes even more valuable. So I find myself wondering¡­

    ¡°...What¡¯s such a valuable material doing out here on the top of the largest mountain in the world? And in the form of a key no less.¡±

    As I pondered this, I slipped the key into my bag. After that, I made my way down the mountain. I¡¯d considered taking a stop at Alecia¡¯s place to thank her once again but ended up deciding against it as I didn¡¯t want to impose on her any more than I needed to.

    Thankfully, coming down from the mountain was much easier than walking up so I managed to make it back to the ground a little bit after midnight.

    Staying at an inn nearby, I flopped down on the bed and let out a sigh.

    What a strange situation I¡¯ve found myself in. One moment I¡¯m just doing my day-to-day job as an adventurer and the next thing I know I¡¯m going on a treasure hunt to find something I didn¡¯t know a thing about. Life really is strange.

    So much has been happening, and I¡¯ve barely had any time to focus on my plans for my future harem. And it¡¯s been quite a pain to ignore the subject. But I guess that¡¯s just what happens when you have a full plate.

    Getting up, I walked over to my bag and took out the obsidian key. Looking over it for a moment.

    This key¡¯s probably connected to the next location, was all I could come up with when looking at this key.

    Slipping it into my pocket, I made my way back over to my bed and flopped down onto it once more before pulling the blanket over my body.

    Not wanting to think about the long journey I had ahead of me, I closed my eyes and began dreaming about the future harem I planned to create.

 Chapter 4: The Reward of Perseverance

    After about a month or so of traveling, I finally made it to the next destination on the map. The Grand Magic Clocktower. A staple in the town of Wizardo.

    Having only a year left before the events of the game started to take place, I needed to hurry things up.

    I just hope whatever this lead I¡¯m following bears fruit. If not, I can kiss my enjoyable harem life goodbye.

    Entering town, I made my way through the streets. As I did so, my attention was brought to all the stores around me. Each one showing off all types of special magical items to assist magic users in their day-to-day lives.

    With so many interesting things on display, it took all the will I had not to spend my money on anything.

    However, in the end, I found myself wandering into one of the stores and buying myself a magical item that apparently made it possible to use magic even within a magic-blocking barrier. That sounded cool, but they only lasted around ten to fifteen seconds at most which couldn¡¯t really get you anywhere unless you were a high-class wizard of some kind.

    Still, I bought one as a precaution and stashed it away in my bag before moving on.

    Reaching the center of town, I arrived at my destination. The Grand Magic Clocktower.

    It stood high above the rest of the city as the clock at the very top clicked little by little. Showing the passage of time.

    Deciding to head in, I pulled the obsidian key from my pocket.

    There was a door at the bottom of the tower with a lock on it. So I carefully pushed the key into the keyhole. However¡­

    ¡°Looks like it doesn''t fit.¡±

    The key was way too big for this lock, meaning I needed a different one if I wanted to get in.

    Slipping the key back into my pocket, I tried looking around to see if I could find another opening to the tower. Sadly, there didn¡¯t seem to be any.

    I scratched my head as I attempted to come up with a solution. That¡¯s when I decided to use my expanded thinking.

    After having scanned around the tower a little, there seem¡¯s to be a hidden entrance located a little higher up.

    As that thought entered my mind, I looked around the tower a little more before noticing a brick that appeared to be out of place compared to the rest a little ways up.

    Looking around, I made sure no one was watching before chanting a spell.

    ¡°Wind, jump.¡±

    Wind began to flow from my feet and I jumped up into the air. Reaching out my hand, I barely manage to grasp hold of the out-of-place brick. Gripping my other hand to the wall, I lightly pulled on the weird brick.

    As I did so, a strange click could be heard from the other side of the wall and I suddenly felt a whoosh of wind blow in my face causing me to widen my eyes in surprise.

    Trying to return to the ground, I let go of the tower wall to find some kind of platform had appeared below me. It seemed to be made of birch wood.

    Just then, the sound of a clock ticking entered my ears and I turned around to find myself looking at the inner workings of the clocktower. The gears moved slowly. Never stopping as it continued ticking over and over again.

    Taking a better look at my surroundings, it seems I somehow got myself inside the tower.

    Not only that, but the platform below me wasn¡¯t just a simple plank of wood. But rather, it was a staircase that led both up and down.

    From the looks of the building, it¡¯d probably be best to explore the upper levels first in order to avoid growing exhausted from too much physical stress.

    At least that¡¯s what I was thinking anyway. Since one glance at the ground made it clear it would take longer getting down than up.

    With that in mind, I turned my head towards the path leading upwards and I climbed higher into the clock tower.

    While walking up the stairs, I listened to the calming sound of the clock tower as it ticked little by little.

    Reaching the top, I turned my head up to find what seemed to be some kind of hallways in front of me. Unsure of what might be up here, I kept my expanded thinking on high alert as I walked forward.

    Scanning the hall, I saw there were doors that had labels on each of them.

    ¡°Engine Enchantment Zone, Cleaning Closet, Drop Off Area.¡±

    There were more, but it would take forever to read them all so I¡¯ll just move on.

    Continuing to walk around, I couldn¡¯t describe it, but I felt like there was one room I really needed to find. And none of the others felt right at all. But then, I found it.

    ¡°Main Management Office.¡±

    I guess this was where the tower management was run from. Still unsure if this was the right door, I pulled out the key and brought it to the door¡¯s keyhole.

    A perfect fit.

    Turning the key, I could hear the sound of the door unlocking before carefully pulling out the key and bringing my hand toward the knob.

    Trying to ignore my quickening heartbeat, I took in a deep breath and pushed the door open, walking inside before closing the door behind me.

    As I moved away from the door, I took a look around the room.

    The floor seemed to be made of a nice cushiony red carpet, and the walls were made of some beautifully textured spruce wood.

    ¡°Pretty nice office. Definitely someone higher up would work in,¡± I muttered aloud.

    There was also a dark oak desk near the back of the room which I assumed belonged to whoever worked in this office.

    There didn¡¯t appear to be any security cameras in here¡­but that¡¯d be a bit much for a fantasy world like this. At least I think so.

    Moving past that, I searched the room for any sign of a clue of what I needed to do next.

    Eventually, I finally found myself looking at the desk.

    I hadn¡¯t planned to rummage through it as that was an invasion of privacy, but I was starting to get desperate.

    As I dug through the desk drawers, I didn¡¯t find anything of note. The closest thing I found was a strange obsidian ring that glowed up in the dark.

    Not sure what to do with it, I shoved it into my pocket and continued digging.

    Yes, I know that was stealing. However, the ring looked like it hadn¡¯t been worn in almost twenty years so it probably didn¡¯t have any importance. Either that or the person who worked in this room had it as a memento for something. Either way, I figured I¡¯d might as well hold onto it.

    Digging for a bit longer, I tried opening one last drawer which had been the only one I hadn¡¯t searched through. However, as I pulled on the handle, it appeared to be locked. Confused, I took a look at it before noticing a keyhole. Figuring it¡¯d be worth a shot, I pulled out my key and slid it inside. Just like the door, it fit like a glove.

    Slipping the key back into my pocket, I pulled the drawer open and what was lying inside peaked my curiosity.

    Within the drawer was a single compass that was protected by a giant velvet pillow.

    Picking up the compass, I flipped it on it¡¯s back and front. Examining it.

    The compass appeared to be like any other. However, there was something odd about it. For some reason, rather than pointing north, this one kept pointing south.

    ¡°Something¡¯s off about this compass,¡± I muttered as I looked it over a second time.

    Figuring this was what I was looking for, I shoved it into my pocket. But as I did so, I heard the sound of something moving nearby and ducked behind the desk.

    As I crouched there, I waited until the sound vanished from my ears before letting out a sigh of relief before cleaning up everything so that it looked the same way it had when I got here.

    After that, I left the room and once arriving at the stairs, I started descending them slowly while keeping an eye out for anyone who might see me.

    Reaching the bottom of the stairs, I found the floor was made of smooth stone that had been painted black. Making it feel a bit ominous.

    Stepping onto the ground, I glanced from my left to right as I tried to find the door out of here. However, there didn¡¯t seem to be anything like that in sight.

    I tried feeling around my surroundings, but all I was met with was nothing but stone walls.

    Growing frustrated, I decided to light up my surroundings a bit.

    ¡°Fireball.¡±

    A flame immediately appeared in my hand and the room got a lot brighter.

    And as I looked around, I finally realized why I hadn¡¯t been able to find anything.

    Despite standing at the bottom of the stairs before, it appeared I was now standing in some form of dark eerie hallway. Trying to move around, it seemed the hallway moved with me. When I turned to the left, the hallway went left. And when I turned to the right, it went right.

    ¡°Why the hell would a Clock Tower have something like this?¡± I muttered aloud as I tried to figure out a way to escape this situation.

    Looking up and down, I wanted to see if the halls followed my movements or eyesight. And well¡­

    ¡°Oof!¡±

    Yeah. Now I know for sure.

    Getting onto my feet, I let out a sigh and tried walking for a little bit in hopes that maybe I¡¯d find the end.

    Sadly, no matter how far I walked, I didn¡¯t appear to be moving at all. Was this some kinda trap set up to deal with intruders or something?

    Deciding to hold off on walking any further, I stopped in my tracks and scooted over next to the wall without looking at it in an attempt to try an experiment.

    Pulling out the obsidian key from my pocket, I flipped it on its back and used wind magic to slam into it hard enough that it caused a crack that at could see even without moving my head. Though hitting it so hard hurt a bit, this was important for me to test my hypothesis.

    Putting the key back in my pocket, I began walking once more. About five minutes passed before results showed themselves when a certain crack came into view.

    ¡°Guess that means this thing is some form of loop,¡± I muttered. Considering what to do next.

    I hadn¡¯t anticipated something like this would happen during this treasure hunt. Though, in all fairness, I was still unfamiliar with the magic in this world.

    Had I¡¯d been able to study all the different forms of magic, I¡¯d probably have been able to come up with a solution to something like this.

    But since I didn¡¯t have anything like that, I had to rely on my expanded thinking, which was already hard at work, and had already come up with three different ideas for me to try.

    One sounded like it might work, one sounded plausible but uncertain, and one sounded way too convenient.

    Trying the first hypothesis, I placed my hand against the wall and began chanting.

    ¡°Fireball.¡±

    As I said that, the wall slowly began to heat up.

    I had hoped this would eventually be melt through the wall. Giving me a way out.

    However, no matter how hot it got, the walls never melted. I attempted to rust it down with water as well, but nothing. It appeared these things were protected with some form of magic blocking spell. I guess the only reason it didn¡¯t work the same as the key was simply that it was a blunt object. Though considering how much my hand hurt after creating that crack, I¡¯d rather avoid using that method to break the wall.

    So, with that failure, I moved on to my next theory.

    Without looking behind me, I began walking backward. This theory made me wonder if maybe this loop was one-sided and if I went back without looking at the path, I¡¯d find my way back to the stairs. Hopefully finding an exit from there.

    However, when I passed the crack on the wall I made earlier, it was clear this wasn¡¯t working.

    Scratching the back of my head, I finally gave in and decided it was about time to try the most contrived theory of the three.

    As I mentioned earlier, I picked up an obsidian ring and brought it with me for no particular reason. But oddly enough, I felt like it might have something to do with the way out. Despite how stupidly convenient that would be, I figured it was worth a shot. So, I pulled the ring out of my pocket and slipped it onto my finger.

    After that, I held it up and¡­nothing.

    ¡°Yeah. I figured as much. There¡¯d never be something that convien-¡±

    My sight was immediately blinded by a bright light coming from the ring and I had to shut my eyes tight. A few moments later the light faded and I couldn¡¯t believe what I was seeing after I opened my eyes.

    ¡°Wah¡­.Really!?¡±

    As of now, I found myself standing outside the clock tower at the entrance.

    Feeling dumbstruck, I recomposed myself a few moments later and let out an irritated sigh.

    I know I shouldn¡¯t complain about getting out of that situation, but that just felt way too easy and contrived to be the actual solution.

    Then again, I was in a visual novel which love cliche twists like this so I really shouldn¡¯t be that surprised.

    Stretching out my arms, I felt a yawn escape my mouth and I began making my way to a nearby inn.

    While in my room, I found myself pulling the compass out of my bag and looking it over. It appeared to be a normal compass in almost every way. But considering it never pointed north, I knew that wasn¡¯t the case.

    Plus, considering it was hidden away in a drawer, I highly doubt anyone would hide your normal every day compass in a place like that. So this had to be special. That I was certain of.

    So, deciding to stop thinking about it for the night, I ordered a meal and ate it happily before dozing off into bed without a second thought.

    Before I knew it, dawn came and I groggily crawled out of bed.

    Putting on my clothes, I heard the sounds of footsteps in the streets and looked out my window to find soldiers roaming the streets as well as guarding the clock tower. Guess they figured out something got stolen.

    Not wanting to get into any trouble, I stealthily snuck out of town and headed off with the compass in hand.

    While I walked, I thought about the compass in my hand.

    Since this compass is facing south instead of north, it¡¯s probably safe to assume it has its own destination preset.

    If that was the case, it was a pretty interesting device.

    Pondering where it could possibly be leading, the image of the sky island flashed through my mind. That was the only plausible answer I could think of considering everything else up to this point.

    This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

    So, figuring it¡¯d be best to follow the compass, I made sure I was all set to go and once I was done, I headed off toward the direction the compass was pointing.

    Sadly, it didn¡¯t take long to hit a roadblock as less than two hours after I started walking, I found myself standing in front of a giant blue ocean.

    Reluctantly, I bought a boat in a nearby town and brought it to the water before hopping in and beginning to row.

    This continued on for about an hour before my arms started getting tired. Showing that having an unathletic body really sucked.

    Deciding to rest for a bit, I tried my best to get as comfortable as possible on the boat and closed my eyes.

    I must¡¯ve been more tired than I thought since before I knew it, I had passed out and by the time I woke up, I had a massive headache.

    Trying to ignore it, I got back to rowing for another hour before collapsing on the boat and trying my best to capture my breath as my heartbeat rapidly thumped in my chest. This was gonna be a long journey ahead.

    I continued rowing for another four hours when something suddenly hit me.

    Wouldn¡¯t it be faster just to use wind magic to propel myself forward?

    Thinking that caused my movements to freeze in their tracks.

    ¡°Dammit! Why didn¡¯t I think of that sooner!?¡± I screamed. Wailing my arms all over the place before collapsing into the boat.

    Deciding to just let my body rest until I could move properly, I sat around until I was able to use my arms again. After that, I dipped them into the water.

    ¡°Wind Push.¡±

    I instantly felt a breeze hit my face as the boat shot forward at an incredible speed. Feeling a sense of relief knowing the rest of the journey would be much easier, I continued moving across the water. Curious to see where this compass would lead me.

    About eight hours later, I finally reached some land which led me to a fishing village.

    Figuring it wouldn¡¯t hurt, I stocked up on supplies and food hoping I got enough to complete the rest of my journey.

    After that, I stayed at the village inn before continuing my journey once more.

    Before I knew it, six months passed and after taking multiple pit stops, as well as getting a bit sidetracked, I eventually found myself where I am now.

    With only four months to spare, it was all I could hope for to reach wherever this compass was taking me. But with how things are going right now, I¡¯m getting kinda sick of all this.

    ¡°Haaah. It feels like I¡¯ve already traveled halfway around the world. Just how far is this thing?¡± I grumbled while trudging forward. My eyes kept on the compass the entire time.

    ¡°...Huh?¡±

    With my legs being absolutely exhausted, I watched as the compass began acting a bit strange as it immediately shifted and suddenly moved backward. Indicating I passed wherever I was supposed to go.

    ¡°Wait¡­does this mean-!?¡±

    Taking a few steps back, the compass began to stop moving little by little before coming to a halt when I was standing in the middle of an empty grass field.

    ¡°Is this the place I¡¯m looking for?¡±

    Looking around curiously, I tried searching for something that could help clarify this. However, there didn¡¯t appear to be anything nearby.

    That could only mean one thing.

    ¡°Do I¡­have to dig?¡±

    I glanced at the ground below me.

    That was all I could really think of at this point, so it had to be it¡­right?

    Letting out a sigh, I rubbed my eyes.

    ¡°I really need to buy a shovel at some point,¡± I muttered before chanting a spell that slowly opened up the ground little by little.

    After Seven hours of digging, along with many breaks to escape the heat of the sun, I hit something metal that wouldn¡¯t allow me to dig any further.

    Excited to find out what it was, I crawled down the hole and landed on a strange metal plate.

    Not wanting to waste any time, I used fire magic to melt the metal and after ten minutes I managed to create a decently sized hole.

    Slipping inside, I landed on the ground and I took a look around to find out where this compass had led me. Though, to my surprise, I found I was standing in some kind of hallway made of iron so clean that you¡¯d think it was polished recently.

    It was honestly a bit weird. But even so, I knew I wouldn¡¯t get anywhere standing around so I began walking down the hall. Curious as to where it would lead me.

    About five minutes of walking later, I reached the end of the hallway. Though that wasn¡¯t important. What was important was where the hallways had brought me.

    ¡°Is this¡­some kinda control station?¡±

    Making my way inside, I appeared to be standing in a room that looked like it belonged to some space-action movie instead of a medieval fantasy dating sim.

    Unable to hold back my curiosity, I immediately began exploring the room with a sparkle in my eye. This was so cool!

    My attention was first brought to the front of the room.

    ¡°A real commander''s chair! It looks so cushiony!¡±

    Beep

    Next, it was brought to a small break area.

    ¡°Is this a snack station!? Wait a minute¡­dang. It¡¯s all spoiled.

    Beep

    Even the floor was interesting to look at.

    ¡°Whoa! This floor¡¯s so shiny!¡±

    Beep

    Okay. That sound was getting on my nerves.

    ¡°Would that beeping sound just shut up for a second!?¡±

    I stopped marveling at the awesome-looking room as the sound of an alarm ringing entered my ear. It was ruining my fun.

    Click

    Just then I heard a metallic click from behind me and I turned around to find a hole opening in the ceiling.

    ¡°What the fu-!¡±

    Boom!

    A loud crash echoed throughout the room as a strange metal machine dropped from the ceiling onto the ground below.

    I brought my gaze to the top of some kind of metal giant with a purple lens for an eye.

    ¡°Intruder confirmed. Fight Mode Engaged.¡±

    ¡°Wha-!?¡±

    I barely managed to dodge out of the way as a claw of some sort came flying at me. No way. No way in hell is this what I think it is!

    ¡°Recalculating directory. Target¡¯s location reidentified.¡±

    The giant hunk of metal turned to me and aimed out its claw once more.

    ¡°Wind Jump!¡±

    Pushing myself into the air, I got a good look at the enemy in front of me. As I stared at it, only one thought came to my mind.

    ¡°Why the hell is a freakin battle robot in this dating sim!?¡±

    The robot immediately readjusted its claw toward me as I began falling to the ground.

    ¡°Wind Jump!¡±

    Pushing myself out of the way, I landed on the ground before letting out a groan of frustration.

    ¡°Recalculating Directory. Reidentifiying Targets Location.¡±

    That robot¡¯s voice was really starting to get on my nerves.

    The best way to defeat a robot would be its core. The most likely location for said core on a robot such as this would commonly be in either its eye or chest.

    So if this was the actual case, I had a one-in-two chance unless I somehow found a way to attack both without dying in the process.

    ¡°Recalculating Directory. Target¡¯s location reidentified.¡±

    ¡°Would you just shut up!?¡±

    Starting to grow annoyed more than scared, I gripped the blade tied to the belt on my waist before drawing it from its scabbard and looking at the robot¡¯s singular eye.

    Naturally, I wasn¡¯t very good with a sword due to my lack of physical strength. However-

    ¡°-that doesn¡¯t mean I can be beaten that easily!¡±

    I pressed my feet into the ground.

    ¡°Wind Boost!¡±

    My whole body thrust forward as I dashed at the robot as fast as I could go.

    ¡°Speed ability has been altered. Adapting to new speeds.¡±

    ¡°Huh?¡±

    As soon as I began to pick up speed, the robot shot its claws at me once more.

    ¡°Wah!? That¡¯s not fair!¡±

    Barley dodging the robot¡¯s claws once more, I began running ideas through my head.

    Solution one: change my way of fighting in order to confuse it. Solution two: push my sword forward with wind magic till it hits one of the two possible weak points, solution three: give up and accept my death.

    I really didn¡¯t like solution three, so I figured it¡¯d be best to try the two other idea¡¯s first.

    Attempting solution one, I ducked under the robot¡¯s claw and tried altering my speed by turning my wind magic on and off over and over in hopes of keeping the robot on its¡­non-existent toes as its body was jammed into the ground.

    I continued to keep up the pace and the robot just stared at me as I drew closer.

    ¡°Calculating movements. Pattern noticed. Changing speed.¡±

    ¡°What!?¡±

    I was going at this completely randomly! How could it possibly calculate the speeds I was traveling at!?

    In an instant, I felt the robot''s claw next to my face.

    ¡°Wind Jump!¡±

    I shot back and nearly crashed into the wall as I narrowly avoided getting crushed.

    Geez How am I supposed to beat something that predicts movements even I couldn¡¯t keep up with?

    Solution two would probably be the best course of action.

    ¡°Haah. Guess I might as well try it,¡± I said while preparing my attack.

    Pulling my sword from the scabbard, I pointed it at the robot''s face.

    ¡°¡°Recalculating directory. Target¡¯s location reidentified.¡±

    The robot turned its claw in my direction.

    ¡°This had better work!¡± I pleaded as I felt my grip loosen on my sword.

    ¡°Wind Boost!¡±

    I thrust the sword at the robot and it sailed through the sky at rapid speed. Thanks to the calculations my expanded thinking did, I knew it was gonna hit its mark.

    And just as predicted, the sword slammed right into the robot¡¯s eye with a loud smash.

    As it hit, the robot seemed to have a hard time understanding what had happened.

    ¡°Error¡­Error¡­ miscalculation. Attempting to fix¡­failure. Error¡­Error.¡±

    Sparks flew out of the robot¡¯s body. Looks like the core really was its eye.

    I backed away as sparks continued flying from the robot¡¯s body and the smell of smoke entered the room.

    After another moment, the robot¡¯s whole body appeared to have shut down and its arms fell limply to its sides.

    With that, it was over. The room was quiet and I found myself continuously taking in several deep breaths before collapsing to the ground myself. Completely exhausted.

    I laid there for almost ten minutes before I shakely got up onto my feet and walked to the front of the room.

    Not wanting to stretch my feet too much, I plopped myself down in the main commander''s seat and let out a breath of relief.

    ¡°What the heck was up with that robot?¡± I asked as I struggled to catch my breath.

    Not wanting to let the chance to relax go to waste, I leaned even deeper in the chair and didn¡¯t even notice my hand slide onto a panel on the seat''s right armrest.

    ¡°New name registered. Palm recognition identified.¡±

    ¡°Gah!¡±

    I jumped at the sound of a familiar robotic voice. Oddly enough though, the voice sounded a little more feminine than before.

    ¡°Who¡¯s there?¡±

    Feeling my voice coming back to me, I asked that question while continuing to look around.

    ¡°Searching Data Base. My Apologies. There is no answer to the question you¡¯ve asked Master.¡±

    ¡°Master?¡±

    Sitting up in the seat, I rested my head on the back of the seat.

    Perhaps the better question would be to ask what is speaking to me.

    Yeah. Maybe it¡¯s just a wording thing.

    ¡°Let me rephrase that. What is speaking to me right now?¡±

    ¡°Searching Data Base. Answer Found. The one you are speaking to is the main computer system running throughout this entire ship.¡±

    I see. So it¡¯s like the ships speaking to me.

    ¡°Alright then. Why did you call me master before?¡±

    ¡°Searching Data Base. Answer Found. As you have cleared the control rooms challenge, you have been granted authority of the island.¡±

    ¡°Control rooms challenge? Island?¡±

    What was this thing talking about?

    ¡°Was that control room challenge the robot I faced just now?¡±

    ¡°Searching Data Base. Answer Found. Indeed. As you have completed this challenge, it is safe to assume you defeated the other challenges this island forced upon you as well. As such, you are worthy of owning this island.¡±

    ¡­Other challenges?

    Come to think of it, that tunnel did go both left and right. Did this mean I completely skipped the other ninety percent of this challenge because I went right!?

    ¡°Are you well Master? You appear quite pale.¡±

    ¡°Er¡­Y-Yeah. I¡¯m fine. Just reflecting on how hard all those challenges were haha.¡±

    Crap. If any of those challenges were as physically exhausting as this one, I don¡¯t think I ever would¡¯ve made it here. It¡¯s probably best this computer never finds out about that.

    ¡°A-Anways, does that mean since I was accepted as your master I have full control of the challenges in case any might still be intact?¡±

    ¡°Searching Data Base. Answer Found. Indeed. You now have full control of the island.¡±

    There¡¯s the mention of an island again.

    ¡°Um¡­if I may ask, what do you mean by me having full control of the island?¡±

    ¡°Searching Data Base. Answer Found. It is just as I said. You now own this entire island and have the choice to do whatever it is you wish with it.¡±

    ¡°Um¡­I see.¡±

    Still not being able to wrap my head around what this weird voice was saying, I let out a sigh.

    ¡°Question. Master, do you wish to ascend from the earth?¡±

    ¡°Hm? Yeah. Sure. Whatever.¡±

    I¡¯d answered without thinking, but I immediately snapped back to reality when a low rumbling sensation shook under my feet.

    ¡°What the-!?¡±

    ¡°Notice. The island would be finished resurfacing in five minutes.¡±

    What is that computer talking about!?

    As I thought that, several screens appeared in front of me that appeared to be cameras of some kind.

    Two minutes passed before anything began to show. But as soon as they did, I noticed several chunks of dirt rising from above the camera¡¯s vision and everything started to clear up.

    Outside, I noticed an all too familiar sky and my eyes widened in surprise.

    ¡°Wait a minute. Are we doing what I think we¡¯re doing!?¡±

    Staring at one of the screens, I saw white fluffy clouds getting closer and closer by the minute.

    ¡°Holy crap! We¡¯re flying!¡±

    After another three minutes, the rumbling finally stopped and a giant screen that acted like a window appeared in front of the ship which gave me a clear view of what was in front of me.

    This was just way too much to take in at once.

    Before I knew it, I¡¯d found a mode of transportation as well as a whole island under my command. Life really was full of surprises.

    A few days later, news spread out throughout the world that a brand new flying island had emerged thanks to the findings of a single fourth-rank adventurer who went by the name of Axel Savoncho. It spread so fast, it wasn¡¯t a surprise that a man who looked to be around his sixties found himself reading about it on the newspaper lying on his desk.

    As he gave the slightest of grins upon seeing the news, a young man with silver hair burst into his room.

    ¡°Sir! Have you heard the news!?¡±

    As the young man asked that, he looked down at the newspaper in front of the man which gave him his answer.

    ¡°Indeed I have young Iwaru. It appears quite the interesting individual has appeared before us.¡±

    ¡°Yes sir. What do you want to do sir?¡±

    The man put his hand to his chin and thought to himself for a moment before answering.

    ¡°Let me ask you. How old is this adventurer?¡±

    ¡°I believe he¡¯s around the age of fifteen sir. Although he¡¯ll more than likely be turning sixteen before long according to his adventurer registry.¡±

    ¡°I see. Then that¡¯s perfect. Get me some paper. I¡¯d like to send a message to this Axel Savoncho. He¡¯s clearly someone worth nurturing.¡±

    ¡°Right away sir!¡±

    The boy named Iwaru left the room without a second''s hesitation and the man down in his comfy office chair before laying back while facing his giant window.

    ¡°An adventurer who accomplished something even the richest nobles couldn¡¯t. Someone worth nurturing indeed.¡±

    With that, the man turned his chair back around and went back to reading the newspaper on his desk.

    Two weeks after I came into possession of my island, a bird came and delivered my normal newspaper. I was just glad the island had enough valuable things for me to sell that I not only had enough to buy food that would last me a good while, but also let me pay for the weekly newspaper rather than having to snatch one when I got the chance.

    Oddly enough though, today the bird not only handed me my newspaper, but a strange letter as well.

    It was sealed with an expensive-looking envelope and had a strange stamp on the side.

    Waving the bird goodbye, I turned around as I looked at the letter curiously.

    ¡°What is that you have in your hand Master?

    ¡°It seems like some sort of letter. Though I don¡¯t know how someone could get the address to a floating island.¡±

    ¡°I see. I hope it is nothing bad.¡±

    ¡°Geez. Don¡¯t be so negative Sirin.¡±

    Since I¡¯ve had no one but the computer to talk to over the last two weeks, I¡¯ve been slowly helping the computer speak more fluently. Why? Because I was bored.

    I also ended up giving it the name Sirin since that name wasn¡¯t too far off from the name used for the searching tool phones used back in my old world.

    But leaving that be for now, I opened up and letter and took a look inside.

    What did I find? Nothing much. Just a neatly folded paper inside. Some kind of message more than likely.

    Unfolding the paper, I saw a message written on down and began reading it in my head.

    As I continued doing so, my eyes grew wider and wider while a smile began creaking onto my face. This was it. What I¡¯d been searching for. It was finally time!

    ¡°Let¡¯s freaking go!¡± I shouted with my voice full of excitement.

    ¡°Master?¡±

    Sirin didn¡¯t seem to understand why I was so thrilled, but that didn¡¯t matter in the slightest.

    ¡°Just you wait harem life! I¡¯m coming for you!¡±

    A few months later, I found myself standing in front of the prestigious High School of Magic and Swordsmanship. The school I¡¯d been aiming to attend for the last six years.

    Looking at my surroundings, I¡¯d already noticed three of the five heroines moving about I couldn¡¯t help but feel giddy when seeing them.

    A few people were looking at me weirdly, but that wasn¡¯t important. After all, I¡¯d officially made my way in and it was time for me to take what I rightfully deserved.

    No matter what got in my way, no matter how many trials I had to overcome, I was going to make those heroines my own!

    So with that, my long and tedious quest to create a harem at the High School of Magic and Swordsmanship had officially begun. Little did I know, however, that my entire life would soon be flipped completely on its head.

 Chapter 5: Harem Plan Preparations

    With my plan to enter the school finally complete, it was time to move on to the next phase of my plan. That being the harem itself. Though I didn¡¯t expect it to happen immediately. So for the time being, I needed to simply blend in.

    Thus, I made my way towards the opening ceremony. But then, I spotted something not too far off.

    What I saw was a young boy who looked to be around fifteen to sixteen with orange hair that almost fell over his eyes being sniffed over by a girl with long dark purple hair. Unlike many of the people around me, I already knew exactly who those two were.

    ¡°So you¡¯ve already begun to gain attention, huh Riko Toyazoto?¡±

    Riko Toyazoto. The MC of this story. In short, my main enemy in this battle of harem building. Like any MC with no personality, he¡¯s not exactly sharp and tends to miss any hints given by the girls around him.

    He also gets treated poorly thanks to his lower social standing compared to the rest of the people at the school and Naturally, none of the main heroines think of him that way and treat him pretty much like any other student.

    As for the girl sniffing him over, I instantly knew who that was. Her long dark purple hair, her violet purple eyes, her strangely-shaped horns and wings, and not to mention her fairly nice bust. That girl was Xara Femashito.

    Xara is a succubus who learned to hold in her lust for human juices thanks to a method known as smelling people''s auras. Which gave succubi the same satisfaction as getting down and dirty but without the drawbacks.

    It was a rather weird substitute, but considering the writers probably just wanted to include a succubus among the heroines, this was more than likely the best explanation they could come up with to keep the game from becoming an eroge.

    But moving past that, according to the game''s story, Xara accidentally ran into Riko and got a whiff of his aura. It was so sweet, that she ended up growing attached to him almost immediately. She¡¯s also known as the easiest heroine to win over in the game despite almost all the other girls falling for the MC by the time you have to pick a single heroine''s route.

    Not only was she claimed to be the easiest, but apparently Xara was such a simple character that the studio had planned to drop a special fan disc that expanded on her story that was left out during the main game.

    For a quick explanation, a fan disc is kinda like a mini-sequel that continues the story of the main game that was less like a second game and more like a continuation. Kinda like DLC.

    Since the fan disc hadn¡¯t come out yet when I was summoned here, I never got to check it out. Because of that, I¡¯ll probably have my work cut out for me in trying to win this girl over. Especially since she falls for the MC faster then any other heroines.

    Rolling my eyes at the two, my attention was brought to a nearby group of girls.

    One girl imparticular stood out from the rest thanks to her orange and black striped hair, grey eyes, and fuzzy tail and ears. This girl was a demi-human named Kimichi Romaiyozu.

    Out of all the other heroines, she probably has the most basic backstory.

    After the near extinction of her kind, also known as the tiger demi-humans, she set out to show her worth in the world so people would stop looking at tiger demi-humans as monsters and more as helpful parts of the community who deserve to thrive as much as anyone else.

    Meeting the MC when he¡¯s checking out the different clubs, she finds him to be quite the interesting individual and in order to see what he can do, she had him compete against her in a game of soccer, and that proved the MC was actually rather athletic.

    After that, she¡¯d ask him to join the soccer club which he¡¯d decline and that sets up her involvement in the story as she slowly falls for him over time while also trying to convince him to join.

    Of course, there¡¯s also the story if you follow her route where you learn she overworks herself and also has to deal with a rather¡­creepy individual. But considering how far off and deep that story thread is, it¡¯d probably be best to save her for later.

    One other person caught my eye who appeared to be directing everyone towards the school¡¯s gymnasium where the opening ceremony would be held.

    One of the most distinguishable features of this girl was her pointy ears that were poking out of her hair. Add that on to her long crimson-colored hair, green eyes, and lack of bust and you have the heroine Talia Yergonu.

    Talia is a half elf known for her hatred of men which was all too clear as she glared at several of the boys who looked at her funny. She also had a short temper and could be quite rude when she wanted to be.

    The most prominent part of her personality, as I mentioned, is her hatred of men. I won¡¯t go into details, but put simply, the men in her life weren¡¯t exactly the brightest and tended to make rash decisions for their own benefit.

    I think there was more to it as well, but I couldn¡¯t remember so we¡¯ll just leave that be for now.

    Returning to how her story went, despite this hatred for men, she still aims to make the school a safe place for both girls and boys even though she was only a first year.

    Annoyingly enough, the only reason she really speaks to the MC is his rather feminine face which normally is covered up by his hair. Thanks to these features, she grows closer to him through several generic boy and girl events she normally never go to experience.

    It might make most people''s hearts melt, but all it did was annoy the hell out of me. In the end, the whole story was based on appearances. Had the developers just said she felt oddly safe around him then I would¡¯ve bought it a bit better. Him conveniently having feminine features Tailia could handle was one of the few problems I had playing this game.

    As you might expect, because Tailia is able to do boy and girl things with the MC, she eventually falls for him like all the others and is added to the roster of choosable heroines. Meaning that winning her over with a face like mine which isn¡¯t feminine at all would be a much more challenging task.

    But moving past that, I slipped into the gymnasium with the other students and sat down in one of the seats.

    Oddly enough, I felt a ton of stares on me. But when I looked around, no one seemed to be looking in my direction. Weird.

    Several kids chatted amongst themselves while they waited for orientation to start, so I decided to try that myself.

    Turning to the kid next to me, I tried beginning a conversation with them.

    ¡°Hey there. Nice to meet ya.¡±

    I tried starting it casually, however, the person next I spoke to just glared at me before turning away. What was that about?

    Deciding that they were just rude I turned to the person on my other side.

    ¡°Hello th-¡±

    That person did something similar as they turned their head away and seemed to pretend I wasn¡¯t there. What¡¯s the deal with these guys?

    Not sure how to handle this, I ended up just slumping down into my seat as the feeling of someone glaring at me grew stronger and stronger. Making me feel rather uncomfortable.

    Trying my best to them, I looked around the room in an attempt to find one of the other heroines but failed to locate the one I was looking for.

    More than likely she was running late. It was in her character after all.

    Just then, the sound of a microphone, or rather, a voice-amplifying spell, echoed throughout the room.

    ¡°Hello, new students. Welcome to the High School of Magic and Swordsmanship. As student council president, I wish you all a happy stay.¡±

    Without saying a word, I looked up at the one who just declared themselves the student council president.

    Standing there was a girl with long white hair, light blue eyes, and a vacant stare that gazed across the room. This girl was one I considered the biggest bore to win over. Her name was Haiko Ariyama.

    Well, I say she was a bore, but it¡¯s not actually that bad when you choose her route as a heroine.

    According to her story, Haiko was experimented on ever since she was a kid due to her unnatural amount of magical ability compared to everyone else in her family. Those many experiences left her to act almost robotic-like which caused me to refer to her as more a humanoid robot rather than a normal human.

    Once she falls for the MC, however, the thing she¡¯d best be labeled as is a kuudere.

    She¡¯s constantly trying to poke around the MC¡¯s business and always wants to be around him and help with his problems.

    Like Xara, she apparently had some bonus content as well, but her¡¯s was still in development with no release date in sight.

    As for her story, it was actually quite heartbreaking. The story was about how after she finally opened up to the MC, her family decided they¡¯d finally get involved with her life again after abandoning her and wanted to patch things up. Sadly, all they did was make things worse and things didn¡¯t change for the better until the MC stepped in. A story that wasn¡¯t bad, but dragged on for so long that I got bored pretty quickly.

    Deciding to stop thinking about it for now, I listened in on Haiko¡¯s speech all the way till the end until she dismissed everyone and we were guided towards a set of boards that would tell us which classes we¡¯d each be going to for the remainder of the school year.

    Quickly scanning the boards I finally spotted my name among all the others and my eyes went wide in surprise.

    ¡°No way. This is way too convenient.¡±

    Looking over the boards a second time, it seemed I wasn¡¯t imagining it.

    ¡°Yes!¡±

    Pumping my fist into the air, I let out a shout of excitement. After I did that, however, I found several people staring at me with mixed expressions on their faces.

    Embarrassed, I left the boards behind and began making my way to class. I never thought I could possibly get this lucky. Why do I say that? Well, allow me to explain.

    You see, while the game does feature multiple heroines, only one of them is in the same class as you. Because of this, she¡¯s the only heroine who I could easily interact with on a daily basis. However, the MC barely made into the class and only slipped in there thanks to one of the other students leaving the school due to cold feet. That is to say, it was Class 1-S. A place said to have a consistent amount of high-grade students.

    However, it seems things have already changed quite a bit as I thought back to what the board said.

    ¡°Axel Savoncho - Class 1-S¡±

    It seems by some stroke of luck, I managed to take the MC¡¯s spot in class. What a fantastic twist of fate!

    Just to be clear, I don¡¯t plan on taking the spot of the MC or anything like that. If I tried such a thing, I¡¯d just get myself killed.

    Instead, I plan to act in the shadows and only interact with the girls whenever the MC isn¡¯t around. Using my skills from dating sims to win their hearts with ease.

    And thanks to this little miracle, I not only don¡¯t have to worry about any major interactions with the MC, but I also have a free pass to talk with one of the heroines without the MC interfering.

    Walking into the school building, I tried to move as casually through the halls as I could.

    But as I did so, I noticed almost all the other students were looking at me with either disgust or aggression. What was up with that? It honestly baffled me.

    Is it because I¡¯m a commoner?

    That seemed like the most obvious reason. As stupid as that sounds, this was a school that could usually only be afforded by those of high standing or noble birth. So a commoner coming to this school was pretty unheard of. But would that really cause this much hostility?

    I wouldn¡¯t entirely know since commoners never appeared in the game. If there had been one, I probably would¡¯ve noticed how poorly they were being treated. But without a frame of reference, I didn¡¯t have anything to go off of.

    Letting things slide for now, I walked for about twenty minutes until I found myself standing in front of the door to my classroom.

    Taking in a deep breath, I opened the door and stepped inside

    Looking around, I saw a few other students were in there talking amongst themselves.

    One or two looked my way for a moment before continuing whatever conversation they were having before.

    Feeling rather out of place, I let out a sigh and slumped my shoulders.

    ¡°Hello there. Are you Axel Savoncho?¡±

    Hearing my name, I turned around to find a girl walking up to me. It was the girl who had missed orientation. Though it wasn¡¯t because she was a misfit or something like that, she just wasn¡¯t required to attend. Thus, she probably headed straight to class.

    ¡°Yes. That¡¯s me. What is it?¡±

    ¡°Oh. Nothing. I¡¯ve just been hearing a lot of stuff about how a commoner managed to transfer into this school and wanted to take a look at you myself.¡±

    ¡°I¡­see.¡±

    Looking at the girl, I immediately recognized her short blonde and sky-blue eyes.

    This girl was Dianne Riosha. While this was meant to be a big twist, Dianne is actually the second princess of King Riosha who apparently is supposed to take the throne due to the first princess being banished for undisclosed reasons.

    And before you ask, no that¡¯s not relevant to the plot. She just mentions how much she misses her sister. Her main story is basically her quest to remove the standing between royalty and commoners and while I think she achieves that in the end, it was never really clarified.

    Actually, now that I think about it, she¡¯d actually be a pretty important person to have in my harem since it¡¯d push the idea that despite being a commoner, I was able to win over a princess''s heart. Perhaps making people more accepting of me.

    As mentioned before, she was originally supposed to be in the same class as the MC. But thanks to my intervention, the MC is in another class instead which will make it easier for me to interact with Dianne without him butting in.

    ¡°Well, I just wanted to inform you that if you ever have any questions about the school or any of our class subject then please come to me.¡±

    ¡°Y-You sure? I don¡¯t think these other guys would be cool with you conversing with a commoner like myself.¡±

    I tried putting on a slightly nervous performance in an attempt to win her sympathy. It appeared to have worked as she gave me a look of concern followed by a glowing smile.

    ¡°I don¡¯t mind. You¡¯re more than welcome to impose on me.¡±

    ¡°Er¡­I see. Thank you.¡±

    Damn. Was she always this cute?

    I mean, I knew the art sprites were nice looking, but seeing the real Dianne in front of me, it was on a whole other level.

    If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it.

    Perhaps because she was done talking with me, Dianne made her way to her desk and sat down.

    I took a quick glance at her as I made my way to the back of the classroom.

    Despite being a princess, her blonde hair was cut short to the point it only fell down to her neck. Her sky-blue eyes sparkled in the sunlight and her bust wasn¡¯t something to laugh at either.

    And before you say anything about me being a perv¡­actually you¡¯d been entirely correct. I kinda am one and I don¡¯t plan on changing that any time soon.

    Sitting down in the far back, I glanced around the room while trying to hold back a grin.

    It was finally about to begin. By the time my life at this school came to an end, I¡¯d have a harem of girls at my beck and call. That thought alone was enough to make me giggle with glee.

    Soon enough, the rest of the students began to arrive and the seats filled up at a rapid pace. At least for the most part. The seats around me, however¡­haaah. They were all completely empty.

    I never knew just how much being treated like this could hurt. I¡¯ve seen this kinda stuff happen all the time in manga, but who would¡¯ve guessed how awkward it really was when people acted like you were filth below their feet?

    But leaving that be for now, once everyone had been seated, a man who looked to be in his sixties to seventies walked into the room and bowed to everyone before speaking.

    ¡°Greetings students. My name is Trevor Sebutan and I¡¯ll be your teacher for the remainder of this school year. If you are able, please be patient with me.¡±

    What was with such formal talk? Did all royals talk as stilted as he did?

    Considering the only person I¡¯d spoken to since arriving was Dianne, I didn¡¯t really know.

    ¡°Now before we begin, I¡¯d like to make something clear.¡±

    As he said that, the old man pointed at me.

    ¡°I¡¯m sure you¡¯re all aware, but for the first time since this academy¡¯s founding, we have our first-ever student from the common folk. As strange as that sounds, I can confirm he is permitted to be here due to his exploits and shouldn¡¯t be treated any better or worse than the other students here. If any of you have any objections, please take them up with the school.¡±

    Just as the old man finished saying that, one of the students raised their hands.

    ¡°Yes?¡±

    ¡°If I may, what kind of exploits has this commoner completed to earn a place amongst us?¡±

    I could see the spite in the students'' eyes as they looked at me. With how much hate they seemed to be throwing at me, I almost wanted to stick it to them and show everyone just how strong this commoner was. But not wanting to ruin my plans, I stayed quiet and tried to act like I didn¡¯t want to punch that dude in the face.

    ¡°A fair question. Fortunately, I have a list here that I received from the school.¡±

    The old man pulled out a piece of paper and began reading it aloud. All it really did was recap the events leading up to my admission. So to cut it short, I apparently found one of the rare floating islands that were almost lost to the ages after their sudden disappearance when magic was discovered and I even managed to take full ownership of it. With that feat in and of itself, I was more than welcome into the school. The guy who asked backed down after hearing that but still glared at me clearly quite pissed seeing me in the same classroom as him. Geez dude. Just take a chill pill already.

    ¡°With that settled, are there any other questions?¡±

    A few more students raised their hands. However, most of them were just to complain about how I got in just for accomplishing what was supposedly impossible.

    Honestly, it was just kind of a pain. And I had to do everything in my power to avoid shouting out right then and there.

    Dianne gave me a few glances of concern, but I forced on a smile to make it look like I was okay. Once she saw that, she¡¯d let out a sigh of relief and give me a smile back that caused my heart to flutter every time.

    Honestly, if only I wasn¡¯t trying to be a goody two shoes to win over these girls. I¡¯d have probably snapped already. But whatever. If holding in my true feelings meant I¡¯d get the harem of my dreams, I¡¯d hold it all in as long as necessary.

    The class eventually settled down and we began our lesson.

    Thankfully it wasn¡¯t too hard to grasp. Basically, it was just a lesson of how magic originated and how the headmaster founded the school, and how far he pushed society thanks to his discovery of magic.

    It was actually kinda interesting.

    I wouldn¡¯t say I didn¡¯t already know about all this since it was covered while I was playing the game, but there was still something fascinating about how magic in this world was created.

    Once the bell finally rang, I chucked the bag I¡¯d gotten for school over my shoulder and began leaving the classroom for the break period.

    This probably doesn¡¯t need mentioning, but the way this school works is through a multi-break system.

    Basically, you have first period which teaches you things like magic and wizarding stuff which is followed by a thirty-minute break period to go do whatever you want. You can study, hang out with friends, even go grab a snack from the cafeteria. Anything you wanna accomplish within the break time is entirely up to you.

    That of course is followed by second period which focuses more on your intellectual side. Stuff like math and English. Another break occurs after that before going into the third and final period of the day which involves physical education. Thankfully the three subjects are all split up and switched around for each class so it¡¯s quite rare that classes end up learning together. I say rarely since there are times in the game when classes would be flipped around and you get to meet up with another class.

    Normally the break period would give the MC a chance to interact with the girls in the game and get to know them better. But considering how early we are in the story, the only one he¡¯ll be able to meet at this point is Xara. Although he¡¯ll probably be meeting Kimichi later today when he decides to check out some of the clubs and happens to wander into the soccer club during practice. As odd as it sounds that a medieval-like world has soccer, I guess that¡¯s just how crazy games like this can be sometimes.

    But anyway. Since I don¡¯t have the role of the MC, I figured it¡¯d be best to just wander around during break time. As much as I wanted to put my harem plan into action, I knew it¡¯d take time for me to meet with the other heroines besides Dianne.

    Actually, I considered asking her to hang out today so I could get started. However, with all the glares I kept getting, I think I was right not to talk with her yet.

    Thus, as of now, I found myself lying down on the school roof while looking up at the sky.

    ¡°Man. Talk about a whole lot of nothing,¡± I mumbled aloud at the cloudless mass of blue above me.

    ¡°I know right? Just a bunch of nothing.¡±

    ¡°Yeah¡­hm?¡±

    I suddenly realized a voice came from beside me and I turned to find a girl lying there. She had blonde hair tied into a ponytail, green eyes, and a decently sized bust.

    ¡°Sooo¡­who¡¯re you?¡± I asked.

    The girl beside me grinned and sat up.

    ¡°Greetings! The name¡¯s Lily Acantha! You¡¯re the interesting commoner everyone''s talking about right?¡±

    I sat up and looked her in the eyes.

    ¡°Yeah. I guess I am.¡±

    ¡°Hmm¡­¡±

    The girl looked me up and down before giving a little chuckle. For some reason, that caused a shiver to shoot down my spine.

    ¡°Er¡­Why¡¯d you need to know?¡±

    ¡°Hm? No reason. Just thought I¡¯d get a look at you.¡±

    ¡°Uhh¡­Okay?¡±

    Something felt very off about this girl. I couldn¡¯t put what it was but¡­something just felt really off.

    ¡°Well anyways! Now that we know each other''s names, how would you like to be my friend?¡±

    ¡°Your¡­friend?¡±

    ¡°Yeah. Since this is my first year here, I don¡¯t really know anybody. And since you¡¯re probably better at interacting with people more than royalty do, I figured we could become friends.¡±

    Not exactly a bad argument, but not a very good one either. I still had some hesitations about this girl, but if she really wanted to offer her friendship I saw no reason to refuse.

    ¡°Sure. I don¡¯t mind being friends.¡±

    ¡°Really!? Thank you so much!¡±

    The girl seemed incredibly hyper as she jumped up and down in excitement. Seeing that couldn¡¯t help but make me smile.

    We ended up chatting for a little while longer before waving goodbye for the break and agreed to hang out again at our next one.

    Getting back in class, I tried listening to the lesson only to find myself nearly falling asleep.

    While the lesson from this morning was actually pretty interesting, now we were going over magical formulas that were basically the same as learning math. So I found myself quickly starting to get bored.

    Thankfully, class soon came to an end and I began making my way to the spot me and Lily agreed to me up at. And before you ask, no. I don¡¯t have any plans of adding Lily to the harem¡­ probably.

    I didn¡¯t wanna think too deeply about it since not only was she nice to me, but she also took the time to listen and treat me like a person.

    Before I knew it, that feeling of unease went away and once we met up, me and Lily talked about random topics while eating some food we both bought from the cafeteria.

    Honestly, it was one of the most fun conversations I had in almost six years.

    As the bell for the second break rang, I got up and waved Lily goodbye before returning to class once more.

    With third period starting, the class ended up going out to one of the two tracks the school had set up and trained our bodies by doing some laps.

    Since it was the first day, the school uniforms for physical activities hadn¡¯t been delivered yet so we ended up running in our school uniforms.

    I was used to it since I¡¯d gone through several hot situations wearing way more than this, but the rest of the class didn¡¯t appear to be doing so great.

    I spotted Dianne falling a bit behind and slowed down to move next to her.

    ¡°You good?¡±

    All I did was ask her a casual question but was met by several angry glares. Would you all stop that already? It¡¯s really getting on my nerves.

    Dianne nodded in response.

    ¡°I¡¯m fine. I just need to try my best to push forward.¡±

    ¡°If you say so.¡±

    With that said, I began moving ahead again as the rest of the class stayed a bit farther behind me.

    Despite being ahead, I could still feel the glares piercing my back.

    ¡°Could you stop already? I¡¯m not trying to win over your damn princess¡­yet,¡± I muttered while using wind magic to make running easier as well as give myself a nice breeze.

    In the end, I finished the laps faster than anyone else and had twenty minutes to spare so I decided I¡¯d spend it relaxing in some shade under a nearby tree.

    Having to move their attention away from me to focus on running, the glares stopped and I felt like I could finally relax for a bit.

    Before long, the class period came to an end and it was time to make our way towards our new dorms. Yes, the school has dorms.

    Since I was apparently recommended by someone of high authority, I actually got a pretty sweet pad. It wasn¡¯t anything overly fancy¡­okay that''s a lie. It was a little too fancy for my liking. It came with its own hot tub, a nice view, as well as multiple bathrooms and a bed large enough to fit around three to four people.

    The floor was covered in a nice soft red carpet and the walls were coated in beautiful gold paint.

    Honestly, it was way more than I could ever hope for. Now I just had to remember not to get used to it. Especially since this place was only mine for the next three years.

    As a quick explanation, the school runs for a total a three years. Each year you get a new teacher and your classes grow more difficult. A new variety of lessons gets added each year as well. It was designed to always keep you on your toes. Of course, since this game was a visual novel and could only go on for so long, everything takes place in the first year.

    But now that I''m here, I guess that I meant I¡¯d finally get to experience this three-year course firsthand.

    But moving past that, I figured it was time for me to get some dinner. Sadly, you couldn¡¯t do stuff like order food to your dorm. Instead, you had to go down to either the cafeteria and buy it there or go into the town below the school and purchase it from one of the restaurants or food vendors.

    While the prices in the town below weren¡¯t especially expensive, I wasn¡¯t in the mood to spend much money. Thus, I ended up just going to the cafeteria and getting something there for a much cheaper price.

    As much money as I made from finding my island, I wouldn¡¯t last a month if I just went around and carelessly wasted it all.

    It was sad and it made me wish I could just make the money myself since there wasn¡¯t a legal system to stop that in this world. But much to my disappointment, I lacked such a spell.

    Well anyway, once I finished purchasing my dinner, I made my way back to my dorm room. Excited to enjoy my meal.

    ¡°This is unacceptable!¡±

    Hearing someone shout ahead of me, I looked in the direction of the voice to find a boy from my class standing there glaring at what I assumed was dorm manager who donned a butler uniform.

    ¡°My apologies sir. There just aren¡¯t any VIP rooms left.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t give me that crap! I was informed by my father I¡¯d have the highest quality room you could offer! I don¡¯t want slop like the room you¡¯ve given me! I¡¯d be ashamed to be seen living in such horrendously cheap living quarters!¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m truly sorry sir! There¡¯s just nothing we can do about it!¡±

    ¡°Well, you better figure out how to do something! I can¡¯t possibly live in a garbage heap like this!¡±

    The boy appeared to be angry about his room. Did they give him a trashed room or something like that?

    Walking past them, I saw the guy''s door was open and I took a peak inside.

    ¡°Wah-!¡±

    I couldn¡¯t help but gawk in surprise. This guy¡¯s room¡­looked the exact same as mine. Clean as can be and way bigger than what a singular person needed. There was literally no difference between his and mine. Was this guy crazy or something!? Did he really want something fancier!?

    Not sure what to say, I shook my head and dipped back into my own room.

    Were royals really spoiled to the point a place as nice as this wasn¡¯t enough?

    Sitting down in one of the two comfy chairs my room had to offer, I put the food down on a coffee table in front of me and slowly ate my dinner.

    Come to think of it, how did this world have coffee tables but not coffee?

    Probably since tables have existed since long ago they more than likely invented this under a different name so it¡¯d be best not to think about it.

    Deciding that¡¯d made the most sense, I continued to mindlessly munch through my meal before stretching my arms and putting the plate I¡¯d been given on a dish rack which I¡¯d hand off to some dorm employee once it was filled up. Of course, I made sure to wash them before putting them on the rack. After that, I laid down in bed and found I was immediately bored.

    Not wanting to just lie around until I fell asleep, I walked over to a bookshelf that came with the room and picked out one of the books, and began flipping through it.

    Surprisingly enough, it was actually a pretty good story. I ended up reading it for almost three hours and probably would¡¯ve kept going had I not felt tired.

    Apparently, a dorm employee would come wake me up in the morning so I wasn¡¯t concerned about sleeping in. However, I figured it¡¯d probably be best to go to sleep now so I could get up when I needed to.

    Lying down in bed, I pulled the giant blanket over myself as a cozy warmth covered my body.

    I felt my eyes beginning to slip and about ten minutes later I was out like a light.

    Around two in the morning, a boy stood on the roof of the school and looked out at the expanding sky.

    ¡°Heya Riko. How¡¯re you doing?¡±

    Hearing a voice call out to him, the boy named Riko turned his head to find a girl with long purple hair, a set of small horns, and a pair of wings approaching him from above.

    ¡°Fine. What¡¯re you doing up at this hour Miss Xara?¡±

    The girl named Xara grinned as she landed next to him.

    ¡°I was out grabbing a snack.¡±

    ¡°This early?¡±

    ¡°Yeah. But then I smelled your aura and thought I¡¯d come see you.¡±

    Riko couldn¡¯t help but chuckle.

    ¡°Thanks, Miss Xara. I appreciate it.¡±

    Xara¡¯s smile turned to a frown.

    ¡°I¡¯ve already mentioned this, but you really don¡¯t need to keep putting the Miss in front of my name. Just call me Xara.¡±

    ¡°Er¡­Right. Sorry.¡±

    Riko went back to looking back at the dark sky.

    ¡°Hm? Is something bothering you?¡±

    Xara seemed to sense something was wrong.

    ¡°It¡¯s nothing big. It¡¯s just¡­something feels a bit off. I just can¡¯t put my finger on it.¡±

    Xara gave him a look of confusion.

    ¡°You think so?¡±

    ¡°Well yeah. It¡¯s just that since I¡¯m a lower-ranked noble who doesn¡¯t have any achievements to his name. I was sure people would treat me like garbage just for showing my face at school. But that didn¡¯t end up happening.¡±

    Xara thought to herself for a moment.

    ¡°Hmm¡­Maybe it¡¯s because all the attention is on that commoner student.¡±

    ¡°Commoner student?¡±

    ¡°Yeah. Apparently, because some adventurer found a lost floating island he was submitted into the school. He¡¯s all everyone is talking about since there hasn¡¯t been a commoner at this school at all before now.¡±

    ¡°Really? I guess that¡¯d explain it.¡±

    ¡°Hm? Are you upset the attention isn¡¯t on you?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s not that. I just didn¡¯t think someone would have it worse than me at this school.¡±

    Riko stared out at the stars.

    Xara looked at him for a moment before smiling and turning her head to the stars as well.

    ¡°Personally, I¡¯m rather curious about him. He doesn¡¯t seem like someone with a good aura, but even so, I¡¯d like to meet the guy and see just what everyone hates about him.¡±

    Riko didn¡¯t respond. Instead, he continued looking out at the sky seemingly lost in thought.

    Staring at Riko¡¯s face, Xara let out a small chuckle.

    She couldn¡¯t explain it, but for some reason, she felt quite an attraction to Riko. Whether it was the smell of his aura or something else, she just didn¡¯t want to let him go.

    About to say something else, Xara opened her mouth before her attention was drawn to something below.

    There appeared to be two people talking to one another. She couldn¡¯t make out who they were or what they were saying, but they spoke almost in whispers which meant they¡¯d probably been talking in secret about something.

    She watched them for a few more minutes before they left her field of vision.

    ¡°What¡¯re those guys up to?¡± she found herself pondering.

    Just then, Riko seemed to have finished thinking and turned to her.

    ¡°I¡¯m feeling tired so I¡¯m going back to my dorm. See ya later Mi¡­I mean Xara.¡±

    Xara smiled with glee as he said her name.

    ¡°Yeah! Bye, Riko!¡±

    With that, Riko began making his way back to his room and Xara decided she¡¯d best make her way back as well.

    All the while, plans were being formed from behind the scenes. That no one could¡¯ve ever expected.

 Chapter 6: The Harsh Reality

    It¡¯s been two months since I''ve entered this school and sadly, the harem plan I created has yet to see any real results. The closest thing I¡¯ve gotten to making progress was a few interactions with Dianne. However, those quickly get fuddled by the large amount of people trying to convince Dianne not to talk to me. And all I can really say to that is mind your own damn business you royal assholes! Geez.

    But anyway, me and Lily have been hanging out pretty much every day during our break periods and it turns out we have a lot more in common than I¡¯d originally thought. In fact, it kinda surprised me. Especially since we lived in completely different lives from one another.

    Honestly, the only sad thing right now is that nothing major has really happened since I came to this school.

    There were a few difficult tests here and there, but my physical education was actually going quite well. Strange considering my body was still physically weak. I was just lucky the school didn¡¯t ask me to do anything the average person couldn''t do.

    At least that¡¯s what I¡¯d like to say. Sadly, things are gonna get quite difficult pretty fast considering the trip coming up.

    What trip, you ask?

    Why, that¡¯s none other than the school dungeon trip of course!

    The dungeon trip happens every two months at this school. It¡¯s a way to ensure all the students here can be trained for real-world combat by having them seek out treasures and fight terrible monsters in hopes of building up their stamina. In the game, it was just an excuse to hang out with the different heroines. However, this time I¡¯ll actually be participating so it should be quite interesting.

    ¡°You seem nervous, Master.¡±

    Hearing a voice next to me, I found a metal square cube floating next to me.

    ¡°Of course I¡¯m nervous. I¡¯ve heard a lot of different things about this school''s dungeons. And not a lot of the things I heard were good.¡±

    ¡°I see. Would you like me on standby just in case?¡±

    ¡°Nah. Just wait for me back at the island. I should be back above ground within a day or two.¡±

    ¡°Understood.¡±

    For those wondering, the metal cube floating next to me was a miniature version of Sirin. When I returned to the ship a few weeks back, I found the prototype for a portable version of Sirin that I ended up fixing up with her help telling me what to do.

    Of course, I didn¡¯t have much time to work on it since I only had a weekend to do everything. But I still think I did a decent enough job.

    ¡°On another note, I¡¯ve recently caught three trespassers attempting to sneak onto the island. What would you wish for me to do with them?¡±

    ¡°Three huh? Not that many this time.¡±

    Apparently, while I was living at the school, several people had been attempting to hijack my island and claim it as their own. Not exactly the kindest of individuals.

    ¡°Are there any royalty?¡±

    ¡°One, Master. It appears to be Frowses Freidya of the Freidya household.¡±

    Never heard of him. Best not to mention that out loud though. Who knows how someone would react to hearing that if the Freidya household was a big name or something.

    ¡°I see. Please make sure his parents are aware of his escapades. If they are, threaten them for their actions. If they¡¯re not, make sure they punish their son. As for the others, you can dispose of them how you see fit¡­besides killing. That¡¯d be a bit too much.¡±

    ¡°Understood.¡±

    With that, Sirin vanished into thin air. Leaving me on my own.

    I stretched out my arms with a yawn and began making my way back to my dorm room. The trip was two days from now and I needed to make sure I was fully prepared for whatever awaited me.

    As night came, I decided to get a shower.

    As the hot water splashed down onto me, I let out a sigh. It still annoyed me how little progress I¡¯d been making with my harem plan.

    It¡¯s been on my mind all this time, but I still haven¡¯t acted on it. If this keeps going, the heroines will be swept up before I can do anything. I¡¯m positive they all¡¯ve met the MC by now so the longer I take to get started just gives the MC more time to win these girls over.

    As I got out of the shower and began drying myself off, I made a promise to myself.

    ¡°Once this dungeon trip is over, I¡¯ll put all the effort I can into getting myself that harem.¡±

    With that in mind, I figured it¡¯d be best just to head to bed. But right before I did, I found myself looking at the mirror.

    Come to think of it, I hadn¡¯t really paid much attention to my appearance since coming to this school. I didn¡¯t really require much prep in the morning so I usually just shoved on my uniform and made my way to class.

    Though now that I looked at myself, I noticed a few things that bugged me.

    For one, I seemed to have grown out my hair so much that it started shooting into the air like spikes. I almost looked like an anime character thanks to that. And it didn¡¯t exactly help with how my hair was blonde color that didn''t blend well with my black eyes either.

    One thing I wasn¡¯t too surprised on was my body. It looked a slight bit shrimpy and you could swear I never worked out a day in my life. Not a surprise considering my body didn¡¯t appear to gain or lose muscles.

    With a sigh, I stepped out of the shower and walked out into my room before slipping on some pajamas I¡¯d set out.

    Picking up the book I had been reading yesterday, I flipped through it a bit more.

    Funny enough, this was actually the third volume in the series I¡¯d begun reading two months ago. I actually ended up falling in love with the story and read it whenever I get the chance. Apparently, the series had six volumes as of right now and I¡¯d planned to go grab the next three when I finished this one. Whoever this Pensmen person was, they¡¯re a really good writer. Although, I was surprised when the person who wrote this apparently used a pen name. I just figured everyone in this world didn¡¯t mind sharing their real names when writing books. I guess I stand corrected.

    Spending an hour flipping through the book, I easily got through close to almost a hundred pages with only around fifty or so to go.

    But since I started reading a bit later than usual, I was already feeling quite exhausted. This wasn¡¯t exactly helped by the shower I took earlier either. So deciding to save the end of the book for another day, I slipped the piece of paper I used as a bookmark into one of the pages and closed the book before putting it down on the coffee table in front of me.

    Getting up, I walked over to bed and slipped under the covers in hopes of getting another good night''s sleep.

    Before I knew it, tomorrow was the day we left for the dungeons.

    ¡°Look at this Axel! We¡¯ll be in the same group tomorrow!¡±

    During our first break, Lily practically shoved a piece of paper into my face. Apparently, it was the teams we would be in during the dungeon diving excursion.

    ¡°I see. That¡¯s good news,¡± I replied.

    For a quick explanation, the school wanted to test our abilities to work with different classes so they put us into different groups with students from other classes in the same grade.

    It honestly wasn¡¯t a bad idea. However, I fear all the glares I¡¯d finally been able to ignore would come back in full force.

    Since I¡¯d been in the same class for the last two months, I found it fairly easy to leave the students in my own classroom be.

    But when it came to people I saw during the break period, their stares still stung like hell.

    ¡°Is something wrong?¡±

    Lily looked a me with a confused expression on her face. Noticing how I¡¯d gone silent.

    ¡°I was just wondering what this dungeon has in store. It should be quite an interesting experience.¡±

    Lily grinned.

    ¡°Yeah! I¡¯m already looking forward to it.¡±

    After saying this, Lily began to ramble on about what type of things she¡¯d thought about facing and collecting down in the dungeon.

    Seeing her so excited couldn¡¯t help but make me smile. It makes me truly glad I accepted her request to be friends.

    We continued chatting about the dungeon for a little while longer before it was time to return to class and we cleaned up our stuff.

    ¡°Oh yeah. This may sound a bit out of nowhere, but I actually have to help my class during the next break time. Are you cool with that?¡±

    I nodded.

    ¡°That¡¯s fine. See ya tomorrow then.¡±

    ¡°Will do!¡±

    With a thumbs up, Lily left for her classroom and I began making my way back to my own.

    After a stressful night of worrying about if I had everything or not, I said goodbye to Sirin who went back to the island and I made my way through the dorm lobby.

    As I was doing so, however, I heard a lot of strange whispering around.

    ¡°So that¡¯s him huh?¡±

    ¡°You think it¡¯s actually gonna happen?¡±

    ¡°I hope what I heard is true.¡±

    What are they talking about?

    Deciding it was best to just ignore them for now, I left the dorm and began making my way toward the dungeon following a map the school provided to each student.

    About thirty minutes of walking later, I found myself standing in front of a giant rock with a hole inside it that appeared to be spiraling downwards.

    Several students were already lined up in their different groups.

    Pulling up the list I¡¯d received from my teacher at the end of the day yesterday, I searched for the name of my group.

    ¡°Axel! Over here!¡±

    Suddenly hearing my name, I turned to find Lily waving over to me.

    Walking over to the line she was standing in, I gazed at the other students who were slowly lining up one after the other.

    Once I approached the back of my line, Lily was standing there with a smile.

    ¡°Isn¡¯t this exciting!?¡±

    Lily seemed quite energetic considering it was only around seven in the morning.

    ¡°I guess. I¡¯m still a bit unsure though. I haven¡¯t fought in a dungeon for a little while now and I might be a bit rusty.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m sure you¡¯ll be fine. We¡¯re only going down a level or two so there shouldn''t be any concern.¡±

    ¡°I hope you¡¯re right.¡±

    About twenty minutes later, it looked like the teachers had arrived to explain how things would work.

    I quickly glanced at the rest of our group. Neither the MC nor any of the heroines appeared to be on my team. Guess that meant it¡¯d be simple for me to just go in and get out without needed to look cool at all.

    After the teachers finished explaining, they slowly let our groups in one by one.

    Before long, it was our group''s turn and we went inside.

    Upon entry, one of the teachers guided us towards a flight of stairs which were apparently meant to take us straight to the first floor of the dungeon.

    After the teacher made sure we were all set, he let us pass by and we made our way into the depths of the dungeon.

    At least, I thought it¡¯d be deep. But we ended up reaching the first floor a lot faster than I¡¯d anticipated and before I knew it we were already fighting against our first opponents.

    ¡°Goblins! Be careful guys!¡± shouted the person who apparently acted as the leader of our group.

    One of the other group members slashed down a goblin before jumping back and narrowly avoiding another one who was attempting to jump at them from behind.

    Trying my best to fend the monsters off, I turned my hand towards one of them.

    ¡°Fireball!¡±

    Shooting a ball of fire from my hand, the goblin I¡¯d been facing burst into flames before vanishing into the air. That¡¯s right, since this is a game world the monsters vanish into thin air rather than falling to the ground with their guts spilling everywhere.

    From behind me, Lily charged at a goblin with a dagger in hand as she slashed off their neck faster than it could react.

    She wasn¡¯t the only one using a weapon. Almost every other group member was using some form of weaponry whether it was a spear, sword, or brass knuckles because students were allowed those for some reason.

    As for me, I had to rely entirely on my magic.

    If I didn¡¯t have that, I¡¯d be in a really big pickle.

    Just to be on the safe side, I made sure to bring that item I purchased a while back that let me use magic even within a magic-blocking barrier. Even if it barely lasted any time at all, it was better to have on hand rather than not.

    Blasting away another monster with a fireball, I found myself slowly growing bored. It wasn¡¯t that I wanted something more dangerous¡­or maybe it was. All in all, I just felt like these guys were a bit weak. Then again, I do have several years as an adventurer under my belt so I guess it made sense.

    The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

    Before long, we¡¯d successfully finished off the last of the goblins and several of the members in my group wiped off the sweat from their foreheads as we decided to take a break before going further in.

    I personally would¡¯ve wanted to go a bit further, but to each their own I guess.

    I tried sitting down near the others. However, when I did, they immediately moved away from me before giving me looks me looks of disgust. At this point, I¡¯m not even surprised.

    I found myself letting out a sigh before hearing someone sit next to me.

    ¡°What a bunch of jerks.¡±

    Lily had sat beside me with her cheeks puffed out to the point she almost looked like a chipmunk.

    ¡°It¡¯s fine Lily. I¡¯m used to it.¡±

    ¡°Hmph. I know. But it¡¯s still a bit rude.¡±

    I shrugged.

    ¡°Don¡¯t pay them any mind. I¡¯ve already accepted being treated like this.¡±

    ¡°I¡­see.¡±

    Lily seemed like she wanted to say something, but then closed her mouth as she looked towards a nearby cave entrance. Apparently, that tunnel would lead us toward another flight of stairs which brought us to the next floor.

    ¡°Say. What do you think we¡¯ll fight next?¡± asked Lily.

    ¡°Dunno. Whatever it is, hopefully, it¡¯s a bit stronger than the goblins we just faced,¡± I muttered in response.

    Lily¡¯s eyes widened when I said that.

    ¡°You want to fight something stronger than those goblin things!?¡±

    I turned to her with a look of confusion.

    ¡°Well yeah. Those goblins were pretty weak after all. It makes me wonder just how far we¡¯ll have to go before things get tough.¡±

    Granted I didn¡¯t wanna face opponents too tough for me to handle. I just wanted opponents that would give me the same thrill I had during the many dungeon quests I¡¯d done before I began attending this school.

    ¡°Think about it, if the monsters weren¡¯t stronger, how would we ever get any good combat experience?¡±

    ¡°Er¡­I guess you have a good point there.¡±

    After she said that, Lily had a weird expression on her face that I couldn¡¯t quite understand.

    ¡°Well, I think that¡¯s enough resting. How about we get going?¡± Lily asked.

    ¡°Hm? Uh¡­Sure?¡±

    I don¡¯t know why, but Lily suddenly got a little more frantic. What was up with that?

    Once she talked with the other members of the group, they all agreed we should continue forward and we went into the cave entrance where we found the stairs we were looking for.

    We went down deeper and quickly found ourselves confronting another force.

    ¡°Wait. Aren''t those-¡±

    My sentence was immediately cut off as I ducked out of the way of giant claws aiming for my head.

    ¡°Damn. Haven''t seen one of these guys in a long time.¡±

    Turns out I was facing none other than one of those scorpions things I¡¯d struggled against all that time ago. Talk about a weird reunion.

    ¡°Everyone make sure to surround these things! We don¡¯t know what they¡¯re capable of!¡± Ordered the group leader.

    Wait¡­what?

    ¡°No! Don¡¯t do that! You¡¯ll just give the chance to-¡±

    My words were too late. The scorpions had already sealed off our only exit by covering it in poison.

    ¡°Dammit,¡± I muttered as I dodged the scorpion¡¯s attack once more.

    Why were monsters as tough as this on such a high floor!?

    The weak spot is under the chin on this one.

    Running toward the monster, I snatched Lily¡¯s knife from her hand and before she could complain, I slid under the monster''s stomach and using all the strength I could muster, slammed the weapon into the monster''s weak spot before pushing myself away with magic.

    The scorpion spewed up a bit of blood before crashing to the ground and vanishing from sight. I know I said it was nice that the monsters didn¡¯t spew many guts before disappearing into nothing, but the fact they could still bleed while they were alive was a bit creepy.

    But moving past that, I glanced around to find several members of my group struggling to take another scorpion that had appeared. Just how inexperienced were these guys at fighting with monsters?

    I may have had expanded thinking on my side, but even your average adventurer would know to look for a weak spot and attack one at a time when facing monsters like this. Then again, these were a bunch of royal assholes so I shouldn¡¯t be that surprised they lacked skills in real combat.

    Despite how easy it¡¯d be to let them go on struggling, I knew that would just make me look bad and push my harem plans back a bit so I dashed towards the group and took a look at the monster.

    Its weak spot is located under its arm.

    After taking notice of this, I zipped past the other group members who started shouting at me. Ignoring them, I drew the monster''s attention and it raised one of its claws to attack me.

    Taking that opening, I ducked under its claw and smashed my hand into its body. Gross as it was, I¡¯d left Lily¡¯s knife lying on the ground earlier so this was the only thing I could do to get an attack in.

    ¡°Fireball! Fireball! Fireball!¡±

    Launching blast after blast into the monster''s body, it began to shake as blood gushed out from its nose and mouth before it collapsed to the ground in a hot mess.

    Pulling my hand out, I turned to the other group members.

    ¡°Don¡¯t try attacking these things all at once! When you fight them make sure to take them on one at a time and find their weak point! The rest of their body is pretty much impenetrable so don¡¯t try attacking it head on! Now get moving!¡±

    As demanding as that sounded, we weren¡¯t exactly in the best of situations so it was kinda necessary.

    Not seeing if they listened, I charged at another scorpion. They just wouldn¡¯t stop coming.

    The fight continued on for another forty minutes before it was finally finished.

    Taking out another one, I felt like I was gonna pass out any second.

    ¡°That¡¯s the last of them! We¡¯ve won!¡± cheered the group leader.

    Everyone followed his cheer as they hugged and cried about how hard this battle was. It was almost like they forgot this was just the beginning of the second floor.

    Letting out a sigh, I slumped my shoulders while thinking about what our next move was.

    ¡°Axel! Help!¡±

    Hearing my name, I turned to find Lily sitting on the group holding her leg while a giant red scorpion that seemed to appear out of nowhere started heading toward her. It looked like she¡¯d hurt it during battle.

    Pushing my feet into overdrive, I ran at Lily while scanning the monster for a weak point. However-

    There aren''t any weak points.

    ¡­Huh?

    That¡¯s¡­that¡¯s impossible. These things all had weak points!

    However, now wasn¡¯t the time to think about that. Lily was in danger.

    Not sure what else to do, I jumped at the scorpion and-

    SPLASH!

    Huh?

    All of a sudden, I felt something strange grab hold of my foot.

    Out of nowhere, something yanked me down to the ground and I crashed into a strange green liquid.

    ¡°What the hell!?¡±

    This wasn¡¯t here before. Moving past that though, this didn¡¯t feel like water. It felt more like¡­quicksand?

    Not sure what to do, I tried to use wind magic to escape.

    ¡°Wind Leap!¡±

    I waited for my body to be pushed out but¡­

    ¡°Huh!?¡±

    I tried casting it again, but nothing happened. I tried a few more times. But for some reason, no matter what type of spell I tried to cast, nothing happened.

    As I felt myself slowly being sunken even deeper into the strange liquid, I turned to my other group members.

    ¡°Guys! Help me! I¡¯m stuck!¡±

    My heartbeat was beginning to rapidly grow faster and faster.

    I held my hand out to those I figured would at least try and help me. However-

    ¡°Why would we help a commoner like you?¡±

    ¡°If life wants you to die here then so be it.¡±

    ¡°Why should we have to get ourselves dirty for your sake?¡±

    The last one didn¡¯t make sense since they were already plenty dirty from the fight. But were these guys seriously gonna let me die!?

    With no one else to turn to, I shifted my body towards Lily. Surprisingly enough, the scorpion was nowhere to be seen. It must¡¯ve run when it saw me coming. But never mind that!

    ¡°Lily! Please help me!¡±

    I put my hand out towards her. Praying she¡¯d take it.

    Standing up, Lily walked over to me and gave me a creepy grin. What the heck was up with that?

    Feeling a shiver down my spine, I looked at Lily.

    ¡°Now why would I offer my assistance to some commoner?¡±

    ¡­What?

    ¡°Lily¡­What are you talking about?¡±

    ¡°Ugh. It¡¯s always given me the creeps when you call me by name. Well, I guess it was all worth the effort in the end.¡±

    ¡°Huh!? What¡¯re you saying!?¡±

    Lily¡¯s smile grew even wider.

    ¡°Did you honestly think I¡¯d stoop so low as to speak with commoner without an ulterior motive? Honestly, you lower folk are just way too simple.¡±

    ¡°What¡¯d you say!?¡±

    I started to feel angry as my body continued sinking.

    ¡°In case you haven¡¯t figured this out yet, this was my intention all along. To purge the commoner who entered this prestigious school. This plan was already set in motion before you even entered our school. Are you really that surprised?¡±

    Wait. So this meant Lily spoke to me and became friends all for this!?

    ¡°You¡¯ve been wanting to kill me this whole time!?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right! It honestly sickened me having to be friends with a commoner! But now that the plan I¡¯ve been preparing for all this time has seen fruition, I can finally drop this little miss nice girl act!¡±

    So it was all an act¡­I see.

    ¡°You bitch,¡± was all I could mutter.

    ¡°You peasants and your filthy language. Seeing you die such a pitiful death makes bribing the teachers to set up this trap all the more worth it.¡±

    So teachers were in on this too huh? How annoying.

    Feeling my true feelings well up inside, I gave Lily a glare so fierce it caused her to take a step back.

    ¡°You¡¯ll regret this. When I find my way back, I¡¯ll make sure you and everyone else at this academy pay!¡±

    Seeing this threat as just my struggling last words, Lily let out a laugh.

    ¡°Just die you filthy commoner.¡±

    With those words echoing in my mind, my face was brought under the strange liquid and my consciousness began to fade.

    Before I knew it, everything went completely black.

    After that, teachers eventually did make it down to the students and brought them back to the surface. Playing innocent, everyone tried pretending Axel¡¯s death was just an accident and the school ended up calling a two-week break from school to recover from the loss of one of its students.

    However, when the news reached a certain man, he couldn¡¯t help but growl in anger.

    ¡°Those stupid brats. They just don¡¯t get it.¡±

    ¡°Sir?¡±

    The young boy Iwaru gave the one he served a confused look.

    The man turned towards Iwaru and sighed.

    ¡°Make sure to have the kids that were part of that boy¡¯s group expelled from the school. Do whatever you have to in order to ensure it¡¯s done.¡±

    Even though he didn¡¯t fully understand why, Iwaru nodded and gave a salute to the one he served.

    ¡°Yes sir.¡±

    With that, Iwaru left the room.

    Leaning back in his chair, the man let out a sigh before slamming his fist on his desk.

    Gritting his teeth in frustration, the man turned his head to the window behind him.

    ¡°Looks like there¡¯s a long way to go before commoners and royals can truly understand each other. Don¡¯t you think, Princess Dianne?¡±

    Despite the name he mentioned not being in the room, he was certain she was thinking the same thing.

    And as the one he mentioned sat in her dorm room, she hugged her pillow tight in frustration as she pondered how the gap could possibly be removed at school after this incident.

    Before anyone knew it, the two-week break had flown by and students were already talking about what happened in the dungeon. A majority were relieved that the commoner was gone. However, one person in particular found the whole thing quite intriguing.

    ¡°So the adventurer who was accepted into the school was killed in the dungeon?¡± Riko asked Xara who had relayed the information to him.

    ¡°Yeah. Kinda surprising to hear actually considering out of everyone in his group he was probably the one with the most experience.¡±

    ¡°I agree. It¡¯s quite strange.¡±

    Sadly, Riko couldn¡¯t think much more about it as he had to get to class before the first bell rang.

    As for Axel¡¯s classmates, they were overjoyed to finally be rid of him. That is, except for one person inparticular.

    ¡°How can you all be so heartless as to celebrate his death!?¡±

    Dianne glared at a group of boys in the halls of the school who were discussing having a party to celebrate the news.

    The boys stood there awkwardly as they tried coming up with excuses to soothe her anger.

    Not wanting to hear any of their excuses, Dianne left with a huff before arriving to class.

    As she walked in, however, something caught her eye.

    When she looked up to where Axel had previously been seated, there now sat a boy with somewhat spikey greyish-white hair and crimson-red eyes who had his feet on top of the table in front of him as he flipped through a book.

    As the rest of the students walked in, a majority also took notice of this strange young man. Was he some foreign exchange student? A royal from a different ranking that was only recently submitted into the school?

    No one was able to figure it out.

    Murmurs echoed throughout the classroom. All the while, the boy just continued flipping through his book without a care.

    Before long, the teacher walked into the room and turned toward the students. Hoping the teacher would explain who this strange new student was, everyone waited patiently for him to speak. However, rather than talking about any new students, the teacher went on to do roll call.

    Still confused, each student raised their hand when their name was called.

    Once everyone else''s names had been called, they awaited to hear what the teacher would say next. But while they listened, the teacher looked at the paper he was using for roll call once more and turned back to the students. When he did, the next words that came out of his mouth surprised everyone.

    ¡°Axel Savoncho?¡±

    He was asking for the commoner''s name?

    Did he not hear about the incident leading to the peasant''s death?

    Deciding to break the news to him, one of the students was about to speak up when-

    ¡°Right here Teach,¡± echoed a voice.

    All the students turned their heads to the voice and found themselves looking at the boy with greyish-white hair and crimson-red eyes who closed his book and gave a confident grin as he stood up and raised his hand.

    ¡°Axel Savoncho. Present.¡±

    As that boy uttered those words, shouts of surprise echoed throughout the room. While people questioned what this boy just said, he sat back down and flipped through his book once more.

    Dianne stared at the boy with her eyes wide. While she couldn¡¯t exactly believe what he said, she couldn¡¯t deny he did look strangely similar to Axel Savoncho. But was that even possible?

    While she continued to question it like everyone else, Axel let out a yawn and continued reading.

    Before long, news shot through the school about Axel¡¯s survival and eventually reached Lily who was relaxing in the spot she and Axel used to hang out at on the school roof. When she heard the news, she glared at the one who told her about it.

    ¡°Don¡¯t feed me such lies! There¡¯s no way he survived! That person¡¯s probably a fake!¡±

    Lily was already on edge after hearing she was gonna be expelled from the school for some reason so this news wasn¡¯t exactly music to her ears.

    ¡°But¡­but it¡¯s true! He¡¯s somehow alive!¡±

    ¡°Cut that dribble! That peasant¡¯s dead!¡±

    As Lily continued to deny it, someone burst into her classroom.

    ¡°Harsh words Lily. Can¡¯t say I blame you for being mad though.¡±

    Lily felt her blood run cold. She was all too familiar with the voice she¡¯d just heard. She did spend two months with it after all.

    Craning her neck, Lily saw a boy with greyish-white hair and crimson-red eyes standing there with a grin on his face.

    ¡°I must say, that little stunt you pulled wasn¡¯t too bad. Kinda sad it ended up failing in the end, huh?¡±

    ¡°N-No way!¡±

    Lily couldn¡¯t believe her eyes.

    Seeing her scared caused Axel¡¯s grin to only grow wider.

    ¡°Now then, perhaps it¡¯s about time I deliver what I promised you all that time ago.¡±

    Out of nowhere, a gust began to pick up around Axel as he approached Lily.

    ¡°W-What¡¯re you gonna do?¡±

    Axel chuckled to himself as the wind started to pick up more and more. Until finally...

    ¡°Nothing actually.¡±

    As he said that, the wind surrounding the two of them vanished.

    ¡°H-Huh!?¡±

    ¡°I already heard you¡¯re being expelled from the school. That¡¯s good enough for me.¡±

    After saying that, Axel walked past Lily before giving some final words.

    ¡°Here¡¯s a single piece of advice. If you¡¯re gonna try something as dumb as killing someone again, make sure they''re dead before leaving them to rot.¡±

    With those words, he left her behind to crumble to her knees as tears fell from her eyes.

    Leaving Lily behind, Axel made his way to one of the school¡¯s many gardens and looked up at the beautiful blue sky.

    As he did so, he thought about the hell he¡¯d gone through to get back to the surface. As well as his new companion that he met while down there.

    But that¡¯s a story for next time.

 Chapter 7: Trapped in Hell

    I couldn¡¯t breathe. It felt like I was slowly sinking into the pits of hell. Why did I fall for that bitch¡¯s lies?

    I could feel my anger beginning to bubble over. However, I tried my best to calm myself down. There wasn¡¯t a point in getting mad at what was already done. Besides, I was pretty much dead so there wasn¡¯t a point spending my last moments getting angry at that woman.

    As I was dragged deeper into whatever this was, I found myself pondering how I even fell for this trap. What compelled me to try and help that woman? Was it friendship, a desire to win her affection, or something else? I had no idea.

    While I thought about this, I found myself remembering how Lily mentioned she bribed some teachers or something like that. The bribe was probably to send us down to a floor far more dangerous than the actual floor two.

    I didn¡¯t have any proof this was what happened, but that¡¯d explain why whatever grabbed my legs prevented me from using my magic. This trap had probably been here way before I had come along.

    Well, whatever. No point in thinking about it anymore. It¡¯s probably best to just accept my death. Because at this point, I didn¡¯t see how I could possibly survive this.

    Just then, as if on cue, I felt the current shift a bit.

    Weird. Am I being dragged in some way?

    Not surprising considering I was pulled down by what I assume was a tentacle before. But I haven¡¯t felt it on my leg for some time now. Had I just adjusted to the feeling of it attached to my leg?

    It was either that or it had let go of me at some point. Nonetheless, I still felt like I was being dragged somewhere.

    All of a sudden, I heard a strange splash sound and my body felt completely soaked.

    It took me some time before I could open my eyes. But when I did..

    ¡°Gah!¡±

    Surrounding by cold black stone, the only things that stood out were the green-colored lake behind me and the monster that was staring at my face.

    The monster appeared to be a giant orange toad with pure black pupils. And after staring at me for another moment, it opened its mouth and a thick, nasty tongue began flying atm my face.

    ¡°Wind Push!¡±

    Acting on instinct, I cast a spell and shot myself backward. Splashing into the cold water. My body hurt like hell, so getting a bit wet didn¡¯t matter to me.

    Dragging my weary body to its feet, I focused my vision as best I could and glared at the toad.

    ¡°Now what the heck do you think you¡¯re doing you blob of gunk?¡± I muttered. Clearly annoyed.

    Keeping my focus on the toad, I started remembering everything that brought me to this point and I couldn¡¯t help but grit my teeth. Just thinking about that experience really pissed me off. Not just because of that bitch¡¯s betrayal, but because I didn¡¯t even see it coming. If I¡¯d just dropped that stupid nice guy act and showed those royal assholes just how tough a commoner could be. But no. Instead I let them walk over me just so I¡¯d have the chance to get with a girl. How pathetic.

    Holding out my hand, I tried attacking the monster.

    ¡°Fireball.¡±

    Muttering those words under my breath, I felt the balls of fire form in front of my hands and I charged at the monster.

    All it did was stare at me as I got close. Not wanting to let it get the first move, I burst forward.

    ¡°RAAAH!¡±

    Using all the strength I could muster, I thrust the fireball at the toad and the attack smashed into its slimy orange body.

    ¡°Hah! How do you like that you sack of flesh!?¡±

    I shouted as smoke rose from the toad. I honestly wouldn¡¯t be surprised if it was already dead.

    ¡°Wah!¡±

    That¡¯s what I thought. But moments later, a giant tongue shot out from the smoke and grabbed hold of my waist.

    With insane speed, I was yanked towards the giant toad''s mouth.

    ¡°Tsk. Watershot!¡±

    Without much time to act, I formed a water spell and it at the beast''s tongue.

    It let out a shout of pain and loosened its grip enough for me to slip out.

    Not wanting to waste any time flaunting my success, I turned my body towards the monster.

    ¡°Wind Ball!¡±

    Trying to send the monster flying, I shot a ball of wind at it. Hoping that would be enough.

    But to my surprise, it jumped out of the way right before the move hit.

    ¡°Crap,¡± I growled.

    The beast landed and attempted to catch me with its tongue once more.

    ¡°Don¡¯t you dare!¡±

    Ducking out of the way, I began running to my right in hopes of circling around to the monster''s back.

    Why the back you ask?

    Because that¡¯s where the majority of monsters are most vulnerable.

    However, when I tried to do so, I felt something come up from behind me.

    ¡°What the-!?¡±

    Somehow the toad''s tongue was following behind me and it didn¡¯t look like it was gonna stop any time soon.

    ¡°Just how long is this thing''s tongue!?¡±

    As I imagined its tongue being longer than my body, a shiver ran down my spine. Talk about a disturbing thought.

    Moving past that, this was bad. I¡¯d planned to just attack it from the back where it couldn''t reach me, but unless I do something about this tongue, I¡¯m done for.

    The tongue appears to lack any weak points. The safest bet is attempting to wrap the tongue around the toad.

    It¡¯s worth a shot. Let¡¯s do this!

    Shifting my feet, I began directing the tongue towards me as I ran around in different directions. Hoping to entangle the tongue around the toad''s body.

    It seemed to be working for a little bit. However¡­

    ¡°What the hell!?¡±

    Out of nowhere, the amphibian''s tongue started growing slippery and its tongue began loosening itself up.

    Cursing my misfortune, I tried to ignore the goosebumps on my skin. However, that wasn¡¯t my only concern as due to my surprise, I failed to notice a rock in front of me and my toe slammed into it. Causing me to lose my footing.

    Taking advantage of this, the monster shot its tongue forward once again and coiled around my waist.

    ¡°Gah! Let go of me!¡±

    Pushing my hands down, I tried firing multiple spells to get it to loosen its grip. But unlike before, this time the toad didn¡¯t budge and started reeling me in.

    ¡°Stop! Let go!¡±

    I struggled as much as I could. But with nothing I could do, I simply watched as my body flew into the monster''s mouth. And after a few mere moments, everything went dark.

    Still conscious, I felt a rather sticky but warm substance covering my entire body.

    ¡°Is this¡­toad slime?¡±

    As I tried feeling around for something, I found myself touching what appeared to be a wall of some kind.

    But it wasn¡¯t just any kind of wall. This wall was soft, squishy, and slimy. Why would a wall be like that?

    ¡°Wait a minute.¡±

    Feeling the wall a bit more, I began to realize the situation I was in.

    It appears I¡¯m in the belly of the beast.

    Having reached this realization, I lowered my hands. And after a moment, I clenched them tightly.

    ¡°I see. So this is my fate.¡±

    Having finally accepted that, I found myself falling to my knees.

    Feeling my anger starting to boil, I tried slamming my fists into the slimy ground below me.

    ¡°Dammit¡­Dammit! Dammit! DAMMIT!¡±

    Repeating this process, I found myself gritting my teeth.

    ¡°This isn¡¯t fair! I worked harder than any of those shitty nobles! Why do I have to suffer a fate like this!? Tell me you stupid room god thing! Why would you send me to a world like this just to kill me!? Is this just a sick game to you or something!?¡±

    Shouting out in anger to that stupid god, I glared into the darkness around me.

    Letting my feelings out, I smashed my fist into the ground once more.

    ¡°Well, you know what? Screw the harem crap! Screw everyone and everything in this world! If everyone wants me to die then just say so!¡±

    Trying to hold back my tears, I continued smashing my fists into the ground.

    After all this, I was done playing a goody little two-shoes. That idiot MC could have those girls for all I care. The only thing I want at this point is to be free of this world and its corrupt society.

    ¡°RAAAAH!¡±

    Not able to say anything more, I let out one more scream before collapsing to the ground.

    With nothing else to do but wait for death, I ended up lying there in silence. Waiting to be eaten.

    So I waited¡­and waited¡­and waited.

    ¡°This blob of flesh sure is taking its time eating me. What¡¯s the holdup?¡±

    Deciding it was time to get some light in here, I cast a fire spell and got a look at my surroundings.

    ¡°Geez. For a toad¡¯s stomach, it¡¯s surprisingly barren.¡±

    Everywhere I looked, there was only more of the strange goo under my feet.

    Getting up, I began walking through the sludge.

    After a few minutes of searching, I came across something rather strange.

    ¡°Is that¡­another stomach?¡±

    Reaching the end of the pool of goo, I found what appeared to be a pit that seemed to lead toward another stomach.

    ¡°Wow. I knew this thing was huge but I didn¡¯t think it was this huge.¡±

    Not wanting to fall even deeper, I stepped away from the pit and began making my way back to where I came from.

    Upon doing so, I looked up at the pitch-black ceiling above me.

    ¡°Well, it doesn¡¯t seem to be eating me for now. So what should I do?¡±

    Honestly, I was expecting to die so this whole thing is kinda awkward.

    If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.

    ¡°Hmm¡­guess I¡¯ll try coming up with a solution for now.¡±

    As I said that, I began running different ideas through my head using my expanded thinking.

    I may have lost everything else I had on me, but at the very least I can still rely on that.

    Thus, I started concentrating. Trying to find a solution. And after a few minutes¡­

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Nothing.

    Letting out a sigh, I ended up thinking back to the fight from before.

    Back then, the expanded thinking couldn¡¯t come up with any good ideas either. No matter what attack I threw at that thing, it just tanked them all.

    ¡°...Wait!¡±

    That¡¯s when it hit me. Yes, it did tank all my attacks. All except one that is.

    My mind flashed back to when I tried using a wind ball attack. When I did so, it dodged the attack instead of taking it. Why? There was only one way to find out!

    Wanting to put that theory to the test, I made my way over to the wall I¡¯d found earlier.

    The wall of flesh slowly moved up and down. More than likely indicating that the beast was breathing.

    ¡°Wind Ball!¡±

    Attempting the attack I tried earlier, it hit the flesh with a surprising amount of force.

    As it did so, the ground beneath me began to rumble as the wall of toad flesh instantly started shaking rapidly.

    ¡°Looks like my theory was right.¡±

    Grinning to myself, I began chanting.

    ¡°Wind Ball! Wind Pulse! Wind Ball Again!¡±

    As my attacks continued hitting over and over again, the rumbling under my feet got louder and louder.

    During my barrage of attacks, however, I failed to notice the sludge under my feet was beginning to rise.

    ¡°Wah!¡±

    By the time I realized it, it was too late as my whole body was thrust into the air.

    A few moments later, a cold breeze hit my body as I slammed into the stiff rocky ground. Causing pain to shoot through my back.

    ¡°Ouch. That hurt more than I thought it would,¡± I muttered.

    Rubbing my back in order to soothe the pain, I turned to find the toad glaring at me for a few moments before jumping away and leaving me be. Guess it lost interest in having me for dinner. Thank goodness.

    Getting up onto my feet, I scratched the back of my head as I looked around the now empty cave. As I did so, a wave of exhaustion slammed into me like a truck. I guess I did push myself a bit after waking up here.

    Sitting on a nearby wall, I felt my consciousness beginning to slip away. And before I knew it, I was out cold.

    During this time, Dianne, one of the main love interests of this game, made her way through a hallway she was all too familiar with.

    Upon reaching a certain set of doors, she walked inside and approached a man sitting at his desk.

    ¡°Uncle. May I speak with you?¡±

    The person Dianne referred to as her uncle had been working on some papers up to this point. But once he heard Dianne¡¯s voice, he looked up to find her staring at him.

    ¡°Hello, Dianne. Am I to assume this was because of the letter I sent you?¡±

    Dianne nodded.

    ¡°Is what you told me true? Was that boy really killed by the nobles in his group?¡±

    The man rested his hands on his chin.

    ¡°I don¡¯t have concrete proof, but that¡¯s what I believe to be true.¡±

    ¡°But why do you think that?¡±

    As if expecting her to ask him that question, the man presented her with a photo.

    ¡°A girl? Is she a student at this school?¡±

    Her uncle nodded.

    ¡°Lily Acantha. Apparently, back when she was in middle school, she would constantly get close to other royals she hated in order to achieve her own means. But thanks to her parent''s backing, she always got away with everything she did. From what I¡¯ve heard, she was getting rather close to the commoner. And considering her past, I¡¯d say it¡¯s safe to assume since the rest of the nobles hated the boy as much as she did, they were all too happy to help her get rid of him.¡±

    Hearing all this, Dianne couldn¡¯t help but clench her fists in anger.

    ¡°Thankfully, upon discussing this with the principal, I¡¯ve heard the students who helped with pulling this stunt will be expelled as soon as the break is over.¡±

    ¡°I see. What will become of them after that?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m afraid that¡¯s entirely up to their parents. Even if the school can punish students, there¡¯s only so far we can go without overstepping personal boundaries.¡±

    ¡°So¡­you¡¯re saying they¡¯ll get off with little to no repercussions?¡±

    ¡°As sad as it is for me to say it, yes.¡±

    Gritting her teeth, Dianne looked out at the window behind her uncle¡¯s desk.

    ¡°What will become of the commoner''s belongings and spot at school?¡±

    ¡°While it may sound silly, it¡¯s been decided his room will remain untouched for the next two weeks if by slim chance he manages to survive. So while it¡¯s unlikely, if he makes it back, he¡¯ll get his room and spot. And his life at school will move on like normal.¡±

    ¡°...Is there really a chance he¡¯ll survive?¡±

    Dianne¡¯s uncle looked to the ceiling.

    ¡°It¡¯s hard to say. As I stated before, it¡¯s unlikely. However, considering what that adventurer has done up to this point, I wouldn¡¯t say it¡¯s impossible.¡±

    After hearing that, Dianne thought to herself for a moment before looking at her uncle.

    ¡°Thank you for your time Uncle. I must be on my way now.¡±

    ¡°Take care.¡±

    With one last bow, Dianne left the room.

    After the doors closed behind her, Dianne¡¯s Uncle rubbed his eyes.

    ¡°While it may be wishful thinking, I pray that adventurer isn¡¯t dead. For both his sake, as well as for the sake of my niece''s goal.¡±

    Having said that, the man turned his attention back to the paperwork in front of him.

    I couldn¡¯t exactly understand where I was at this point.

    Upon waking up, I started walking down a dark tunnel that the giant toad had run through earlier. I didn¡¯t wanna have a rematch or anything like that, I just hated the idea of standing around without doing anything.

    So, while carefully trying to avoid making any sound, I made my way through the dark tunnel with only a single fireball to act as light.

    While I did so, a plan began forming in my head. You see, my main goal right now was to get out of here. And since the dungeons were part of this game, that meant there was something down here that could help me. The only frustrating part is that my memory is a bit fuzzy so I don¡¯t remember the exact details of how to get it.

    Guess it just goes to show you shouldn¡¯t believe those stories where the MC happens to clearly remember his past memories from over a dozen years ago. I just felt lucky my memories weren¡¯t completely gone after living here for a few years.

    The biggest downside to my fuzzy memories, sadly, was that even though I¡¯d played through the story of this game, it wasn¡¯t like the path to find what I was looking for came with directions. Since it was a visual novel, the game basically stated the MC was somewhere deep in the dungeon. So that didn¡¯t really narrow down any location.

    But moving past that, I first had to get a read on where the heck I was. As this was a visual novel and not an RPG, there weren¡¯t any directions leading me towards an exit. That¡¯s why I¡¯m searching for this thing in the first place.

    Even if there was only a slim chance of finding what I was looking for, it was better than doing nothing.

    But finding it would probably still be a challenge.

    ¡°Hm. Maybe I should¡­¡±

    Guuurgle¡­

    Just as I thought about trying out a plan that began forming in my head, a loud gurgling sound entered my ear.

    Looking down, I found myself looking at my stomach. Not surprising considering how long it¡¯d been since I last ate. Around eighteen hours to be exact.

    But to my disappointment, I didn¡¯t have any food on me to eat.

    I¡¯d considered eating some monster meat if I ever came across something I could kill, but it¡¯d have to be a special type of animal that didn¡¯t disappear after being killed. Yes those do exist. They aren¡¯t impossible to find, but normally they¡¯re only things like pigs, cows, and other things you¡¯d be required to eat in order to survive.

    More than likely it was just an excuse for the creators to include meat in the game despite normally making the monsters disappear upon death.

    Sadly, however, a majority of the animals you could actually kill and eat were impossible to find in places like this. A majority are just bred and fed on farm-like locations which earn money from consumers who sought out the different kinds of meat-related dishes.

    Stretching out my arms, I tried to ignore the sound of my stomach as I continued making my way through the tunnel.

    Trying to keep my guard up, I was cautious while walking forward searching for food all the while.

    It was then that I found something that looked somewhat edible.

    Moving closer, I saw what looked like a mushroom sprouting out of the ground.

    ¡°I guess this is better than nothing.¡±

    Deciding to test it out, I tried plucking out the mushroom when¡­

    ¡°REEE!¡±

    Sensing danger, I jumped back a few steps.

    To my surprise, I found myself looking at what appeared to be some form of miniature crocodile.

    I¡¯d like to say it was cute, especially since it had a mushroom on its head, but considering the way it kept snapping at me, I knew it¡¯d probably be best to avoid contact with it.

    While doing so, I figured maybe it didn¡¯t like that I took that mushroom so I attempted to open my hand to give it back. But when I tried doing so¡­

    ¡°What the hell!?

    Losing all feeling in my hand, I looked down to see what was going on and that¡¯s when I saw that the hand holding the mushroom had started growing stiff and rocky.

    ¡°Is this what I think it is!?¡±

    As the strange feeling began rising up my arm, I saw the rest of it starting to turn grey and harder to move. So, not knowing what as to do, I did the first thing I could think of.

    ¡°Wind Ball! GAH!¡±

    With the spell being applied at blank range, the bottom half of my arm went flying off.

    Trying to hold back a scream, I applied a fireball spell to what was left of my arm. Sealing it shut.

    The whole thing hurt like hell, but doing that stopped things from getting worse.

    ¡°So that mushroom thing has some kinda petrification spell on it huh? Really funny you reptilian jackass,¡± I grumbled.

    I was still freaked out about not having an arm anymore, but I didn¡¯t wanna show any fear to this monster, so I tried putting on a brave face.

    ¡°Well!? You gonna come at me or what!?¡±

    I tried taunting it. But for some reason, the crocodile just stared at me.

    ¡°What¡¯s your deal?¡±

    After another moment, the reptile let out some kind of odd screeching sound that caused me to clutch the one ear I could cover.

    A few seconds later, it stopped and blinked at me.

    ¡°What was that about?¡±

    Just as I said those words, I got my answer from the sound of pattering feet.

    Seeing something in the darkness ahead, my eyes went wide. And after a moment, I started running like my life depended on it.

    ¡°What the hell!? Were those things always behind me!?¡± I screamed.

    Behind me, several more crocodiles with strange mushrooms on their heads dashed after me and it took all the energy I could muster to run forward.

    Before long, I started to stumble. Having still not eaten anything, I didn¡¯t have much energy to run properly.

    ¡°Grr..Come on!¡±

    Pointing my spare hand behind me, I glared at the monsters.

    ¡°Fireball!¡±

    Uttering those words, balls of fire shot from my hand. Slamming into the creatures.

    Much to my disappointment, they didn¡¯t appear to slow down. Some fell to the ground having been burnt to a crisp, but a majority of them didn¡¯t even bat an eye at my attack and just continued to run after me.

    Feeling like this wasn¡¯t going anywhere, I wracked my brain for ideas.

    ¡°Since fireballs aren''t getting up anywhere, what if I tried something that prohibited their movements?¡±

    With that in mind, I started using my expanded thinking.

    Three options are currently available. One: fire some magic into the ceiling to cut off a majority of the monsters. Two: Use earth magic to block the path behind me. Three: Accept my death.

    ¡°Why is the third one even an option!?¡± I shouted.

    Deciding to work with the first two options, I aimed my hand toward the ceiling.

    While this move wouldn¡¯t completely remove all of them, it should cut off the majority and make taking down the rest a lot easier.

    ¡°Water Shot!¡±

    Considering how useless fire would be for a plan like this, I opted to try using water.

    Upon hitting the ceiling, however, the water just sunk into the rocks and failed to do anything.

    ¡°Alright then! Wind Ball!¡±

    Using wind magic to slice into the rocks, I saw a few tumble down but not enough to block anything.

    Sensing I was nearing the end of this tunnel, I knew I didn¡¯t have much time left. If I happened to stumble into another cave, these things would instantly have me surrounded and I wouldn¡¯t be able to do anything.

    ¡°Crap! Guess I¡¯ll just have to roll with this!¡±

    As nerve-racking as it was, I had no choice but to use option two.

    Stopping in my tracks, I began chanting. As I did so, a few crocodiles jumped at me and began biting down on my skin. This was the exact reason I hated using earth magic. It was the only one that require you to stand completely still.

    ¡°Bring forth a wall to protect me from danger. Stone Wall!¡±

    At that moment, earth shot up from the ground and instantly blocked the rest of the crocodiles from following me.

    Still feeling the nasty bites from the monsters still chewing on me, I yanked several of them off and shot them with fireballs.

    A few minutes later, I finished burning the rest of them to a crisp and they vanished into nothing.

    Realizing I was finally finished with them, I let out a loud sigh of relief as I collapsed to the ground.

    ¡°Who¡¯s bright idea was it to have a place like this at a school?¡± I groaned. Thinking all this was finally over.

    Guuurgle¡­

    Just then, the sound of my growling stomach entered into my ear.

    Slowly sitting up, I looked at all the bleeding teeth marks covering my body.

    ¡°Great. Now I¡¯m both hurt and hungry,¡± I grumbled before letting out an exhausted sigh.

    Sitting there, I found myself once again being reminded of just how crappy this world really was.

    ¡°If I ever get out of here, I¡¯m definitely gonna make sure to give those royal assholes one hell of a whooping.¡±

    And before you ask, no, I don¡¯t want to kill them. They may be monsters and idiots, but that doesn¡¯t mean I have to be.

    Honestly, it¡¯s less that I want revenge as much as I want them to compensate me for my troubles. That may sound stupid considering how much I hate them all, but that¡¯s just how I feel.

    Is this world shit? Absolutely.

    But just because the world is shit, it doesn''t mean everyone is.

    Dianne is a good example. And who knows, maybe some of the other heroines would¡¯ve felt the same.

    But again, I¡¯m done with that harem life.

    As long as I have a chance to escape this place and live my best life, I¡¯m perfectly content with that. It may seem like I¡¯m ending this whole plan at the drop of a hat, but it hit me while I was in the toad. I wasn¡¯t gonna get anywhere in the world if I only ever acted as the good guy. That wasn¡¯t my role after all. So it was time to start being me and just let go of the stuff prohibiting me from doing so.

    Well anyway, it might be best to search for food with the little strength I had left, so while it hurt, I pushed myself onto my feet and began moving forward.

    No matter what I had to do, even if it meant losing a hand or a leg, I would escape this hell hole. That¡¯s my goal right now. And I¡¯ll make sure I succeed.

 Chapter 8: Changes and Trials

    ¡°Finally! Food!¡±

    After about five more minutes of walking, I reached the end of the tunnel and found myself in a cavern covered with a variety of different foods you¡¯d only find underground.

    Mushrooms that thankfully weren¡¯t connected to monsters, some orange thing that was shaped like a beet as well as a few other things.

    I wasn¡¯t sure how all this managed to grow down here, but I wasn¡¯t complaining.

    Using water magic to clean off the beet-like item as well as many of the other foods, I happily ate them without any hesitation. I ended up eating so fast some of them got caught in my throat and I had to wash them down with some water ball that I created in order to drink.

    Down here, water magic truly was an indispensable necessity.

    But moving past that, once my stomach had filled up a little bit, I found it easier to move around and took a look at the cavern I¡¯d found myself in.

    Besides the glowing liquid dripping from the ceiling, there was also several different rock formations as well as several strange purple crystals that were all over the place.

    I wasn¡¯t sure what those crystals were, but for some reason, when I tried picking one up, an electric shock shot through my arm and caused me to jump back. If my hair wasn¡¯t already spikey before, that shock made sure it was now.

    Once I patted down my hair a bit, I backed away from the crystals and continued looking around.

    With how massive of a place this was, it had to lead somewhere.

    But no matter where I looked, all I could see was those strange purple crystals.

    Maybe the crystals have a clue.

    Letting my expanded thinking take over for a moment, I went back to the crystal I¡¯d tried touching before.

    ¡°Urk!¡±

    Like before, a shock was sent through my body when I tried to touch it. Just what the heck were these things? I¡¯d never seen anything like them before.

    I don¡¯t even remember seeing them while I was playing the game before getting sent to this world. But then again, I don¡¯t remember much about the game before I was brought here anymore so I might¡¯ve just forgotten about them.

    So while they might¡¯ve been in the game, I couldn¡¯t really remember.

    ¡°So what should I do here?¡± I asked myself. Trying to think it over.

    I had thought about pulling the crystal out while ignoring the shock, but that wasn¡¯t exactly the greatest idea.

    However, if it would give me a chance to figure out what to do next, I¡¯d say it was worth the risk.

    ¡°...Screw it.¡±

    Figuring it was better than waiting for those crocodile things to find a way in here, I finally made my decision.

    Reaching down, I grabbed hold of the crystals. Clenching them tightly while electric shocks shot through my body.

    ¡°Erg! Haaah!¡±

    Trying my best to ignore the pain, I continued yanking harder and harder. As I did so, I felt my stomach beginning to hurt. For some reason, it felt like I was being torn up from the inside.

    Like my body was changing simply to try and yank this thing out of the ground.

    But then, after almost two minutes of pulling¡­

    Clunk!

    As if I had just pulled the power on something, the moment the crystal came out of the stone, the electricity stopped shooting through my body and I collapsed to the ground.

    My body reeked of smoke.

    ¡°Why did that have to hurt so much?¡± I groaned as I got up onto my feet.

    Upon doing so, however, I felt a strange sensation in my body.

    Looking at my arms, they didn¡¯t seem any different from usual.

    ¡°What the heck is this feeling? It¡¯s like my magic¡¯s getting stronger.¡±

    As crazy as that sounded, that was the best way I could describe it.

    While thinking about this, I noticed my reflection in the collection of crystals.

    ¡°What the-!?¡±

    I moved in closer to get a better look.

    ¡°What the hell happened to my hair!? It¡¯s almost completely white!¡±

    Well, it was more of a grey-ish white, but still white nonetheless.

    Also, was it just me or did it appear a bit longer?

    Not sure what to do, I took in a few deep breaths.

    This wasn¡¯t making any sense at all, but I needed to calm down before doing anything else. Otherwise, I wouldn¡¯t get anywhere.

    ¡°So you survived that trial did you?¡±

    ¡°Huh!?¡±

    Hearing a voice in my head, I couldn¡¯t help but jump in surprise looking around to find the owner of that strange feminine voice.

    ¡°You can stop looking around. You won¡¯t be able to find me at this time.¡±

    Where was that voice coming from!?

    ¡°Who said that!?¡±

    Unsure what else to do, I continued looking around me.

    ¡°You sure don¡¯t like listening to people do ya? As I said, don¡¯t bother trying to find me. After all, the voice you¡¯re hearing right now is speaking directly into your mind.

    Huh?

    ¡°What do you mean?¡±

    ¡°Exactly what I said. Since I don¡¯t have a physical body I can¡¯t exactly speak to you any other way.¡±

    Still not able to process this properly, I let out a sigh and tried to cross my arms. But without a hand, that proved difficult. So I simply furrowed my brow instead.

    ¡°I see. Well, who are you? And what do you mean by trial?¡±

    Whoever this voice belonged to, they mentioned a trial of sort that I supposedly passed. What was up with that?

    ¡°You didn¡¯t even know that and you still touched the magica crystal? You¡¯re either incredibly brave or an absolute idiot.¡±

    ¡°Wha-!¡±

    What the heck weird voice!? Are you trying to piss me off!?

    ¡°Anyway, guess I¡¯ll just have to explain all this to you. Otherwise, you¡¯ll be completely lost going forward.¡±

    Well, at least I was getting an explanation. Even if for some reason I felt like I was being looked down on.

    Actually, come to think of it, this voice¡­the tone it was speaking it sounded awfully familiar. Almost like¡­

    ¡°Now then, here¡¯s how things work.¡±

    Before I could finish my thought, the voice began explaining things.

    ¡°The things you touched earlier are called ¡°Magica Crystals¡± and they act as part of my test for people who find themselves wandering down here.¡±

    While she spoke, I glanced at the other crystals nearby.

    ¡°What these crystals do is get a read on a person''s magical capabilities. If they think you¡¯re too weak, they send an electrical shock throughout your entire body.¡±

    Yeah. I had to experience that firsthand.

    ¡°However, it seems like there¡¯s something unique about that body of yours. Because not only did they shock you, they also attempted to rearrange your body''s magical conduit so you can use more of your magic abilities.¡±

    Was that true?

    Actually, now that the voice mentioned it, my body did feel a bit weird. Did that mean my magic¡¯s grown stronger or something?

    ¡°Also, while this transformation was happening, had you let go for even a second, you¡¯re body would¡¯ve immediately released all the electricity and you would¡¯ve died on the spot.¡±

    ¡°Really!?¡±

    That meant I could¡¯ve died!? What kinda crazy trial is that!?

    ¡°So what you¡¯re saying is that I passed that trial?¡±

    ¡°Yep! However, because your genetic makeup is a bit different from other people, it seems a few things got twisted in the transformation and that¡¯s how you wound up with that new hairstyle of yours.¡±

    ¡°My genetic makeup was different from other people''s?¡±

    This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

    ¡°Yeah! It¡¯s actually kinda intriguing. It¡¯s nothing like I¡¯ve seen before. You¡¯re truly a fascinating individual.¡±

    As it said that, I noticed the voice in my head grew weirdly excited.

    I wasn¡¯t an expert on the body or anything, but if I had to guess what this voice was referring to, I think the reason my genetic makeup was different was because I wasn¡¯t from this world. I¡¯d been brought here by that god room thing and didn¡¯t go through any of that reincarnation stuff. This will and always has been my one and only body. Taking that into consideration, I really was different from every other person in this world.

    ¡°So my hair¡¯s stuck like this forever?¡±

    ¡°Yessir! Really sorry about that.¡±

    Judging from her tone, she didn¡¯t sound that sorry.

    ¡°Well anyway, so what now? Is there something else I need to do now that I passed this trial?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m glad you asked!¡±

    As the voice said that, I felt a rumbling beneath my feet and I turned to find a tunnel opening out of nowhere.

    ¡°Since you finished my first trial it¡¯s time for the next one! Go on inside to find out what challenge awaits you next!¡±

    If that voice was in the room with me right now, I would¡¯ve been glaring at it.

    ¡°And just why do I have to do this?¡±

    The voice anticipated this question and already had an answer ready.

    ¡°Simple! If you manage to complete all my trials, you¡¯ll get to meet me in person.¡±

    Why would I want that?

    ¡°And-¡±

    ¡°Hm?¡±

    ¡°-Maybe if you want me to, I might be able to help you get out of the predicament you¡¯ve found yourself in.¡±

    ¡°You mean you can get me out of here?¡±

    ¡°Maybe. Maybe not. Who¡¯s to say?¡±

    This voice was really starting to get on my nerves. Still, I guess this was better than just running back to the crocodiles. So I might as well roll with it.

    ¡°Fine.¡±

    ¡°Yaaay! I look forward to your success!¡±

    Ignoring the voice''s enthusiasm, I couldn¡¯t help but let out a sigh.

    ¡°How did things come to this?¡± I muttered.

    Well, whatever. Guess I might as well just get this over with.

    So with that, I entered into the tunnel. As I did so, it seemed the next trial was about to begin.

    Dianne had her hands cupped together as she looked down at the homework the school had assigned to her.

    She¡¯d already completed it, but instead of feeling relieved it was all done, she found herself concerned for the commoner who had gone missing.

    She may not have had any real connection with him, but she didn¡¯t want to believe he was dead. She couldn¡¯t explain why, but something inside her told her that he was alive. Because of that, she made a promise to herself.

    ¡°Dear lord of our land, please spare the life of the commoner down in the dungeons and bring him back safely. If you do, I promise from now till the end of my days, I will put in all the effort I can to become a true friend to him.¡±

    That was what she promised. If Axel survived, she would do all she could to become good friends with him and make up for the stunt those other nobles pulled.

    Finishing her prayer, the princess got up from her desk and went over to her bed.

    Unlike the other nobles, Dianne¡¯s room was far more extravagant. Containing not just a king-sized bed, but also a chandelier that shined the colors of the rainbow.

    Not only that, her blanket, pillows, and mattress were all the best of the best. Creating what one could consider to be the same as living at a swanky hotel.

    Dianne considered it a bit much but since she was a princess, anything less would be considered insulting.

    But leaving that be, Dianne crawled into her bed and closed her eyes. Falling asleep in a matter of minutes. All while dreaming about the world she sought to create.

    As the next day came, the princess sleepily slipped out of her sleepwear and changed into something more appropriate.

    School would be starting back up the day after tomorrow. As much as she hoped a miracle would happen and the commoner somehow survived, she didn¡¯t want those thoughts to distract her from her regular everyday life.

    And so, she went about her day as normal. Ignorant to the state that the commoner she worried for was currently in.

    ¡°Gaah! Waterball! Waterball!¡±

    In order to avoid the fire from burning my hair off, I sprayed some water magic through it and let the cold water drip down the sides of my face.

    ¡°What the hell is up with this trial!?¡± I screamed.

    I couldn¡¯t help but question it.

    Upon entering the tunnel, I was immediately met with several strange monsters.

    From a slime that nearly drowned me, to a lizard that breathed fire as hot as lava. It was like a dragon without wings.

    A few other things came up, but they weren¡¯t as much of a struggle as those two.

    Having just finished off the lizard, I was trying my best to put out my hair which had been burning like crazy moments ago.

    ¡°Whatever that voice is, they were gonna pay for putting me through all this,¡± I grumbled while taking a break to let my hair dry.

    While waiting, I pulled out some food I¡¯d grabbed from the cavern before and started eating it. Chewing through as quickly as I could in order to keep moving forward.

    As tired as my body was getting, I knew the sooner I got through this, the sooner I could get to the surface. So I didn¡¯t have time to take long breaks.

    Finally filling up my stomach, I got up and continued walking.

    ¡°Very impressive. I can tell you¡¯ve been in places like this before.¡±

    The voice entered my ear and I couldn¡¯t help but roll my eyes.

    ¡°When you¡¯ve been on as many adventures as I have, you get used to danger.¡±

    It wasn¡¯t like it was fun, but I¡¯d grown accustomed to situations like this. There were a few exceptions where I ran away, but that wasn¡¯t exactly an option in this situation.

    ¡°You mean you¡¯ve been an adventurer for that long!? But you don¡¯t look older than sixteen!¡±

    ¡°I started adventuring when I was twelve. Since then, I¡¯ve been in the business for about three years.¡±

    ¡°I see. Does that mean you came here on a dungeon expedition?¡±

    ¡°Hell no.¡±

    ¡°Really? Why are you here then?¡±

    Not wanting to explain, I stopped talking.

    ¡°Huuuuh? Why aren¡¯t you talking? Why won¡¯t you talk adventurer guuuuy?¡±

    Could this voice just shut up!?

    ¡°I don¡¯t need to explain myself. All that matters is that I¡¯m here now. Simple as that.¡±

    ¡°...Hmph!¡±

    ¡°Uh¡­Are you pouting right now or something right now?¡±

    ¡°Whoa! How¡¯d you know!?¡±

    For some reason she was really excited I could guess that.

    Trying to move on, I couldn¡¯t help rubbing my eyes.

    This whole thing trial thing just wasn¡¯t my cup of tea. Not to mention, there was still something oddly familiar with the way this voice talked. I just couldn¡¯t put my finger on it.

    After that small conversation, the voice went silent again and I began making my way through the tunnel once more.

    A few more monsters came my way but they weren¡¯t too hard to deal with.

    About two hours later, I managed to reach the end of the tunnel.

    Upon doing so, I found myself in a giant empty room. However, I wouldn¡¯t exactly call it normal. The walls were lined with those purple crystals from before and above there was a strange blue coating covering the ceiling.

    ¡°What the heck is this place?¡±

    Suddenly, that voice rang in my ear.

    ¡°Congratulations on beating up all those monsters! If you hadn¡¯t guessed, that was your second trial and you passed it with flying colors!¡±

    Geez. For a voice speaking directly into my mind, it sure was loud. Was there a way to turn it down?

    ¡°Now then, how about we start the third and final trial? That sound good?¡±

    Final trial?

    ¡°So this means after I beat this I¡¯ll meet with you and you can send me back to the surface?¡±

    ¡°Yessiree!¡±

    That was good to hear.

    Trying to fold my arms again, I let out the slightest of grins.

    ¡°I see. Then bring it on!¡±

    I didn¡¯t know what kind of trial this last one would be, but considering everything else up to this point had the pretty common theme of trying to kill me, I wouldn¡¯t be surprised if the final trial was some big monster like a mammoth with powers or something like that.

    Just then, the ground beneath me began to crack and I had to take a few steps back.

    A moment later, a giant beast burst out of the ground and let out a loud roar as it drew its attention towards me.

    ¡°Shit,¡± I muttered under my breath.

    It really was a giant mammoth. Talk about a lucky guess. Er¡­scratch that. There¡¯s nothing lucky about this.

    Keeping my eyes on the beast, I began preparing my attacks.

    Turning toward me, the mammoth let out a loud roar before charging forward.

    Trying to keep my feet steady, I stared the monster down. I just needed to beat this thing and I¡¯m free. That¡¯s all I need to d-

    ¡°Huh!?¡±

    Without me even noticing, the beast appeared in front of me and slammed its right trunk into my body. Sending me flying.

    The sound of a crash echoed in my ear. After that, everything went dark.

    ¡°Y-You gotta be kidding me!¡±

    Returning to her dorm, Lily was reading a paper she received from the school.

    It informed her that following the first week of school, she¡¯d be expelled from the school under suspicion of endangering and murdering another student. How the school came up with this accusation was beyond her.

    ¡°Please use the week given to clean out your stuff and prepare to leave the school. Anything found after departure will be instantly disposed of.¡±

    As Lily finished reading it, she clenched the paper tightly.

    ¡°What the hell is this!?¡± she wondered. Up to this point, she¡¯d never been punished in any way. It was all thanks to the connections her father had. And as far as she knew, there was only one place that didn¡¯t have any connections to him. That place being the High School of Magic and Swordsmanship.

    ¡°T¡­They can¡¯t do this to me! I didn¡¯t do anything wrong! If anything, they should thank me for getting rid of a pest! This is an outrage!¡±

    Lily felt her anger at its boiling point as she tore the paper to shreds.

    She¡¯d thought it was strange when her parents said they needed to talk to her later today. Was this the news they¡¯d received as well!?

    Feeling stressed, Lily began fumbling with her hands.

    She didn¡¯t get what was going on.

    ¡°What did they mean by endangering another student!? The only thing I did in all my time there was to rid the school of a filthy commoner! When did I endanger another student!?¡±

    It was clear at this point she¡¯d just contradicted herself.

    Grinding her teeth, Lily stomped on the shredded papers and continued to do so for quite a while.

    When her parents came to the school, they punished her for getting expelled from the school a mere two months after it¡¯d begun by lowering her status to that of a maid for half a year.

    That of course meant she¡¯d have to spend some time training to be a maid as well.

    And with how poorly she always treated the house maids, they were more than happy to teach her a lesson or two.

    Thus, it would be some time before she would find herself enjoying life again.

    In another part of the world, Sirin, Axel¡¯s robot assistant, as well as his island''s caretaker, counted the days it had been since her master was supposed to return.

    ¡°Master said he¡¯d return in two days. However, it¡¯s been a week and three days since then. Does that mean something has happened to him?¡±

    Sirin didn¡¯t have a way to make sure whether he was alive or dead. And as she was a computer, she was unable to feel any concern for his absence. However, it was strange that he still hadn¡¯t returned.

    Not sure what to do next, Sirin just continued waiting. As per her master''s last command.

    A little ways away flying high above the school, a man looked out into the blue sky as his hands started to glow a bright yellow.

    He stayed in this position for some time until the yellow glow finally faded.

    ¡°I see. So he¡¯s alive after all. That¡¯s good to hear.¡±

    With those words, the man let out a sigh of relief and went on with his day.

    As all this other stuff happened, the battle against the mammoth raged on.

 Chapter 9: The Grimoires Spirit

    As my vision returned to me, I couldn¡¯t help but let out a loud groan.

    I¡¯d managed to avoid getting stabbed by the mammoth horn, but I still got rammed into the wall and my chest was throbbing in pain. It really hurt like hell.

    Getting out of the wall, I glared at the beast. It didn¡¯t seem to pick up on the anger streaming from me since it charged forward once more.

    ¡°How annoying,¡± I muttered.

    I held out my hand.

    ¡°Wind Slash!¡±

    Trying to morph my wind ball into something a bit more deadly, a blade of wind shot from my hand and smashed into the beast. However, it didn¡¯t even flinch at the attack and continued charging forward. Making it clear the attack needed improvement.

    ¡°This would be a lot easier with two hands,¡± I grumbled.

    Who knew fighting with only one hand was so hard. Curse those damn crocodiles.

    But moving past that, I jumped out of the way just as the monster slammed into the wall behind me. Meaning I had to try and dodge the debris as best I could.

    After that, I pushed myself to my feet and started running across the giant room.

    As I did so, I glanced at the walls of purple crystals.

    They only covered the left and right and both front and back were just regular stone.

    Speaking of which, the beast had slammed into the wall in the back.

    I¡¯d hoped to have just run past it to the door to escape while it was recovering, but the passage that led me here was already blocked off and the set of doors not too far away were so large that they''d be impossible for me to open on my own.

    Having come to its senses, the mammoth quickly began speeding after me and was catching up faster than I would¡¯ve wanted.

    What if I used the electricity from the magica crystals to shock the thing to death?

    It was worth a shot.

    Using myself like a red flag, I drew the attention of the mammoth as if it were a bull and dashed toward the right wall.

    The beast followed close behind me and would probably close in on me within the next ten seconds. But that was all the time I needed.

    Finally stopping in front of the wall, the mammoth hadn¡¯t slowed its charge and caught up to me instantly.

    ¡°Wind Leap!¡±

    Using my wind magic, I jumped up high into the air and landed behind the beast who slammed into the wall with a loud crash.

    ¡°Oooh. That¡¯d be a pretty good move against normal monsters. They would¡¯ve been shocked to death in seconds.¡±

    ¡°I thought so¡­wait, did you say normal monsters?¡±

    Another crash came from behind me and I turned around to find the mammoth standing there completely unharmed.

    In fact, instead of getting hurt, it somehow looked bigger than before.

    ¡°That¡¯s the Magica Mammoth for you! A type of mammoth creature that gains strength from exposure to magica crystals!¡±

    I couldn¡¯t believe this.

    ¡°What the heck is that bullshit!?¡± I screamed.

    This was starting to get more irritating than it already was.

    Sensing danger, I jumped out of the way right as the mammoth appeared in front of me and it managed to scratch my leg with its tusk. Causing me to wince in pain.

    Trying to confuse it, I stayed behind the beast in an attempt to make it think I vanished into thin air.

    I didn¡¯t know if it would be stupid enough to fall for something like that, but I needed a bit of time to think up a plan.

    Sadly, it turns out that didn¡¯t work as the mammoth instantly spun around and brought its tusks forward.

    ¡°Dammit.¡±

    Talk about an irritating monster.

    I dodged for what felt like the millionth time. However, upon doing so, it crashed into the wall behind me and as bad luck would have it, the thing managed to hit the wall of magica crystals.

    Growing in size a second time.

    ¡°What kinda crap is this!?¡± I screamed.

    Sadly, getting frustrated wasn¡¯t going to get me anywhere.

    Activating my expanded thinking, I looked the monster over when¡­

    There appears to be a spot located near the beast¡¯s rear that is unguarded.

    I thought that was great news until I realized exactly where the spot was.

    "The ass!? Are you kidding me!? Just how bad is my luck down here!?"

    This meant I had to quite literally kick this thing''s ass in order to take it down.

    Letting out a groan, I dashed past the beast''s incoming attack and tried to get a read of its rear. Sure enough, the only place that wasn¡¯t blocked by its tough fur was right there.

    With no other choice, I prepared my next attack against the monster.

    Watching the battle using magic, the voice who was speaking with Axel couldn¡¯t help but chuckle.

    ¡°This guy really is putting up a good fight. Although, he doesn¡¯t appear to be the one prophesied to come for me. How strange¡±

    The voice continued staring at the match. Despite the mammoth having doubled in size, Axel still managed to hold his own.

    ¡°You really are an interesting one. It only makes me think that¡­¡±

    The voice stopped that sentence as a thought passed through its mind.

    ¡°Y¡¯know¡­that wouldn¡¯t be a bad idea. However, that decision only comes depending on the outcome of this battle.¡±

    Keeping her attention on Axel, she chuckled once more.

    ¡°Let¡¯s see how you do then¡­my dear adventurer.¡±

    With that, the voice started to form an idea in its head as it watched the remainder of the battle unfold.

    Dodging another attack, I tried figuring out the best angle to attack from.

    Thankfully, I wasn¡¯t close enough to the wall for the mammoth to come into contact with any magica crystals. However, with how many of these things there were, I wouldn¡¯t put it past the monster to crash into the wall a third time if I kept dodging like this.

    Deciding it was time to stop hesitating, I steeled myself and prepared for my next move. A move that while absolutely disgusting, could help me win this battle.

    ¡°This is gonna suck,¡± I muttered thinking about how much I hated this idea. But even so, it had to be done. Thus, I pushed my feet into the ground while chanting a wind spell to increase my speed.

    The mammoth let out a loud roar as it charged at me faster than ever before. It was probably trying to go for a finishing blow.

    ¡°Wind Leap!¡±

    Pushing my feet into the air, I flew over the beast before landing behind it.

    Not giving the monster a chance to respond, I sucked in my breath and dove at its back.

    ¡°HAAAH!¡±

    Letting out a shout, I threw my hand forward and slammed it deep into the beast''s rear.

    It let out a loud scream as I did so. But now wasn¡¯t the time to consider its feelings.

    ¡°I don¡¯t like this any more than you do you ice age jackass! So just shut up and take it like a man!¡±

    And before anyone asks, no I don¡¯t know if this thing is a woman or a man. But I don¡¯t care. This thing picked a fight with me and it still deserved what was coming to it.

    ¡°Fireball! Fireball! Fireball! FIREBALL!¡±

    Using the strategy I¡¯d used time and time again, I shot fire into the beast''s body.

    The monster squealed in pain as it tried to shake my hand out of its rear.

    Trying my best to ignore the overwhelming amount of torture my body was receiving as the beast slammed me into the walls over and over again, I pushed my hand in a bit deeper. This has got to be the grossest thing I¡¯ve ever done.

    ¡°Fireball! Fireball! Fireball!¡±

    Continuing my barrage, I noticed the beast was slowly losing energy as its thrashing got slower and slower.

    A few moments later, boiling blood leaked from the monster''s eyes and mouth as it shook in fear.

    And after a few more moments, the beast let out one last roar of pain before puking out burnt blood and collapsing to the ground.

    Once it completed stopped moving, it turned into pixels and vanished into thin air. I had won.

    Letting out a sigh of relief, I glanced at my hand. It didn¡¯t look terrible, but it smelled awful. So it''s hard to say whether the whole thing was worth it or not.

    ¡°Truly incredible¡­if not a bit gross.¡±

    That voice spoke into my head.

    ¡°I swear whoever¡¯s behind that voice is getting punished for making me go through all that,¡± I grumbled.

    Forming a water ball, I tried washing off the smell as best I could. However, it seems I¡¯d need to get some soap if I truly wanted to get the stink out.

    Thus, once the smell faded enough to become tolerable, I decided to speak with the voice.

    ¡°So this means I beat your stupid trials, right?¡±

    I was almost expecting the voice to say something like ¡°Nope! That was just phase one!¡± or ¡°I was just kidding about this being the final trial!¡± but I¡¯d prefer for it to just be over.

    ¡°Nope! That was just phase one!¡±

    ¡°...Huh?¡±

    I was only joking about that! What!?¡±

    ¡°Just kidding. You should see the look on your face right now. It¡¯s hilarious!¡±

    I could almost feel a vein pop on my head. This voice had a lot of nerve making a joke like that after everything it put me through during those last two trials.

    Letting out a sigh, I rested my hand on my hip as the sound of a door moving echoed behind me and I turned to find the giant set of doors slowly begin to open.

    ¡°As a reward for successfully completing all of my trails, I grant you your reward. Come inside when you¡¯re ready.¡±

    It seemed the voice was welcoming me to come and meet them.

    Glancing at the doors, I began walking forward¡­before plopping myself down on the floor nearby.

    ¡°Uhh¡­What are you doing adventurer?¡±

    Getting into a sleeping position, I answered the confused voice.

    ¡°You said I could come in when I was ready. I¡¯m tired after that fight so I¡¯m gonna grab a nap. After that, I¡¯ll be ready.¡±

    ¡°Er¡­Really?¡±

    ¡°Zzzz..¡±

    ¡°How¡¯re you already out cold!?¡±

    Completed dumbfounded, the voice stared at me before letting out a sigh.

    ¡°Fine then. Guess I¡¯ll just let you sleep for now. Just don¡¯t sleep for too long!¡±

    I couldn''t respond as I was still fast asleep. I wasn¡¯t lying when I said I was tired.

    So with that, the final trial had been passed and the day drew to a close.

    A few hours later, I let out a yawn as I got up onto my feet.

    The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

    ¡°Finally awake?¡±

    The voice sounded annoyed. Hearing its frustration caused a grin to form on my face.

    ¡°What¡¯re you smiling for?¡±

    ¡°Nothing. Anyways, I¡¯m ready to go on in now.¡±

    ¡°Glad to hear it!¡±

    Returning to a happy tone, the voice waited for me to enter.

    Rolling my eyes, I walked through the giant doors and into the darkness ahead.

    As I made my way through the tunnel the doors led to, I could hear my footsteps echoing in the corridor. It almost had a lonely feel to it.

    Seeing a light at the end of the tunnel, I walked forward and closed my eyes on reflex from how bright the end of the tunnel was.

    Once my eyes had adjusted, I made my way into the room that awaited me.

    ¡°...What the hell?¡±

    To my surprise, I was met with a room that looked like nothing I¡¯d ever seen.

    The place was covered in a glowing crimson-red coating that gave off an intense vibe. Along with small white crystals that were stuck to the walls.

    That was strange in and of itself, but what surprised me the most was what was the thing in the middle of the room.

    What I found there was a stone pillar that had a similar coating to everything else but was also a bit darker.

    The walls surrounding the pillar looked incredibly smooth and it felt like a giant dome.

    ¡°Greetings adventurer! I guess we finally meet in person!¡±

    ¡°Huh?¡±

    The voice sounded much clearer than before. In fact, it sounded more like a normal voice rather than one speaking into my head. However, when I looked around I didn¡¯t see anyone.

    ¡°I¡¯m right here. Do you have hearing problems or something dude?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t see you. Are you invisible or something? Or is this one of those things where you have some item in the room that blocks you from my sight?¡±

    ¡°Neither of those!¡±

    ¡°Really?¡±

    They said that, but when I looked around the room once more, there still wasn¡¯t anyone in sight.

    ¡°Just look on top of the pillar in the middle of the room! It¡¯s kinda hard to miss!¡±

    ¡°Hm?¡±

    Looking at the pillar in the center of the room, I approached it and tilted my head in confusion.

    ¡°Uh¡­Sorry. I completely missed it.¡±

    ¡°How!?¡±

    ¡°So you¡¯re the pillar in the middle of the room?¡±

    ¡°NO!¡±

    If you couldn¡¯t tell already, I was just trying to mess with the voice. I was still salty about everything that I¡¯d had to go through.

    But figuring it might be best to just stop for now, I walked toward the middle of the room.

    Stopping right in front of the pillar, the floor below me began to rumble and the pillar fell down low enough that I could see something resting on top of it.

    So was the person I was looking for standing there? Nope! Instead, all that laid there was an oddly designed crimson-red book with some gold textures on the front and back.

    As I looked at it, I suddenly realized why that voice seemed so familiar.

    ¡°So that¡¯s it,¡± I grumbled before rubbing my eyes.

    I didn¡¯t remember there being trials before, but I knew this voice was familiar.

    ¡°Well don¡¯t just stand there. Pick me up already.¡±

    The voice sounded way too excited.

    Oddly enough, this was exactly the thing I¡¯d been searching for. Who would¡¯ve guessed I¡¯d stumble on it by chance?

    Still¡­was this really what I wanted. I was almost tempted to walk away.

    ¡°Uhh¡­Adventurer?¡±

    As much as I didn¡¯t want to do it, I really wanted to get out of here. So without much of a choice, I picked up the book.

    Upon doing so, it began to glow brightly.

    A happy cheer filled the room as the book left my hand and opened up wide before shooting a beam of some sort into my chest.

    I winced in pain but tried my best to bear it.

    ¡°Master has been registered! Beginning connection process!¡±

    The voice started speaking in an almost robotic tone as the beam continued shooting through me.

    After a moment, the beam vanished.

    ¡°Connection successful. grimoire has successfully been registered to the individual known as Axel Savoncho. Final maintenance is being made to match the individual''s current skills. Maintenance complete. Now altering final changes¡­complete. Contract completed successfully.¡±

    Upon saying those words, the book glowed a bright yellow before collapsing back onto the pillar it¡¯d been lying on before.

    With that, I¡¯d successfully collected what I was looking for.

    Now for those who are confused, allow me to explain. A while ago, I mentioned that there was a secret six heroine in the game. This secret heroine was unlocked by completing the side quest known as the ¡°Grimoire of Crimson Red¡± which had the MC go through a dungeon that led toward him collecting the grimoire of the same title as the quest.

    And once he did so, from then on he¡¯d unlock a character that would act as the final heroine who you could only win over after beating all the other stories.

    It was a bit of a pain to get, and the heroine''s story isn¡¯t anything that special. But it¡¯s nice the developers gave the fans a bit of extra content.

    Anyways, holding the book in my hand, I could easily tell it was the grimoire of crimson red. And just as it did with the MC when the two talked in the game, the two''s relationship irritated me to no end and made the secret heroine a chore to deal with.

    ¡°It¡¯s a pleasure to officially meet your acquaintance Master! My name is Nia. I¡¯m the spirit of the grimoire you now possess and I look forward to our partnership together!¡±

    Speaking of the heroine, I suddenly heard her speak into my ear from behind and I turned around to find a short girl who despite looking fourteen years old, was apparently almost fifty.

    She had long black hair, some red ribbons on the side of her head, crimson-colored eyes, and a fluffy red dress that went down to her knees. But again, she looked like she was around the age of fourteen so she wasn¡¯t exactly alluring.

    ¡°With that said, I¡¯d be happy to now explain how my grimoire wo-URG!¡±

    Just as the girl called Nia started talking, I slammed my fist into her head before grinding it into her skull.

    ¡°That really hurts! Could you please stop that!?¡±

    ¡°I could. But only if you can guess what I¡¯m why I¡¯m doing this in the first place.¡±

    For the first time ever, I could finally do what I¡¯ve wanted to do to this character since I saw her for the first time. I finally got the chance to give this little punk what she deserved.

    ¡°How could I guess that!? Please just stop it!?¡±

    Nia tried batting my hand away to no avail.

    After about five minutes, I felt a little better and finally let her head go.

    Annoyed, Nia massaged her head while glaring at me.

    ¡°What the heck was that for!?¡±

    ¡°Meh. Reasons.¡±

    It wasn¡¯t that I didn¡¯t wanna tell her those reasons, I just figured she wouldn¡¯t understand if I tried to explain it.

    ¡°What a cruel way to start our partnership,¡± Nia grumbled before turning to face me.

    ¡°So? You said you had to tell about how your grimoire works right?¡±

    As I mentioned that, one of Nia¡¯s top hairs perked up as if to say ¡°Oh yeah.¡±

    With that, she began explaining how the whole thing worked.

    To summarize what I was told, a grimoire in this world acted as an extension of one''s being. It gave whoever owned one more strength than they could possibly have achieved on their own. In fact, grimoires were so strong, that almost none existed. In total, there were only three in the entire world. The first one was found by the MC in the game, and apparently, the creator of magic had another, and the final one was missing.

    Since grimoires were so powerful, spirits were put inside them to ensure that they were not only well maintained but also gave the spirit a chance to choose a worthy individual to wield the grimoire''s power.

    And as you probably already know, I was now one of those people.

    In terms of power, grimoires could do several things. From protecting the user from any surprise attacks to even making it so that things could be instantly imprinted on the user''s mind. That¡¯ll certainly make getting through school a breeze.

    But the thing I liked it for the most was its ability to shorten spells beyond the need for words. In short, casting without even needing to chant. Something only those with grimoires could do.

    To sum it all up, they were extremely OP, and made me mad that the MC never took advantage of any of the abilities offered other than a boost in magical power.

    Also, as I mentioned before, this grimoire unlocked the secret heroine. Nia the spirit of the grimoire. Probably the most basic route in the game. It was your standard "does this guy truly deserve my power" situation where you have to gain her trust and eventually that leads to her falling in love with the MC.

    It wasn¡¯t anything too special, but it wasn¡¯t bad either. Perfectly middle of the road.

    But moving past that, once Nia finished going over everything, I let out a yawn.

    ¡°Well moving past all that, does that mean you can help get me back to the surface?¡±

    Nia looked at me a little unsure.

    ¡°Of course. However, it requires you to learn the spell of teleportation.¡±

    ¡°Seems simple enough. Don¡¯t you have that spell on you being a grimoire spirit and all?¡±

    ¡°Er¡­Well yes, I do. But there¡¯s a catch.¡±

    ¡°A catch?¡±

    What was she talking about? She was able to immediately teach it to the MC the minute he found her in the game.

    ¡°You see¡­teleportation is an incredibly powerful spell. And casting it on a whim isn¡¯t normally possible. Meaning I¡¯d need to imprint it on your mind which isn¡¯t as easy as simply casting it.¡±

    ¡°I see.¡±

    I knew that much. What was she getting at?

    ¡°Well¡­How should I put this?¡±

    Nia seemed genuinely concerned about something.

    ¡°It¡¯s just that after combining myself with you, I¡¯ve noticed just how different your body structure is compared to other humans.¡±

    ¡°Is it really that different?¡±

    ¡°Completely different! It¡¯s enough of a miracle you¡¯re able to use the four basic elements!¡±

    ¡°Er¡­.Really?¡±

    I didn¡¯t really get it, but if I had to guess, I think she was saying that since my body was from another world, she couldn¡¯t imprint magic as easily with me as she could with people from this world.

    ¡°So wait¡­are you saying it¡¯s impossible for me to use certain types of magic?¡±

    ¡°That, and a majority of what my grimoire has to offer. Such as wordless chanting and teleportation.

    What!? The two most useful things won¡¯t be at my disposal!?

    ¡°Is there any way for me to fix that!?¡±

    I was starting to grow a little concerned. From the way Nia was wording it, not only would I be unable to use some of the best stuff the grimoire had to offer, I wouldn¡¯t even be able to return to the surface.

    Nia thought things over for a moment before speaking.

    ¡°There is one thing I can do. However, I can¡¯t promise your safety.¡±

    ¡°What is it?¡±

    Trying to calm down, I listened to what Nia had to say.

    ¡°How about dying and reincarnating into a new body?¡±

    Nia instantly got a chop to the head.

    ¡°I was joking! There actually is a way to fix your current problem.¡±

    With my hand still at the ready, I quietly listened.

    ¡°Let me ask you, have you ever struggled to grow? Physically that is?¡±

    ¡°Hm?¡±

    ¡°As in, does your body refuse to grow any muscle despite how much physical activity you do.¡±

    ¡°Yeah. But how¡¯d you know that?¡±

    Nia cupped her hands together and a ball of crimson red light began to form within her palms.

    ¡°This is a rare occurrence known as magiblock. Usually, it can only be caused through teleportation at a young age or a curse cast by a powerful magic user. Did you ever get teleported or cursed when you were a child?¡±

    I was about to deny both those things, but then I remembered what that god did. He shrunk me down back to when I was ten and sent me through a portal to this world. Did that technically count as teleportation? I¡¯ve dealt with this problem since I got here so I was sure it couldn¡¯t have been a curse, so the portal was probably the only option.

    ¡°I think I¡¯ve been teleported before. It¡¯s a bit fuzzy though.¡±

    ¡°I see. In that case, you were probably in a state of magiblock.¡±

    ¡°Really? Then is there a way to cure it?¡±

    Nia shook her head.

    ¡°Not to my knowledge.¡±

    I see. So that meant I¡¯d be stuck as a weak commoner forever.

    ¡°However, there is a way to lighten the magiblock.¡±

    ¡°Lighten it?¡±

    Nia nodded as she formed something in her palms.

    ¡°The thing you currently see in my hands is a special spell all spirits were taught upon entering their grimoires. It''s not specifically for this kinda of situation per se, but it should work.¡±

    ¡°Really? What is it?¡±

    I glanced down at the crimson-colored orb in Nia¡¯s hand.

    ¡°It¡¯s what you¡¯d probably call a restriction reducer. Basically, it¡¯ll let me morph your body structure in a way so that it can move past the limits the magiblock has forced upon you and make it so that you can access everything the grimoire has to offer.¡±

    ¡°Morph my body structure?¡±

    Hearing that caused me to look up at my hair. It really did look completely different.

    ¡°Yep! However, since I¡¯m the one who will be guiding the transformation, I only have so much power. Meaning I can¡¯t promise you¡¯ll look the same after I¡¯m done.¡±

    I was about to say that she should just get on with it, but those words caused me to stop.

    Did that mean¡­my whole body could be altered to the point I wouldn¡¯t even recognize myself?

    Nia let me think it over for a moment.

    Finally, I made my decision.

    ¡°Do it.¡±

    ¡°You sure?¡±

    I nodded.

    ¡°Even if I don¡¯t look the same anymore, I figure it''s a better option than rotting down here.¡±

    ¡°...I see. In that case, let¡¯s begin.¡±

    Having gotten my confirmation, Nia began guiding the orb toward my chest.

    ¡°Good luck and don¡¯t die.¡±

    ¡°...Wait a minute did you say don¡¯t die?¡±

    Before I could receive an answer, Nia pushed the orb into my chest, and a sharp pain shot through my entire body.

    It felt like my blood was on fire.

    ¡°RAAAAH!¡±

    I let out a scream of agony. It was way more pain than I could¡¯ve anticipated. It was like my entire being was slowly getting rewritten.

    My heart began to rapidly speed up and my legs gave out from under me.

    Before I knew it, I¡¯d collapsed to the ground. And a moment later, I was out cold.

    My body appears to be stabilizing. Activating my newly acquired healing abilities¡­task failed. Healing magic is unable to operate. Switching to water massage as a substitute.

    Feeling an oddly warm sensation flow through me, I slowly began opening my eyes.

    It seems I¡¯ve managed to recover successfully.

    Huh? Was it just me, or did my expanded thinking sound a lot more realistic?

    Getting up onto my feet, a voice came from behind me.

    ¡°I must admit, I wasn¡¯t actually expecting you to make it through the transformation process.¡±

    Turning around in an instant, I chopped a familiar voice in the head.

    ¡°Ow! Did you really just do that!? After everything I did for you!?¡±

    ¡°Of course! That hurt like hell!¡±

    ¡°But you were the one who said you wanted it! Don¡¯t blame me for your own choices!¡±

    The one behind me, known as Nia, rubbed her head gently.

    ¡°Wait a minute.¡±

    I just processed how I felt.

    Looking down at my body, it looked a lot more sturdy. Only around the average, but it was enough that I probably wouldn¡¯t run out of energy after a short jog. My vision seemed to be a bit sharper too.

    Finally having recovered from the head chop, Nia looked me over.

    ¡°Well, it seems like a majority of you still looks the same. Other than the sturdier build, you don¡¯t appear to be that different.¡±

    Using magic, Nia pulled up a mirror-like object and let me get a look at myself.

    She was right. Thankfully, I didn¡¯t look that different from before.

    However, one noticeable difference was the eyes.

    Before, my eyes had been practically pitch black. But now, they were a pure crimson red. Combine that with my grayish-white hair remaining the same and I actually didn¡¯t look that bad.

    Making the mirror vanish, Nia bowed.

    ¡°Now that the changes have been completed, I¡¯m finally able to help you to the best of my abilities. I look forward to what the future has in store for us. Master¡±

    Scratching the back of my head, I felt a bit awkward seeing her bow so politely like that. Even so, I tried my best to put on a smile.

    ¡°Yeah. Same here.¡±

    With that, I finally had full access to the crimson-red grimoire.

 Chapter 10: An Unexpected Return

    After getting taught the teleportation spell by having it literally imprinted on my mind which hurt like hell, I was finally able to cast teleportation magic. Thus, I cast it the moment I got the chance and my vision got covered by an array of purple and blue lights.

    A moment later I instantly found myself standing in front of the entrance to the dungeon.

    I blinked for a moment, then pinched myself to make sure I wasn¡¯t dreaming.

    ¡°Ouch!¡±

    The pain confirmed this wasn¡¯t a dream. That meant¡­

    ¡°I¡¯m free¡­I¡¯M FINALLY FREE!¡±

    Letting out a cheer, I pumped my fist in the air.

    ¡°You seem to be happy,¡± Nia stated. Her voice echoing from the grimoire.

    ¡°Of course I am. I¡¯m finally out of that hell hole. After all this time! I finally escaped!¡±

    ¡°I mean considering how you acted before, it can''t have been that long.¡±

    ¡°It was when you consider everything I¡¯ve had to go through.¡±

    ¡°I guess that¡¯s a fair point.¡±

    Looking myself over, I really did look quite different. I now had a much healthier figure, I was missing a hand, and both my hair and eyes were a completely different color from how they were before.

    But with all that said and done, I was finally out. Feeling my excitement growing, I pumped out my fist once more.

    ¡°Look out world! Axel is back and better than ever!¡±

    That was right. I felt better now that I was out. And now that I was free, I was through with this stupid world''s laws and rules. From now on, I¡¯d live things my way. No more pining for a harem, no more struggling over keeping up a nice persona. From now on, I¡¯d be myself and only myself.

    ¡°Beware Lily! The life you tried to cut short is only just getting started!¡±

    As I said those words, I got the feeling this was the start of something great.

    ¡°Freeze!¡±

    ¡°...Huh?¡±

    Out of nowhere, I found myself surrounded by several people in armor who were pointing spears at my face. And they didn¡¯t exactly look friendly.

    ¡°...You gotta be kidding me.¡±

    After that happened, I was brought into the school where I claimed my identity as Axel Savoncho.

    The school ended up investigating me and once we went through a giant slog of DNA tests among other things, I was officially confirmed to be who I said I was. Overall, the whole thing was a really big hassle.

    Not too long after that, I returned to my island.

    ¡°Intruder! Intruder!¡±

    ¡°Hold on Sirin! It¡¯s me!¡±

    Right when I was about to get attacked by Sirin who was still guarding my island, I waved my hand in the air and shouted out to her.

    ¡°Voice patterns recognized. Disarming intruder protocol.¡±

    I let out a sigh as Sirin put the island''s weapons away.

    ¡°This is certainly an advanced island.¡±

    ¡°Tell me about it.¡±

    Keeping Nia¡¯s grimoire in my hand, I made my way inside.

    ¡°I must say, Master, you look quite different from when I last saw you. Also, did you not state you¡¯d only be gone for one to two days?¡±

    ¡°Well, some stuff happened. I¡¯ll fill you in on it in a bit. But first I need to introduce you to someone.¡±

    After saying that, I brought out Nia and once introductions were complete, I began explaining everything to Sirin.

    When I finished, I left Nia with Sirin to talk with each other while I went to get a shower.

    When I came back, the two were still happily chatting away. Making me glad to see them get along.

    Two days later, I returned to the school dorms. Apparently, my other group members had already claimed I had died by a monster in the dungeon. And since they were caught lying thanks to some lie detector, the plan was to immediately send them expulsion papers which would get them out of the school by the end of next week.

    Also, it appeared the school went on a two-week hiatus thanks to my alleged death. That thankfully was actually quite convenient as I really didn¡¯t want to take any makeup classes. I mean even if I had them, I could just use Nia to zip through the lessons. But they still would¡¯ve been annoying to deal with.

    Before I knew it, the time to return to school had arrived. And when I made my way into school, I was already receiving plenty of curious stares.

    No surprise there. I looked completely different from before. Honestly, it¡¯d be easier to accept an excuse like I was a new student than being the boy who was "killed" during the dungeon expedition two weeks ago.

    As I made my way to class, I could still hear kids murmuring and cheering about my death. What a bunch of assholes.

    ¡°Those guys really don¡¯t like you.¡±

    Speaking into my mind, Nia took in the words of those around us.

    ¡°Meh. That¡¯s to be expected of a bunch of royal assholes,¡± I whispered in response.

    But I was more mature than the likes of them. And thanks to this grimoire, I can easily stand my ground now. So I¡¯ll let them laugh for the time being. As long as I get the last laugh, that¡¯s all that matters.

    Waltzing into my classroom, there were already a few kids there. Of course, they all immediately turned their attention towards me.

    Ignoring their stares, I made my way to my seat in the back and pulled my grimoire from the pocket on the side of my bag. Nia could¡¯ve shrunken her grimoire so that I could carry her around in my hand or on a belt, but since I wasn¡¯t in the mood to set up anything like that, I just kept her tucked in my bag''s side pocket.

    Opening her up, I looked at the board in front of the class. It already listed what we were learning today. That being magic circuitry.

    ¡°Alright, Nia. Give me everything you can about magic circuitry.¡±

    ¡°Understood.¡±

    Instantly, the pages that were blank before were filled up with information. The minute I read them all, the stuff within the book began getting imprinted on my mind. There was a light stinging in my brain as I did so, but considering the result, it was worth it. Thus, I saw a lot of high test scores in my future.

    More students began piling into the room as I continued flipping through the book. Several took glances at me and began whispering among themselves what I was doing sitting there. Honestly, I couldn¡¯t wait for the terror on their faces during roll call.

    A few minutes later, the teacher entered the class and didn¡¯t say anything. The others appeared to be waiting for him to speak up about me. But since he didn¡¯t, it was putting them all on edge. How adorable.

    Pulling out a sheet of paper, the teacher began taking roll call.

    People tried to listen and respond to the best of their abilities, but most of their attention was still on me instead of the teacher.

    Then, it finally came up.

    ¡°Axel Savoncho.¡±

    The looks on my classmate''s faces were priceless. They all looked utterly confused.

    Closing up my grimoire with a thudding clap, I put it on the table and stood up.

    ¡°Right here Teach,¡± I said as my voice echoed throughout the classroom.

    At that moment, everyone froze like time had completely stopped. But since I wanted to keep it moving, I re-announced my presence.

    ¡°Axel Savoncho. Present.¡±

    Once those words left my mouth, shouts of shock and disbelief filled the room. All the while, a big grin spread across my face. And eventually, since I was done taking all this in, I returned to reading the grimoire.

    Before I knew it, first period breezed by and I walked out of the classroom without giving anyone a chance to talk to me about my change in appearance. I didn¡¯t have time for that. After all, there was someone I had to find before it was too late.

    Making my way to the old meet-up spot, I heard a voice screaming.

    ¡°Don¡¯t feed me such lies! There¡¯s no way he survived! That person¡¯s probably a fake!¡±

    Their voice was a little far away, but I recognized it.

    Using wind magic, I silently jump up to the old meeting spot.

    There I found Lily glaring at someone. More than likely they were delivering the news of my return.

    ¡°But¡­but it¡¯s true! He¡¯s somehow alive!¡±

    ¡°Cut the dribble! That peasant¡¯s dead!¡±

    Deciding it was time, I spoke up.

    ¡°Harsh words Lily. Can¡¯t say I blame your anger though.¡±

    Lily instantly froze. I¡¯d understand that reaction.

    ¡°I must say, that little stunt you pulled wasn¡¯t too bad. Kinda sad it ended up failing in the end, huh?¡±

    I couldn¡¯t help but tease her. She did try to kill me after all.

    ¡°N-No way!¡±

    It was clear she couldn¡¯t believe her eyes as she turned around and looked at me.

    Seeing that expression on her face caused my grin to grow even bigger than before.

    ¡°Now then, perhaps it¡¯s about time I deliver what I promised you all that time ago.¡±

    Using wind magic, I made a gust swirl around us. The air felt intense.

    Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more.

    ¡°W-What¡¯re you gonna do?¡±

    I stared at her silently for a moment before letting out a chuckle.

    ¡°Nothing actually.¡±

    As if on command, which it was, the wind around me and Lily began to vanish.

    ¡°H-Huh!?¡±

    The look of terror on her face truly was hilarious.

    ¡°I already heard you¡¯re being expelled from the school. That¡¯s good enough for me.¡±

    I wasn¡¯t lying about that. From what the school told me, she was completely gone and never coming back. If I never had to see her face again then I was completely fine with that.

    Leaving things there, I began walking toward the stairs leading down from the roof.

    ¡°Here¡¯s a single piece of advice. If you¡¯re gonna try something as dumb as killing someone again, make sure they''re dead before leaving them to rot.¡±

    With those words, I left her behind me. I could hear her crying but I didn¡¯t care. People like her don¡¯t deserve sympathy.

    After that, I headed to one of the school''s many gardens and looked up at the bright blue sky. Thinking about everything that led me up to this point. It truly was a horrible experience. Something I¡¯d never want to go through again. But it was over now. I was finally free from that hell hole and able to move on with my life.

    And thus, my real life in this world had officially begun.

    ¡°Hey. Do you have a minute?¡±

    As I was returning to class, I was pulled over by none other than Dianne. What did she want?

    Following her, I tried to get a read on what she was planning.

    Judging by her personality, it probably isn¡¯t anything bad. Maybe she just wants to ask me what happened?

    That might be it. But there was only one way to find out. Thus, the two of us walked side by side until we found ourselves behind the school. Clenching her fists tightly, Dianne looked me in the eye.

    ¡°Tell me. Are you the real Axel Savoncho?¡±

    ¡°Of course I am. Who else would I be?¡±

    Dianne looked me up and down.

    ¡°If that¡¯s true, why do you look and act so different from when we first met?¡±

    ¡°Because I don¡¯t care how people think of me anymore. If they¡¯re gonna try and kill me no matter how I act, I might as well just be myself.¡±

    ¡°So the you I met before wasn¡¯t your true self?¡±

    ¡°Nope. Completely made up persona to appease the masses.¡±

    Dianne didn¡¯t seem entirely convinced.

    ¡°If you feel like you have to know, just check with the school. I¡¯m sure they¡¯ll easily provide the proof I¡¯m the real deal.¡±

    With that, I began to walk away.

    ¡°Wait!¡±

    I stopped and turned back to Dianne who had her hand out.

    ¡°If you really are the same person¡­can you tell me what the first words I said to you were?¡±

    I thought for a moment before speaking.

    ¡°You mean how you asked if I was Axel Savoncho and if I was the commoner everyone was talking about?¡±

    ¡°I..guess that¡¯s somewhat accurate.¡±

    ¡°Good. So I guess we¡¯re done here. See ya.¡±

    Waving goodbye, I began to make my departure when-

    ¡°Oof!¡±

    -I nearly lost balance as something slammed into my back.

    ¡°I¡¯m so sorry!¡±

    ¡°What the-!?¡±

    For some reason, Dianne was hugging me tightly.

    ¡°All this time¡­you were suffering down in those dungeons because those nobles hated you. I¡¯m so sorry! That never should¡¯ve happened! I should¡¯ve helped protect you from them!¡±

    Tears streamed down her face and I wasn¡¯t sure if she looked cute or weird right now.

    ¡°Er¡­Well, I¡¯m fine with it. After all, I already heard those guys were getting expelled. You really don¡¯t need to apologize.¡±

    ¡°But¡­but I¡¯m one of those people! I¡¯m a noble just like those who tried to kill you and for that I¡¯m sorry!¡±

    This was getting a little uncomfortable.

    ¡°Uhh¡­You¡¯re forgiven?¡±

    I didn¡¯t mean to phrase it like a question, I just didn¡¯t know how to respond to this situation. Was Dianne really this emotional in the game?

    A few more minutes of crying later, Dianne had finally calmed down.

    ¡°You good?¡±

    Wiping a tear from her eye, Dianne nodded.

    ¡°Yes. I¡¯m fine now.¡±

    ¡°Good. Now it¡¯s about time we get back to cl-¡±

    As I was saying that, the bell began to ring.

    ¡°Crap! We¡¯re gonna be late!¡±

    Not even thinking about it, I picked Dianne up into a princess-carrying position and activated my wind magic.

    ¡°Wha-!?¡±

    Dianne seemed unable to process the situation. But that wasn¡¯t important right now.

    Jumping into the air, I reached the roof of the school and began running towards the classroom.

    I still had a minute before the bell would ring again and clarify our tardiness. If I could make it in a minute then I¡¯d be good.

    Weirdly enough, Dianne had gone completely silent.

    Looking down, I saw her face was beet red. No surprise there. I really did just kinda snatch her up and start moving.

    Before I knew it, the classroom was right below us. With only fifteen seconds to spare, I dropped down as I felt some wind hit me in the face.

    Landing on the ground, I dashed toward the classroom door. We only had five seconds left.

    I put Dianne down and opened the door before dashing inside. Dianne dizzily followed behind me and we both got in right before the bell rang.

    Some students looked at us with expressions of both confusion and disbelief.

    Ignoring their stares, I plopped down in my seat and let out a sigh of relief. Talk about a close one.

    It was probably a dumb idea trying to carry Dianne like that since I still wasn¡¯t that strong physically meaning that I had to carry a person using wind magic as a form of extra boost. But even so, doing that got us here on time so I won''t complain.

    Moving past that, I looked up what we were learning in class before flipping out my grimoire.

    ¡°Did you really need to do all that? You could¡¯ve easily just teleported both you and the girl to the front door of the classroom,¡± Nia pointed out.

    ¡°...Oh yeah.¡±

    I¡¯d forgotten that was an option. Well, whatever.

    In the end, my school life simply continued onward.

    Once class was over, I saw Dianne walking up to me. Staying silent for a moment, Dianne cleared her throat.

    ¡°About what happened before¡­¡±

    She was probably referring to the princess carry.

    ¡°Oh. Sorry about that. I was just kinda in a rush and didn¡¯t really think about it.¡±

    ¡°N-No! It¡¯s fine! I just¡­would prefer you didn¡¯t do that again.¡±

    ¡°Duly noted.¡±

    After that, we ended up talking with each other for a while. We were getting stares from the other students, which Dianne quickly took notice of. She gave me a look as if to say ¡°Are you bothered by this?¡± which was sweet and all, but I just shrugged it off and went on with talking to her. Now that I was done with the idea of pursuing her as a love interest, I was cool with just talking to her normally. Princess or not.

    Soon enough the school day officially came to an end. In all honesty, I was kinda disappointed it was over so quickly. The shocked faces of the other students when they learned the truth was such an amusing sight.

    Making my way back to my dorm, I heard something behind me.

    Footsteps¡­.Lots of them.

    Sensing the people following me, I began walking behind the school toward the area Dianne brought me to earlier.

    Finally stopping in my tracks, I looked behind me to find no one there.

    ¡°Could you all come out already? You¡¯re not fooling me by hiding behind the walls.¡±

    Things were silent for a moment before the people following me revealed themselves.

    Before I knew it, I was surrounded by a few familiar faces.

    ¡°I see. So it''s you guys.¡±

    Standing before me was none other than the group that left me to die down there.

    ¡°You¡­You¡¯re gonna pay for getting us expelled!¡±

    The boy who took over as leader during our expedition stood in front as he pointed his finger at me. Hearing him say that, all I could do was sigh.

    ¡°Wah-! What¡¯s with that sigh!?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s a sign of boredom. Also, I find myself blown away by your complete stupidity.¡±

    ¡°What did you say!?¡±

    The leader walked up in front of me and grabbed my shirt. Lifting me into the air a moment later.

    I rubbed my eyes. This was turning out to be quite a dull situation. I thought maybe I was gonna face off against someone who actually had a reason to have a gripe with me. But instead, it was a bunch of idiots who blamed me for their mistakes.

    ¡°Look. You have no one to blame but yourselves. You guys tried killing me and that got you expelled. What part of that is my fault?¡±

    ¡°Wha-!¡±

    The leader was at a loss for words. He must¡¯ve been processing what I said. Did he even think rationally about his punishment for even a moment?

    ¡°Th-That doesn¡¯t matter! The only important thing was you were the reason behind it! That¡¯s all there is to it!¡±

    What an absolute dunderhead.

    Releasing his grip on my shirt, the boy pushed me back. He was around twice my size. Crazy considering we were in the same grade. The other students around him weren¡¯t as macho. One of them was even a pudgy guy who if I were to guess, probably loved sweets too much.

    But anyway, the leader formed his hand into a fist and began hitting it into his other hand in a threatening motion. Like that of a school bully.

    ¡°So as being the reason behind our punishment, we¡¯re gonna teach you a lesson.¡±

    The boy looked me in the eyes with a grin on his face. He was expecting to enjoy this. Leading me to let out another sigh.

    ¡°Wha-! Why are you sighing like that again!?¡±

    I couldn¡¯t help but shake my head.

    ¡°I¡¯m just astounded that you all can be so narcissistic. The royal assholes in this world really are corrupt.¡±

    The leader¡¯s face grew red with rage. My only response to that was a roll of the eyes.

    Now that I¡¯ve seen what real danger is, these guys just looked like a bunch of narcissistic brats who got cuddled and pampered by their mommas.

    ¡°Listen here. If you try to lay even a single hand on me, I¡¯m not just gonna take it. I¡¯ll trap you here behind the school and report you to the teachers. Is that something you want?¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re gonna tattle to the teachers? Even if you could do everything you said, that¡¯s a rather pathetic move.¡±

    It may be pathetic, but it¡¯s effective. Though it seems they weren¡¯t gonna heed my warning.

    ¡°Now then, it¡¯s about time for you to get what you deserve!¡±

    Glancing behind the group''s leader, it seemed they were all ready to be beaten to a pulp.

    Perfect. Just what I¡¯d been hoping for.

    Ready to fight, I turned my attention toward the group''s leader who aimed his fist at my face.

    As the fist drew close, however, I vanished.

    ¡°What the-!?¡±

    The leader looked around confused.

    ¡°Look! He¡¯s in the sky!¡± shouted the pudgy guy.

    The leader looked up at me with an expression of both confusion and surprise.

    ¡°How¡¯d he do that!? He didn¡¯t even cast an incantation!¡±

    Ignoring their surprise, I jumped off the school wall and floated over the group as they watched me in complete and utter shock.

    Finally landing behind them, I slammed my hand into the ground.

    As I did so, four stone walls rose up from in front of me and sealed the group in a thick, sturdy cage.

    ¡°There. That should do it.¡±

    Within the cage, I could hear everyones confused voices. Some had even already begun preparing spells to break the wall.

    ¡°Good luck with that. The walls I make aren''t so easily broken,¡± I muttered.

    They were designed to withstand quite a bit, so those guys weren¡¯t getting out of there any time soon.

    So with that, I went off and told a teacher about that group''s shenanigans. After that, everyone involved was expelled immediately instead of holding off for next week.

    Now before you say anything about sealing them up being cowardly, you gotta understand that I still wasn¡¯t that strong.

    Sure I could cast spells without incantations and I was a bit stronger physically than I was before. But if I actually tried fighting that many people at once without preparation, I¡¯d be beaten down in a matter of minutes. I¡¯m not some overpowered protagonist so stuff like that wasn¡¯t what I was interested in doing.

    But with that out of the way, the first week of school after a two-week hiatus had officially begun. And with me finally being free, I was ready to show those royal assholes just how much they screwed up trying to cast me out.

    ¡°Attachment is almost complete,¡± stated Sirin as she continued working on my newly installed robotic hand. And before you ask how she knew how to make one of these, I legitimately have no idea. Something about her and this island seemed way too advanced for a game called Medieval Fantasy.

    It was so futuristic that I wouldn¡¯t be surprised if Sirin could make a mech. Not that¡¯d ask her to. They¡¯ve never really been my style personally.

    But I am willing to make an exception for this robotic hand since only having one hand was starting to be a real pain.

    ¡°Attachment completed successfully.¡±

    Getting up from the seat Sirin had me sitting in, I tried out my new hand. It was quite a weird position to be in. She designed it to look exactly like my old one, but there was the odd sensation where I wasn¡¯t able to actually feel stuff with it. A bit strange, but that was something I was willing to sacrifice for having a new hand.

    So with everything said and done, it was finally time to face whatever this world had in store for me. And hopefully one day, I can look back on all this and say that I enjoyed my life here.

 Chapter 11: Struggles of a Succubus

    It was cold¡­dark¡­lonely. There was no sound. No blowing of the wind or the sound of an animal''s call. There was only darkness. Pure black darkness.

    That was, until I saw it. A set of glowing red eyes that seemed to look directly into my soul. They were terrifying. I hated them. I wish they¡¯d just disappear.

    As I felt goosebumps grow on my skin, the eyes seemed to sense my presence and slowly inched closer.

    ¡°No! Stay away from me!

    Ignoring me, they continued moving forward.

    ¡°L-Leave me alone!¡±

    They didn¡¯t stop. Before I knew it, they were in front of my face.

    ¡°Stop it¡­¡±

    I could feel it. The intense hatred of my ancestors poured into me. They were trying to tell me something.

    ¡°Kill them all. Kill all humans. Kill them all. Kill all humans.¡±

    Those words were echoing through my mind.

    ¡°Stop it¡­.STOP IT!¡±

    My head was starting to hurt. I couldn¡¯t stop the pain. It was insufferable.

    ¡°No¡­NO!¡±

    My eyes shot open as I felt my heartbeat racing like crazy.

    Sweat dripped from my body as I took in several deep breaths. My heart wasn¡¯t slowing down at all.

    Getting out of bed, I made my way over to my bathroom.

    Washing myself down in the shower, I slipped on my school uniform and decided to take a walk to calm myself down.

    Riko looked over the edge of the roof out towards the stars. He didn¡¯t know why he did this. It just became a habit at one point. Hearing footsteps behind him, he turned around to find Xara standing there taking several deep breaths as she she made her way over to him.

    ¡°Hey, Xara. Is something wrong?¡±

    Xara looked up to him and shook her head.

    ¡°I-I¡¯m fine. Don¡¯t worry about it.¡±

    Riko gave her a look of concern. Sensing something was wrong. But ultimately turned back toward the stars.

    ¡°Okay. Just let me know if you need anythi-¡±

    Suddenly, Riko felt something grab onto him.

    ¡°Huh? Xara?¡±

    Xara was clinging to his shoulder. She looked like she was on the verge of crying.

    ¡°Could I just¡­hold you like this for a little while?¡±

    Riko was a bit surprised by her actions but nodded. Figuring she had a good reason for this request.

    ¡°Of course.¡±

    With that, the two stayed there silently for almost half an hour. Eventually, Xara left to head back to her room and Riko waved her goodbye before off to his dorm.

    While she walked, Xara held her hand close to her chest.

    ¡°As long as I have Riko at my side¡­I¡¯ll never have to worry about that curse¡­That¡¯s right. As long as Riko¡¯s by my side.¡±

    Arriving back at her room, Xara got into bed and closed her eyes.

    She recalled how it felt clinging to Riko. And the beautiful smell her nose picked up as she leaned in close.

    ¡°His scent¡­is truly the best.¡±

    Those were her last words before she fell asleep.

    With a yawn, I got out of bed and stretched my arms into the air. Today was another day of school and I was ready to get it started. Especially considering how much things have changed.

    It¡¯s been around two weeks now since school started up again. And thanks to my attitude change, I¡¯ve noticed only half the people I walk past talk trash me behind my back now. That¡¯s a fairly good improvement in my eyes. Though I guess I have Dianne to thank for all that.

    Apparently, during my absence, she made a promise to be my friend if I¡¯d survived the hell hole I escaped from.

    Because of that promise, she¡¯s been hanging out with me pretty much all the time. Leading the other students to be more lenient with my being here.

    Now I didn¡¯t really mind the attention, but it was starting to make me wonder why she was so invested in me. I get she cared about commoners, but what was her goal in trying to be my friend? Couldn¡¯t she just become friends with any commoner? Was this a ploy of some kind like with Lily? Those questions kept popping up in my head over and over.

    Well, I guess it didn¡¯t matter. Even if she was trying to pull off something, I¡¯m way more skilled now than I ever was before.

    But moving past that, I grabbed myself a quick shower. Once that was done, I slipped into my uniform.

    Right before I left my room, I looked over at my coffee table. It still had that book I hadn¡¯t finished reading from a few weeks ago. Guess I should eventually get back to reading it. But not wanting to waste any more time, I figured it¡¯d be best just to get moving.

    Leaving my room, I made my way to the main school building.

    When I arrived to class, however, I was met with an odd sight. Standing there was none other than Xara and the MC of this game. Riko Toyazoto.

    For a quick reminder, Riko is the MC of this game world. His role is to win over all the girls before choosing one route to go down. And with how close he seemed to be with Xara who was holding onto his arm tightly, I figured I knew exactly who he was going for.

    Even if that¡¯s the case though, the sight of the two of them pissed me off. As a virgin with zero relationships under his belt, I wasn¡¯t exactly a fan of seeing couples cuddling with each other acting like they were in their own little world.

    Xara stopped holding onto Riko when she saw me and walked over before stopping right in front of my face.

    ¡°You¡¯re that commoner, right? The one who escaped the dungeon? Me and my friend here have been quite interested in meeting you.¡±

    I glanced over at Riko who simply shrugged.

    ¡°Yeah, that¡¯s me. What of it?¡± I said with a voice of indifference.

    Xara looked me over before giving me a sniff. Her face didn¡¯t change to one of disgust, but she did look a bit confused.

    ¡°That¡¯s weird¡­your aura doesn¡¯t smell anything like I¡¯d imagined.¡±

    ¡°Huh?¡±

    What did she mean by that?

    Tilting her head to the side, she rested her finger on her chin.

    ¡°Well hearing you were a commoner, I expected you to be filled with a scent of lust and forwardness. But your smell is more lonely and distant than anything else. Like you try to keep people at arm''s length.¡±

    Really? I thought I was pretty straightforward with people. I wonder where she got such an idea.

    As she sniffed me a bit more, I got a look at her. As expected of a heroine, she was cute. And her purple hair really did add to her perfect figure. Plus the wings, horns, and tail were oddly enticing. Guess that was the appeal of the succubus for you. Man. The things I¡¯d do to have a cute girl like her as my girlfriend.

    Just then, the image of her cuddling with Riko before flashed through my mind. As I mentioned, I had no plans to steal these girls from the MC anymore.

    However, if they were gonna blatantly cuddle like that when they probably weren''t going out yet, I figured it wouldn''t hurt to tease them a little bit.

    ¡°Say. You¡¯re a succubus right?¡±

    ¡°Hm?¡±

    Hearing my words, Xara looked into my eyes with an expression of confusion.

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    ¡°Well yeah, I am. What about it?¡±

    I grinned.

    ¡°I heard awhile ago the succubus race would seduce men in order to sleep with them and drain them of their fluids. Was that true?¡±

    Xara seemed to be growing uncomfortable.

    ¡°Er¡­I guess so.¡±

    ¡°Well, I¡¯ve never talked to a succubus before so there¡¯s this question I¡¯ve always wondered.¡±

    ¡°Um¡­And what would that be?¡±

    Not giving her a moment to blink, I saw Xara¡¯s eyes go wide as I cupped her chin and tilted her head up toward my face.

    ¡°I always wondered¡­what would happen if the guy tried to seduce the succubus instead.¡±

    With that, I began guiding my lips towards hers. Curious to see how she''d react.

    But just as our lips were about to make contact, a hand swung in front of us and I swiftly took a step back.

    Riko jumped in front of Xara with an angry look on his face.

    ¡°Don¡¯t you dare touch her!¡±

    ¡°Riko!¡±

    Xara looked at him like he was her savior.

    Seeing the two of them like that was hilarious!

    "Hahahahahaha!"

    Before I knew it, I was already bursting with laughter.

    I had already planned to back away at the last moment, but seeing them look so surprised was priceless.

    ¡°Wha-! What¡¯s so funny!?¡±

    Riko seemed taken aback by my reaction.

    ¡°Sorry. Sorry. I just wanted to tease you both a bit cause of how close you are. Don¡¯t worry dude. I¡¯m not planning on taking your girl.¡±

    ¡°My girl!?¡±

    Riko¡¯s cheeks went red as he looked behind him at Xara who had a confused look on her face.

    This caused me to laugh again.

    ¡°You guys really are a riot. Geez.¡±

    Finally recollecting myself, I gave them a wave before making my way into the classroom.

    ¡°It was cool meeting you two. If we ever run into each other again I¡¯ll make sure to say hi. See ya.¡±

    With that, I went into class.

    As Axel closed the door behind him, Xara let out a sigh of relief.

    ¡°Thank goodness. I thought he was actually going to do it.¡±

    She didn''t want him to, but considering the position Axel had her in, it was hard to say whether she would''ve been able to escape or not. Making her glad Riko was there to help her.

    Frowning, Riko turned to Xara. Expressing his concern.

    ¡°Are you okay? He didn¡¯t try anything besides that kiss did he?¡±

    ¡°No no. He didn¡¯t. But that certainly surprised me. Especially since I didn¡¯t smell any lust coming from him. I think we can just say I was caught a little off guard.¡±

    Turning around, Xara began making her way to class.

    ¡°Well, I gotta get going now. See you later Riko!¡±

    ¡°Er. Yeah. See ya.¡±

    Still not exactly sure about what just occurred, Riko began heading to class himself.

    While Xara was walking, she let out a huff.

    ¡°Still, that guy sure was rude. He nearly took my first kiss.¡±

    Thinking back to that moment, Xara¡¯s face blushed with embarrassment.

    ¡°I swear. If I ever see that guy again, I gonna give him a piece of my mind!¡±

    As the third period of the school day rolled around, I waved to Xara who looked at me with a blank expression.

    ¡°Hey. Looks like our classes got mixed today.¡±

    It was kinda crazy considering how rare events like these happened in the game. It¡¯s actually kinda hilarious.

    To quickly explain, we were currently going through the third and final period of the day. That being PE class. And sometimes when the school wants us to get along with other classes, they have us meet up with each other and bond over some exercise.

    It didn¡¯t make too much sense to me, but if the school figured it¡¯d work, who am I to argue?

    ¡°Hm? Do you know this girl Savoncho?¡±

    Dianne walked up behind me in her PE uniform. And before you ask, no they aren¡¯t like the ones in anime and manga. The shorts go down all the way to a little under the knee and the shirts are loose enough to the point it¡¯s easy to move around in.

    On a side note, Dianne seemed uncomfortable using my first name, so she¡¯s been calling me Savoncho since that was easier for her to say. I didn¡¯t mind it, but since I came from a world where using people''s first names was pretty normal, it was a bit off-putting being called by my last name. But moving past that, I responded to Dianne¡¯s question.

    ¡°I know her vaguely. We met earlier today when she and her boyfriend were standing outside our classroom.¡±

    Xara¡¯s cheeks went a bit pink when I called Riko her boyfriend.

    ¡°Let me think. Actually, I don¡¯t think I ever got your name.¡±

    As I said that, Xara realized that was true.

    ¡°Oh. That¡¯s right. My name is Xara Femashito. A pleasure to meet you.¡±

    Xara bowed to Dianne.

    ¡°Greetings. My name is Dianne Riosha.¡±

    After making exchanges, the two stared at each other for a moment as I turned around.

    ¡°Whelp. I gotta go finish ahead of everyone on whatever we¡¯re doing today so you two have fun.¡±

    I was about to just leave them be when suddenly-

    ¡°Eh?¡±

    -I felt something grab hold of my shirt. It was so tight that had I not noticed it, I would¡¯ve been yanked back like one of those old-timey cartoon characters before crashing into the ground.

    Turning around, I saw Xara standing there and keeping a strong grip on my shirt.

    ¡°May I¡­help you?¡±

    I was lost. Why was she grabbing me right now?

    ¡°Can I¡­speak with you for a moment?¡±

    I couldn¡¯t explain it, but it felt like Xara was surrounded by a menacing aura right now.

    Not sure what to do here, I responded quietly.

    ¡°I¡­guess I could spare a few minutes.¡±

    Standing a little ways away from the others under a tree for some shade, Xara looked me in the eyes while Dianne went back to the others.

    ¡°That wasn¡¯t a nice stunt you pulled back there.¡±

    ¡°Hm? Are you talking about the fake-out kiss?¡±

    ¡°Y-Yes. That¡¯s what I¡¯m talking about.¡±

    I shrugged.

    ¡°All I did was tease you a bit. You and that guy seemed close, so I figured what¡¯s a bit of fun gonna do?¡±

    Xara clenched her fists. Seemingly annoyed.

    ¡°Why are you so insistent about my and Riko¡¯s relationship?¡±

    ¡°Hm?¡±

    ¡°Whenever I¡¯m around everyone else, they don¡¯t even bat an eye. But when we talked with you, it was all you brought up. Why do you keep talking about that?¡±

    I shrugged again.

    ¡°I¡¯m simply stating what I see. And when I watched you too act like a married couple, I couldn''t help but mess around with you. Though, it''s not because I hate you two or anything. I¡¯m just doing what I want. That¡¯s all there is to it.¡±

    Xara was silent for a moment before letting out a sigh. Figuring it wouldn''t help to give me a big talking too. After that, she walked up next to me. my neck a sniff.

    ¡°Seriously. What is up with your aura?¡±

    ¡°Huh?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s like¡­nothing I¡¯ve ever smelled before. I tried my best to describe it this morning, but it¡¯s hard to get a reading on it. It¡¯s like you tried to replace one aura with another but ended up combining them instead. Not like reincarnation or anything, but something else entirely. It¡¯s like¡­.two aura¡¯s reside inside you and they¡¯re messing with one another.¡±

    ¡°I¡­see.¡±

    So that¡¯s what it is. Looking down at my belt where I¡¯d shrunken down my grimoire and basically turned it into a keychain, I glanced at it for a moment as I thought about the spirit residing inside.

    More than likely she was smelling both mine and Nia¡¯s auras. They both reside in me since she and I are connected and all.

    Xara gave me one more sniff before sighing.

    ¡°Well, maybe I¡¯ll never understand you. So moving past that, there¡¯s something I wanna clear up. Riko and I aren''t boyfriend and girlfriend. We¡¯re just really close.¡±

    ¡°Is that so?¡±

    ¡°Yeah. It is. So please don¡¯t tease me and him anymore. I beg of you.¡±

    After saying that, one glance at my face was all it took for her to think her words hadn¡¯t gotten to me.

    "Actually, you know what, forget what I just said. After looking at your face, I can tell you¡¯ll just keep doing¡­.¡±

    ¡°Okay.¡±

    ¡°...Huh?¡±

    Xara looked at me like she couldn¡¯t believe what I just said. It was a single word. You don¡¯t need to act that shocked.

    ¡°Y¡­You¡¯ll really stop?¡±

    ¡°Sure. I mean you asked me directly so I don¡¯t see why I¡¯d keep trying to push your buttons.¡±

    ¡°Y¡­You¡¯re not just saying that?¡±

    ¡°Geez. How clear do I have to make it?¡±

    Letting out an annoyed sigh, I spelled it out for her.

    ¡°I. Won¡¯t. Tease. You. About. That. Again. Clear now?¡±

    I really didn¡¯t care about all this. I just figured I¡¯d mess with them since they¡¯ll get together anyway. But if they don¡¯t like it, I¡¯ll stop.

    Xara still looked a little unsure. Seeing that, I knew it was still struggling to get through. So, without thinking, I slammed my hand against the tree she was standing in front of.

    She let out a gasp of surprise for some reason and I clarified my words.

    ¡°I¡¯m not a royal asshole. I don¡¯t care about your love life or what you wanna achieve in the future. I¡¯m just here to live my life. If you don¡¯t like me messing with you, I¡¯ll stop, as long as you don¡¯t try and mess with my life, I won¡¯t try to mess with yours. Does that make sense?¡±

    I tried making it as clear as possible. But from the look on her face, she didn¡¯t appear to be listening. Her face was slightly red. She looked embarrassed. Why?

    It was then that I noticed I unintentionally did the wall slam move on her when I hit my hand against the tree. A rather popular move for picking up chicks in stories.

    I was about to remove my hand from the tree and apologize when something suddenly hit my shoulder.

    Looking down, I saw what appeared to be a glove lying there.

    Turning my head towards the direction it was thrown, I saw none other than Riko standing there. He was still in his school uniform so he must¡¯ve just been wandering about. Is the MC even allowed to do that?

    ¡°What do you want?¡±

    I took my hand off the tree and Xara seemed to be clearing her head.

    ¡°What the¡­Riko?¡±

    That''s when she noticed her friend standing there. Glaring at me while gritting his teeth.

    ¡°Axel Savoncho! I challenge you to a magic duel!¡±

    ¡°...Huh?¡±

    As those words left Riko¡¯s mouth, all I could do was stare at him in disbelief. It seemed I might¡¯ve made a mistake.

 Chapter 12: The Unfair Duel

    Before I knew it, I was sitting in my room with two other people. Riko Toyazoto, and Xara Femashito.

    ¡°So let me get this straight. You wanna duel me so that I¡¯ll stay away from Xara?¡±

    Riko nodded.

    ¡°I may be a lower noble, but I¡¯m still considered the second strongest in my family! I¡¯ve even stood my ground against a second year before!¡±

    ¡°Uh¡­Is this really necessary Riko?¡±

    Xara seemed a little unsure about the whole thing.

    ¡°Of course! We¡¯ve only met him today, but he¡¯s already been trying to make moves on you! I won¡¯t allow people to do stuff like that to my friends!¡±

    ¡°Um¡­Thanks.¡±

    Xara blushed a little bit and looked to the ground.

    Dammit. If I hadn¡¯t already agreed to stop teasing her, this would¡¯ve been perfect teasing material.

    But what¡¯s done is done. With a sigh, I looked at Riko.

    ¡°So you wanna duel? What do I get if I win?¡±

    Now that I think about it, I¡¯ve never really seen Riko¡¯s fighting skills. None of the routes required much in terms of combat. It was just stated he was secretly quite strong. How strong was never really clarified. But if what Riko said is true, I¡¯m actually curious about how a duel like this could turn out.

    ¡°If you win, then¡­then I¡¯ll look the other way about your previous actions on Xara.

    ¡°Bzzt.¡±

    I crossed my arms.

    ¡°Huh!?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s not a worthy prize for me. You gotta add a bit of spice to it. What¡¯s a duel without a few risks?¡±

    After hearing that, Riko tried coming up with something else.

    ¡°I¡¯ll pay you two thousand copr!¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t need your cash. If you forgot, I own an island.¡±

    I actually wouldn¡¯t mind cash, but that little wouldn¡¯t even be enough to keep me going for more than a week or two.

    ¡°I¡¯ll lick your boots!¡±

    ¡°What are you? A masochist?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll forgive you for trying to flirt with Xara!¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s literally just a reworded version of the first thing you said.¡±

    As he tried coming up with more suggestions, I sighed and finally gave him an offer.

    ¡°How about this, if I win, I¡¯m allowed to talk with Xara without you trying to block our interactions. That sound good?¡±

    ¡°You mean to ignore all your future advances!?¡±

    ¡°No. I mean to just let us talk. If you wanna interpret it any other way, then that¡¯s your thing. Do you accept those terms?¡±

    Riko seemed hesitant before letting out a sigh.

    ¡°Very well. I don¡¯t fear I¡¯ll lose, but in case I do, those terms will be fine.¡±

    With that, Riko looked at Xara for a moment before leaving the room.

    Xara still sat there in her seat with her eyes glued to the ground.

    ¡°I¡¯m surprised you didn¡¯t try and tease Riko for defending me,¡± she stated.

    I shrugged.

    ¡°I told you I¡¯d stop doing that since you asked. Right?¡±

    Xara¡¯s eyes went wide as she finally pulled her head up.

    ¡°You¡¯re actually gonna stop?¡±

    ¡°For Pete''s sake. Yes! I¡¯ve already stopped at this point. Just how untrusting can you be?¡±

    Xara brought her attention back to the floor.

    ¡°Sorry. I just didn¡¯t think someone with such a strange scent could be so understanding.¡±

    What the heck was up with this girl? Was she always this cautious of other people?

    With a sigh, I got up from my bed which I¡¯d been sitting on throughout the conversation.

    Walking over to Xara, I petted her on the head.

    ¡°Huh!?¡±

    Xara looked up at me with embarrassed red cheeks.

    ¡°What was that for!?¡±

    ¡°You seemed down so I was trying to cheer you up. Or do succubi hate head pats?¡±

    Moving away from her, I rested an arm on my hip while Xara looked toward the window.

    ¡°I¡¯m¡­sorry. This all started because Riko was just trying to look out for me.¡±

    I shrugged my arms.

    ¡°It¡¯s fine. He seems like a good guy who''s just looking out for his friend. That¡¯s how you see him isn¡¯t it?¡±

    I looked at Xara who turned to me with an oddly blank look on her face before responding.

    ¡°Er. Yes. That¡¯s exactly how I see him. Anyway, I should get going now. Goodbye.¡±

    With an expression I couldn¡¯t really read, Xara left the room without another word and I stood there...alone.

    ¡°That was certainly interesting.¡±

    Well, almost alone.

    ¡°Yeah. Guess that¡¯s just how things turned out.

    ¡°You seem oddly relaxed about the whole thing.¡±

    Pulling the grimoire out of my bag, I looked out the window towards the slowly darkening sky.

    ¡°Meh. I just figured this whole thing would be a good chance to see just how skilled the MC really is.¡±

    ¡°The MC?¡±

    ¡°Ah. Nothing. Just be ready for the day of the fight. I¡¯ll be counting on you after all.¡±

    ¡°Yessir!¡±

    Thanks to Nia, I¡¯ve been able to improve my fighting ability a considerable amount these last two weeks.

    I don¡¯t know how they¡¯ll compare to Riko¡¯s, but I still wanted to test what my limits were as well as see if he''s as strong as the game claims he is. Meaning this duel was giving me an opportunity. And I planned to take it.

    The news about my and Riko¡¯s duel was already starting to spread all over the school.

    Most of the students were ecstatic since they thought it¡¯d be the perfect chance for me to be put in my place. And since I basically took Riko¡¯s spot as the outcast in the original story, most of the student body supported him for challenging me.

    In the end, we decided to have the battle at the end of the week.

    The school hosted the event and cleaned up the small battle stadium held for duels.

    Still, there were still a lot of things to prepare for beforehand.

    ¡°Are you sure you¡¯re gonna be okay?¡±

    Dianne gave me a look of concern.

    ¡°Of course I do. Why are you worried? It¡¯s no skin off your back if I lose.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s not true! If you lose¡­¡±

    Dianne stopped her sentence and went silent. I could more or less guess what it was. She was trying to fix the gap between commoners and royalty after all. If I lost, it would make commoners look weak and not worth anyone''s time.

    Putting my hand on her shoulder, I looked her in the eyes.

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    ¡°Don¡¯t worry. I¡¯ve got this.¡±

    Keeping her gaze focused on me for a moment, Dianne finally let out a sigh and seemed to accept my words.

    The week went on. A lot more hate started piling on me, but it was cool. I didn¡¯t really care. And before I knew it, the day of the duel arrived.

    With a sigh, I checked to make sure I had everything I needed.

    Since this battle was meant to be a duel of our own values or whatever, we were supposed to wear whatever we wanted rather than something the school asked us to wear.

    In other words, we could wear armor, as well as other gear if we liked.

    Since I wanted to wear something comfortable, I decided to wear my old adventuring outfit.

    So after giving a quick wash, I managed to fully clean the clothes and put them on.

    Ready for the duel, I wore my crimson red cloak, a silver chestplate, a black t-shirt, and dark grey pants. Combine that with my dark brown boots and I didn¡¯t think I looked that bad.

    ¡°Hahahaha! You look ridiculous!¡±

    Others didn¡¯t seem to agree.

    Keeping my grimoire on my belt, I checked myself over one more time. Now we should be ready to go.

    ¡°Master. Bets are currently being put on as well as against your defeat.¡±

    As Sirin appeared next to me, I turned to her. What she said caught my interest.

    ¡°Bets are allowed? That changes a few things,¡± I said with a laugh as I gave Sirin some orders before making my way out towards the battlefield.

    Walking through the hall leading into the stadium, I saw none other than Xara standing there.

    ¡°Not seeing your friend off to battle?¡±

    Instead of responding to my question, Xara grabbed hold of my hand.

    ¡°I wanted to apologize again. This all started cause I felt the need to talk to you about that teasing. And now you have to fight because of it.¡±

    I shrugged.

    ¡°It¡¯s all good. Besides, this¡¯ll make for a good learning opportunity.¡±

    Xara gave me a look of confusion.

    ¡°Learning opportunity?¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it.¡±

    After saying that, I began walking past her.

    ¡°Just to let you know, I¡¯m not showing him any mercy. So if you don¡¯t want him to get hurt, talk him out of this right now.¡±

    With those final words, I left Xara behind.

    I arrived at the arena a few minutes later to find the stands surrounded by people booing and laughing at me. What a warm welcome.

    Before long, Riko arrived. Guess that means we¡¯re doing this.

    Riko stepped up to the ring in what seemed like a loose set of armor that made it easy to maneuver in. He also was wearing power gauntlets of some kind. I recognized them immediately. They were a weapon the MC only glanced at in the game. Supposedly they have the power to convert your magic into powerful punches. But the less magic you use, the less impact it gives, and vice versa.

    We both made our way into the ring in the middle of the stadium.

    Someone who I assumed was the referee then began to go over the rules.

    To summarize, since we were doing a magic duel, we were only allowed to use things that involved magic. And since the gauntlets were technically magic-related, they were allowed.

    There was another rule stating we weren¡¯t allowed to use stuff like magic blocking barriers and also weren¡¯t permitted to kill our opponent. The battle was decided when one admits defeat, gets knocked off the platform, or falls unconscious.

    With the rules established, the referee began the countdown.

    ¡°3!¡±

    Riko gave me a rather menacing glare. I don¡¯t remember doing that much to deserve his hatred.

    ¡°2!¡±

    But now wasn¡¯t the time to think about that. The duel was about to begin.

    ¡°1!¡±

    Feeling the intensity emanating from Riko, I kept my eyes on the lookout for his first move.

    ¡°Begin!¡±

    Riko charged at me instantly.

    ¡°RAAAH!¡±

    He let out a shout as magic power began to charge into his gauntlets.

    He drew in close and brought his fist towards my face when-

    ¡°Wah!?¡±

    -Riko was suddenly sent backward by a strong gust of wind and he had to grind his feet into the ground to avoid falling out of the ring.

    ¡°What the heck was that!?¡±

    I chuckled.

    ¡°You said you were around as strong as a second year, right?¡±

    Out of nowhere, blades of wind that looked like they could cut the air appeared in front of me.

    ¡°Back in that hell hole, I acquired something. Something that helped me reach new heights in magic. Meaning had this been a fistfight, I never would¡¯ve stood a chance.¡±

    Riko attempted hitting me once more only to be knocked back by one of the sharp blades of wind I created.

    ¡°What¡¯re you talking about?¡±

    I chuckled.

    ¡°Using what I found down there, my magic was amplified much more than it already had been. Meaning I¡¯m way stronger than I was before.¡±

    That¡¯s right. I may not have gotten stronger physically, but in the magic department, I had grown extensively. And with Nia¡¯s help training this magic over the last few weeks, I could easily put up a fight against a small gang of thugs.

    This means beating a single person would be a piece of cake.

    ¡°You said you were strong enough to deal with a second year? Then you never stood a chance against me in the first place.¡±

    ¡°What¡¯re you-?¡±

    Deciding to mess with him a bit, I gave him a wicked grin.

    ¡°I¡¯m way stronger than any second year. After a reevaluation by the teachers, I realized something truly incredible.¡±

    My mind flashed back to when I took some magic tests yesterday.

    Remembering those results caused my grin to grow wider.

    ¡°I¡¯m not as strong as any second year, or a third year for that matter.¡±

    Riko tried attacking a third time only to be knocked away once more. So I kept talking.

    ¡°What I learned was that I was much stronger! Stronger than all the other years!¡±

    Suddenly, I appeared in front of Riko. Before he could respond, I formed a wind ball around my fists and drove it into his armor. The impact caused the armor to crack as I drove the attack in harder.

    ¡°No matter what year you¡¯re in, no matter how strong you are, I am more powerful than all of you! I¡¯m the strongest one here at this school!¡±

    Pushing my fist in even deeper, Riko failed to notice my leg as I brought it up and aimed it at his side while using wind magic to add some extra power.

    Unable to see it coming, my leg smashed into Riko and sent him flying out of the ring and into the ground below. Leaving everyone watching in complete shock.

    The battle wasn¡¯t even a minute long.

    ¡°R-Riko Toyazoto is out of the ring! The winner of this duel is Axel Savoncho!¡± announced the referee.

    ¡°...¡±

    There was silence across the stadium. No surprise there. I did just take what was meant to be a big event and finished it almost instantly.

    A few moments later, screams of anger echoed across the stadium.

    ¡°No way! He must¡¯ve cheated!¡±

    ¡°Was that Riko guy really that weak?¡±

    ¡°What the heck was that!?¡±

    The shouts of disagreement filled the area. Geez. If you hate it that much then take me on in a duel. Don¡¯t just scream about how unfair this whole thing was. Nobles really were the worst.

    With a sigh, I walked off the stadium when a voice spoke up behind me.

    ¡°We¡¯re¡­.We¡¯re not done¡­¡±

    I turned around to find Riko standing there with shaky legs. I guess he managed to push himself up. However, he looked like he was about to collapse.

    As our eyes met, he looked at me as if I was the worst person in the world.

    Pulling off one of his gauntlets, Riko grabbed the glove he had on his hand and he threw it at me with what little strength he had left. Hoping to immediately challenge me to another duel.

    Picking up the glove, I looked at it for a few seconds before tossing it into the air and using the wind blades around me to cut it to pieces.

    After seeing that, Riko¡¯s eyes grew wide and he fell to his knees in defeat.

    ¡°Just give up already. You¡¯ve lost this battle.¡±

    Hearing those words, tears began to form in Riko¡¯s eyes before he collapsed to the ground.

    People were still shouting in the background.

    Their shouting made me shake my head. Could they just shut up already?

    Without another word, I left the ring right before Xara ran out to check on Riko.

    Once I was out of sight, Sirin appeared next to me.

    ¡°Well?¡±

    ¡°I took care of what you asked. You¡¯ve won a total of four hundred thousands silvr for betting on yourself.¡±

    ¡°Good to hear. That should keep me alive for a good while.¡±

    I¡¯d asked Sirin to put in a bet for me so I could make some cash. How she did that I don¡¯t know. But now that it was over, I had plenty of money for food and other necessities.

    As for Riko¡¯s battle abilities, he was incredibly disappointing. I guess in the end, he really was the MC and nothing more.

    After that day, word traveled around the school about our fight and how it unfolded. However, since the ones who were spreading the word were the students watching the match in person, they changed the fight to make it sound like the MC was just a weak noble who couldn¡¯t even beat some commoner. Because of that, he¡¯s been getting bullied as much as I was back when I first arrived.

    I¡¯d like to say I feel bad for him, but considering his bright future, I figured it would be pointless sympathy.

    Plus, with the upcoming school trip, I didn¡¯t have time to think about the MC and his heroines.

    What trip am I talking about?

    It¡¯s a trip to trigger an event with one of the heroines. It¡¯s known as the school-wide camping trip.

    Since royalty and nobles normally never stepped outside their fancy palaces or ate commoner food, this was a trip planned by the school to help them all understand the hardships of the common folk.

    If I remember correctly, this trip would trigger the event with the heroine Kimichi Romaiyozu. The tiger demi-human.

    It starts when the school assigns teams they believe are well suited for each other and sends them out into the woods.

    While the teams are out there, they¡¯re required to accomplish a set of goals by the end of the week. The sooner you were done, the sooner you could return to the base camp filled with luxury stuff to make the rest of the week a breeze.

    If you couldn¡¯t guess, most royals hated this trip. Some have even tried to fake an illness so they didn¡¯t have to join in.

    Because of this, the school always brings in a doctor who uses some kind of medical magic to confirm a student''s health. Thanks to that doctor, very few students skip out on this trip. Also, it was mandatory to go so there was no weasling your way out of it.

    For me personally, I wasn¡¯t that concerned about how things were gonna go. Years of adventuring experience go a long way in ensuring one''s survival. Although I don¡¯t know just how much of a requirement survival really was here since the place the school takes us to is meant to be a forest clean of any dangerous monsters. This means the most survival we have to do is search for food, cook, and set up a shelter among other basic camping things.

    However, I was a bit concerned the students in my group might try to pull a stunt like the ones from before, so I¡¯d already planned to bring Sirin along in her cube form just in case.

    All and all though, I was ready to take on this trip. And as long as no one tries anything dumb, it should all go smoothly. I mean it¡¯s not like some secret unknown threat is gonna pop out of nowhere and make things difficult¡­right?

    Oh, how naive I was to think such a thing.

 Chapter 13: The Hard Truth

    ¡°Kill them! Kill all Humans! Kill Them! Kill all Humans!¡±

    Clenching my chest tightly, I took in several deep breaths.

    Having calmed down from another nightmare, I found myself looking out the window of my room. All while the stars sparkled brightly in the sky.

    Watching them for a moment longer, I ended up closing my eyes and lying down on my bed.

    ¡°These nightmares have been getting worse lately.¡±

    That was all I could say.

    Though tonight''s was certainly the worst of the worst.

    Even after having that nightmare so many times, I¡¯ve never felt the connection to those voices as strong as tonight. Why was there so much hatred inside them?

    Shaking my head as if to forget about the nightmares, I got up and decided to take a bath. My body was covered in sweat and I felt like it¡¯d give me a moment to breathe.

    Lowering myself into the bath, I felt my body relaxing and a smile spread across my face.

    My wings flapped happily and my tail swung left and right under the water.

    Feeling my mind beginning to drift, I closed my eyes.

    ¡°Kill them. Kill all humans. Kill them. Kill all humans. Kill them. Kill all hu-¡±

    ¡°-mans. Kill them. Kill all huma-huh!?¡±

    My eyes shot open as I stood up and looked around. Was someone there? Why were so many voices echoing in my head?

    It was like a harmony of hatred that never stopped chanting.

    I looked around nervously for a bit longer before letting out a sigh of relief. The voices seemed to be gone.

    However, their words still lingered in my mind.

    ¡°Kill all humans.¡±

    That stuck with me for some reason.

    Thinking some fresh air was what I needed to clear my head, I left the bathroom and put on my uniform after drying myself.

    Leaving my room, I made my way to my favorite relaxing spot.

    When I arrived, however, someone else was there. And it wasn¡¯t who I was used to seeing.

    The person waved their arm at me.

    ¡°Heya Xara. How''re you doing?¡±

    ¡°Axel Savoncho.¡±

    ¡°Just Axel is fine.¡±

    That¡¯s right. The boy standing there was none other than the school¡¯s one and only commoner.

    His spikey greyish-white hair blew in the wind as he stood there with a smile on his face. Not sure what else to say, I decided to question him.

    ¡°What¡¯re you doing up here?¡±

    ¡°Nothing much. I was just here to admire the view.¡±

    Walking up next to him, I looked out at the stars.

    ¡°I understand what you mean. The stars really are beautiful.¡±

    Axel looked at me with a confused expression.

    ¡°I was referring to the view below.¡±

    ¡°Below?¡±

    I looked down below and all I saw was the gateway leading in and out of the school.

    ¡°Not that far below.¡±

    Without warning, Axel grabbed my chin and guided it up a little. When I saw what he was referring to, my eyes went wide in surprise. The spot he was talking about was the city below the school. It was covered in beautiful lights and colors that made it look absolutely breathtaking.

    ¡°Beautiful.¡±

    ¡°Right?¡±

    Axel gave me a grin. It was the same grin he¡¯d constantly been showing since the day we met a few weeks ago.

    We ended up standing there in silence for a few minutes before I remembered something I¡¯d been wanting to say to him.

    ¡°I wasn¡¯t sure when to say this, but thank you.¡±

    Axel seemed confused.

    ¡°Thank you? For what?¡±

    I smiled.

    ¡°For trying your best not to hurt Riko too badly. It was clear from your first move just how much stronger you were. But rather than showing off that power by beating him into the ground, you went for a quick knockout while doing the minimum amount of damage to his body. I¡¯m truly grateful for that.¡±

    No one else seemed to notice, but when I checked on Riko¡¯s injuries, the most he got was a few bruises. Meaning Axel had held back in order to minimize the damage.

    In response to my thanks, Axel simply shrugged.

    ¡°It¡¯s no big deal. I just didn¡¯t want to cause you any trouble. He means a lot to you right?¡±

    I nodded.

    ¡°Back when I was little, my family was hated by those around us. Unlike other communities that treated succubi fairly, the place I grew up in still believed them to be nothing but lust-crazed monsters that only ever thought about male juices. Because of that environment, I found myself quickly growing attached to the first person I found who had a nice scent.¡±

    ¡°That was that Riko guy, right?¡±

    I nodded again.

    ¡°He never looked down on me. He always stayed by me when I wanted comfort, listened to what I had to say, and cared for me. If it wasn¡¯t for him, I don¡¯t know how things in school would be right now. And as long as he¡¯s at my side, I¡¯ll never have to worry about the idea of a horrible future ever again.¡±

    Thinking about my words, Axel looked up at the stars. Remaining silent for several minutes before speaking.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry if this sounds rude, but that just sounds like you¡¯re being clingy to me.¡±

    I was a bit taken aback by what he said.

    ¡°Huh?¡±

    ¡°Let me ask you something. Have you ever thought about doing anything by yourself since coming here?¡±

    ¡°By myself?¡±

    I thought about that for a moment.

    ¡°I can¡¯t really think of anything. Though, as long as Riko¡¯s with me, I¡¯m sure that pretty much anything could be fun.¡±

    ¡°And that¡¯s my point. You¡¯re clinging to him too much.¡±

    Huh? What did he mean by that? Isn¡¯t wanting to do things with people close to you a normal thing?

    ¡°Y-You¡¯re wrong.¡±

    Axel looked at me.

    ¡°I may not have much experience when it comes to people, especially since I grew up with practically no one there to watch my back, but when I first saw you two, I thought you were just lovebirds in their own little nest. But after Riko challenged me to that duel, I began to understand how your relationship actually works.¡±

    W-What was he saying!?

    ¡°When I saw you run out to him after the fight, I figured you two just really cared about one another. But then I saw how you talked about him just now and it was clear just how much you cling to him.¡±

    ¡°T-There¡¯s no way I¡¯m clinging to him! I just really c-¡±

    ¡°You really care about him?¡±

    ¡°Yes!¡±

    I didn¡¯t know why, but this whole conversation was beginning to irritate me. Axel let out a sigh as he slipped his hands into the pockets of his uniform.

    ¡°Then tell me, have you ever tried to make friends with other people in this school?¡±

    ¡°O-Of course I¡­I¡­¡±

    Actually, now that I thought about it, no. But that shouldn¡¯t matter. As long as I have Riko, that¡¯s enough.

    Probably figuring I wasn¡¯t taking his words to heart, Axel let out a sigh.

    ¡°Well, whatever. If you don¡¯t wanna listen to me, Fine. But if you end up growing attached to the point you can¡¯t think of yourself anymore, I¡¯m not afraid to come and smack some sense into you. That''s a promise.¡±

    After saying that, Axel started walking away. Leaving me behind.

    ¡°Who does he think he is? I¡¯m not clingy. I just really care about my friend.¡±

    Crossing my arms, my eyes fell back on the view he mentioned before.

    I can¡¯t believe I¡¯m saying this but¡­it really was a great sight.

    Leaving Xara behind, I couldn¡¯t help but let out a relaxed sigh. I finally got what I¡¯d wanted to say off my chest ever since I played her route. Something that¡¯d been bothering me about her character since the beginning. Her clingy nature.

    You see, throughout her route, she¡¯s constantly clinging to the MC and despite many people calling her cute for doing such a thing, it always pissed me the hell off to see every other character get some form of development while this girl never changed in the slightest. In fact, she had so little going on in terms of development, that the creators didn¡¯t even bother really giving her a story. The whole route was practically just Xara and the MC hanging around until the big confession happened. Honestly, the only reason I can¡¯t despise it is because the route had some of the best illustrations in the entire game. Other than that, there really isn¡¯t anything else of note.

    But moving past that, I can¡¯t help but wonder whether Xara will take my words to heart or not.

    It¡¯s entirely up to her, but I hope she can learn to improve herself and maybe even grow to be a more interesting character.

    Sadly, changes don¡¯t just happen overnight. So I¡¯ll just wait it out for the time being.

    Stretching out my arms, I let out a loud yawn when I noticed Riko, or rather, the MC walking towards the spot I¡¯d just left. Guess he was about to do the next event where Xara confessed how much she truly cared about him. I thought about watching things play out, but I was tired and wanted to get some sleep.

    So with that, I made my way back to my dorm room. Ready to enjoy a good night''s rest.

    I was still admiring the view when a voice came from behind me.

    ¡°Hey, Xara. You doing okay?¡±

    Turning around, I saw Riko approaching me. Which caused me to think back to what Axel had said before.

    ¡°You checking out the stars tonight?¡±

    Ignoring my conflicted expression, Riko seemed interested in starting a conversation. Sadly, my mind was elsewhere.

    ¡°Hm? Xara?¡±

    It was only when I was unresponsive that Riko seemed to notice something was off.

    Recomposing myself, I let out a weak laugh and responded to Riko¡¯s previous question.

    ¡°I-I guess you could say I was. But I think I¡¯m done for now. So I¡¯m gonna head back.¡±

    ¡°Er¡­Really?¡±

    Riko seemed a bit taken aback by my words.

    ¡°Yes. Why do you look confused? Was there something you needed from me?¡±

    Riko scratched the back of his head.

    ¡°Well..it¡¯s nothing. Good night.¡±

    ¡°Yeah. Good night.¡±

    With that, I left Riko behind and walked back to my room.

    Upon arriving, I lied down in bed as I thought about what Axel had said. I wanted to refuse that idea. But the more I thought about it, the more it made sense. I really did cling to Riko every chance I got. But that was fine¡­right? I was just hanging out with the person whose aura I¡¯d thought smelled the nicest. It was at least better than that weird smell on Axel.

    ¡°So it¡¯s nothing major. I just¡­really care about Riko,¡± I muttered out loud. As if I was trying to convince myself that was true.

    I felt like I was getting a headache so I tried my best to get back to sleep.

    When I closed my eyes, however...

    ¡°Kill them all. Humans are trash. Kill all humans. They don¡¯t deserve to live. They all need to die. Kill the humans. All they¡¯re good for is nutrients. Kill all humans.¡±

    My body froze in fear as those voices shot through my head.

    ¡°Please stop¡­¡±

    Moving my hands, I grasped my head and covered my ears. As if doing so would stop the voices.

    ¡°Kill them all. Kill all humans.¡±

    ¡°No¡­stop¡­¡±

    ¡°Kill them all! Kill all humans!¡±

    ¡°Stop!¡±

    I felt myself lifting my arms in the air.

    ¡°KILL THEM ALL! KILL ALL HUMANS!¡±

    ¡°I SAID STOP!¡±

    I started slamming my fists into my head to shut up the voices. But no matter what I did, they wouldn¡¯t stop. My head was throbbing in pain and my heart was beating rapidly. I swore I heard some knocking on my door, but it wasn¡¯t easy to make out with the voices echoing through my head.

    If you come across this story on Amazon, it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it.

    I continued trying to knock the voices out for what felt like hours until I finally collapsed from exhaustion.

    The next day, Riko told me Xara hadn¡¯t come to school. Why he told me that was simply because he was worried that I¡¯d said something to her when he wasn¡¯t around. I told him I didn¡¯t know anything, but he didn¡¯t seem to believe me. Geez. Was this all because I told her my true thoughts about her character, or was it something else?

    While trying to figure out an answer, I found myself debating whether I should visit her or not. I¡¯m sure she¡¯d rather have Riko visit, and I didn¡¯t exactly mince words when we talked last night, but in the end, I decided to go.

    Even if she didn¡¯t want me there, I wanted to check and see if she was okay.

    Waving Dianne goodbye at the end of the school day, I picked up some food as a get-well gift if Xara was sick and made my way to the girl''s dorm. Immediately heading toward her door as I got weird looks from the girls around me.

    How do I know where to go, you ask? Her room number was in the game. Simple as that.

    Reaching her door, I knocked on it lightly. A bit of shuffling around could be heard on the other side.

    ¡°Who is it?¡± asked a voice.

    ¡°Xara. That you in there? It¡¯s Axel.¡±

    ¡°Go away.¡±

    Harsh. But expected.

    ¡°I was just wondering if you were okay. I heard you skipped school today.¡±

    ¡°Why should that bother you? Leave me alone.¡±

    Sheesh. Guess she must really hate me.

    ¡°Well, I know it¡¯s none of my business, but if you''re sick, then I hope for your quick recovery. Also, I picked you up some food that I¡¯ll leave here for you. Whether you eat or not is entirely up to you.¡±

    I placed the food down at the door.

    ¡°Anyway, I¡¯m gonna get going now. See ya.¡±

    With that, I left the food behind and walked back to the boy''s dorm.

    Once there, I pulled out my grimoire.

    ¡°Nia, can you give some information on the behaviors of a succubus.¡±

    ¡°I can. But what do you want that for? Is it about that succubus from before?¡±

    ¡°You could say that.¡±

    ¡°Understood. Here you go.¡±

    After that, I spent the next four hours reading about how succubi acted and the different inner workings formed from the generations of different succubi.

    I didn¡¯t know if it was really any of my business, but Xara wasn¡¯t a bad person. So if learning about her kind could help me understand her better, as well as help me give her a hand, I was more than willing to do so.

    Within her room, Xara slowly opened her door and grabbed the food Axel left for her.

    Putting it on a table, she gave it a quick look. It wasn¡¯t anything cheap that was for sure. In fact, this stuff probably came close to forty silvr. Definitely not something any normal person would waste their money on.

    ¡°Why? Why would he go as far as to buy me something like this after causing me so much pain yesterday? Is he an idiot or something?¡±

    Picking up something that looked like a pear, Xara put it in her mouth. It was delicious. Incredibly delicious. Exactly what you¡¯d expect for such an expensive treat.

    And to think, she had cursed Axel¡¯s name every time she thought about his words.

    Letting the smallest of smiles form on her lips, Xara continued eating the food quietly when-

    ¡°Huh?¡±

    -tears began falling down her face.

    ¡°Why am I crying?¡±

    She was completely lost. Wiping the tears from her face, she went back to eating. All the while, her cheeks began to heat up every so slightly.

    Before long the day had finally arrived for the school trip.

    ¡°Sorry, Xara. It looks like we¡¯ll be in different groups. I wish that wasn¡¯t the case, but let¡¯s make sure to meet up after it¡¯s over. Okay?¡±

    ¡°Uh¡­Yeah. Okay.¡±

    Xara ended up taking another day off from school before finally returning just in time for the school trip.

    However, her lackluster response left Riko a bit concerned.

    ¡°Are you feeling upset that you have to team with him?¡±

    Riko glared at me and I tried my best to pretend I wasn¡¯t listening.

    ¡°It¡¯s not that. Don¡¯t worry. I¡¯ll be fine.¡±

    ¡°Er¡­Okay then.¡±

    After that, Riko left for his own group as Xara and I looked around for ours. Crazy as it sounds, we were actually teamed together. Talk about a crazy coincidence.

    Once we found the others in our team, we began talking with each other.

    Since we were a group of five, it wasn¡¯t too hard to remember each other''s names.

    There was Roy Dinerio, Flynn Fonroin, Ella Ryuoji, Xara, and myself. A total of three boys and two girls.

    Roy and Ella were both in my class so I wouldn¡¯t say I was unfamiliar with them, but I didn¡¯t talk to them due to being almost completely outcast in my class. Flynn, on the other hand, was someone I didn¡¯t know very well at all. His hair was almost all completely trimmed off to the point it looked like he had a small cap around his head, he had a slim figure meaning he probably ate the minimum he needed, and he had a rather serious look on his face. Something that didn¡¯t really fit with the rest of his design. Basically the complete opposite of Roy. Roy had a full set of lengthy brown hair, a face any girl would fall for, and a great build that made it clear he went to the school''s gym room daily. I believe he was also said to be the second most popular boy in school only behind another guy''s name that I can¡¯t remember off the top of my head. Plus, he was incredibly sociable. Making it easy for him to form friends with anyone. The only off-part about him is his rather meathead-like tendencies. Though I don¡¯t think anyone really cares about those.

    And finally, Ella was flat¡­maybe I should describe her better than that.

    She had long wavy dark blue hair and lightly tanned skin. She didn¡¯t look like she worked out that much, but her rear definitely stuck out as a good point in her figure.

    I wouldn¡¯t say she was unattractive, but she wasn¡¯t exactly my type. To be fair, I kinda gave up on the idea of romance at this point so I don¡¯t even know why I care about the idea of her being my type.

    But moving past that, I tried my best to keep myself in the conversation with the others. However, they continually tried blocking me out so that made it somewhat difficult.

    Finally giving up on trying to help, I left them to chat amongst themselves. If they want to struggle out in the wild, then they could go on ahead.

    Before long, some floating carriages arrived to pick us up team by team. And no the carriages don¡¯t have things like flying horses. They were literally just floating carriages that were being guided by a magic user towards our destination.

    Hopping inside, it was actually quite nice. And incredibly spacious. No surprise considering nobles normally rode in these things.

    Sitting near the back of one side, I waited for the other four to get in. Xara walked in first. The others, however, seemed hesitant to come inside. I could already guess what they were thinking.

    ¡°Do we really have to share a carriage with a commoner?¡± or ¡°Riding with that oaf would ruin our honor as nobles.¡±

    Just a bunch of dumb stuff they should¡¯ve gotten sorted out before the carriage arrived.

    After about five minutes, they all finally got inside and we flew off. Naturally, they all kept their distance from me. What a bunch of jerks.

    Letting out a sigh, I rested my hand on the side of the carriage.

    The trip there was about an hour long so we had time to kill.

    ¡°...¡±

    Which meant we all sat in complete and utter silence.

    Letting out a bored sigh, my mind wandered back to what I used to do during rides like these. Or to be more precise, what I did on car rides when I was little.

    Usually, I¡¯d just chill on my phone, talk with my parents, and¡­I just realized everything I¡¯d normally do in a car would be impossible in this situation. None of the others seemed to wanna talk to me, and my phone was left behind in my old world. So I had no way to avoid this boredom.

    With another sigh, I sat back in my seat and began counting in my head to pass the time¡­it was dull as hell.

    We finally arrived and not a moment too soon cause I was about to lose it.

    We got out of the carriage and a teacher was there to guide us to the site we¡¯d be using as our base until we completed all the challenges.

    When we reached the site, however, we saw there didn¡¯t appear to be any equipment. Just a place to make a campfire.

    It was then that the teacher mentioned we had to set up all that stuff ourselves. As in making our own huts as well as hunting for our own food. They really were trying to make this like a survival game. Naturally, the other three members I mentioned before were all too happy to complain about this. Xara, however, just stood off to the side. I figured she just wasn''t bothered by all this, but then I looked into her eyes. They almost looked dead inside. What was up with that?

    Once the teacher managed to maneuver their way out of the bombardment of complaints and questions, they left us behind to fend for ourselves. Sadly, despite the teacher having left, those three were still complaining.

    ¡°What a pain. Is this really something I have to deal with?¡± I groaned. Rubbing my temples.

    But figuring I didn¡¯t have much of a choice other than getting started, I walked over to a nearby tree and chopped it down using a wind slash spell. Ella, who was closest to the tree when it fell over, let out a yelp of surprise.

    ¡°What¡¯s the big deal commoner!?¡±

    I rolled my eyes.

    ¡°Just shut up and leave me alone.¡±

    ¡°What!?¡±

    Ella glared at me as she gasped in shock. But that didn¡¯t matter to me, so I figured it¡¯d be better to explain why I had just chopped down the tree.

    ¡°That teacher clearly stated we were meant to take care of ourselves out here. If you''re just gonna whine the whole week, then please just shut up and let me work in peace.¡±

    Roy stepped in front of Ella.

    ¡°That¡¯s no way to speak to a lady you commoner!¡±

    ¡°Roy.¡±

    Ella looked relieved when he tried to defend her, but all I could do was roll my eyes again.

    ¡°I¡¯ll speak to people any way I want. I mean, I am a commoner after all. Why should status matter to me?¡±

    ¡°Wha-!? You damn commoner!¡±

    ¡°Such a foul tongue. Did your mommy teach you to talk like that?¡±

    Roy looked like he was ready to pop his top. Causing the smallest of smiles to form on my face. Still, I decided to ignore him after that and went back to what I was doing.

    Using wind magic to cut through the tree a bit more, I soon found myself having a small pile of wooden planks.

    Making said planks float, I carefully aligned them together to create a neat pile.

    ¡°Dang. It¡¯s crazy how many uses wind magic has,¡± I muttered to myself. Remembering all the different times wind magic has come in handy throughout my life.

    But moving past that, I started moving the wood into two piles with one being for the fire while the other was gonna be used to make myself a small wooden hut.

    While I did so, I felt a shadow looming over me.

    Turning around, I found Xara standing there.

    ¡°Oh. Hey Xara. How¡¯s it going?¡±

    Her eyes still looked a bit out of it but she seemed focused enough.

    ¡°You seem pretty knowledgeable about cutting wood. Have you ever done this type of stuff before?¡±

    I nodded.

    ¡°There were plenty of times I couldn¡¯t find a place to stay while out on adventures. So I taught myself how to make huts as well as set up a fire. I can also hunt wild animals.¡±

    ¡°Wow. That¡¯s kind of incredible.¡±

    I chuckled.

    ¡°I guess. It¡¯s just one of the many perks of living the way I have.¡±

    Finished with all the organizing, I chopped down another tree and began the process a second time with more focus being put on the hut.

    As I did so, Xara watched in fascination.

    Glancing over at the other three, Roy and Ella seemed to be off in their own little world complaining about their situation while Flynn was watching me with a curious expression on his face. Like he was trying to grasp what I was doing and memorize it.

    About an hour later, I finished a little hut that was basically just a wooden box with a roof.

    While it wasn¡¯t exactly perfect, and could only hold a single person, I thought it was better than nothing.

    After washing my hands with water magic, I stretched out my arms and looked out at the sky.

    It was gonna be getting dark in about an hour or two.

    If I remember correctly, the teacher would be dropping off the task list tomorrow morning.

    What was I talking about? Well, with a few exceptions, each group had six different tasks to do while out here. And if they completed all six, they were permitted to hang around the main base set up by the teachers which had all sorts of fun activities to pass the time over the course of the week. So getting the tasks done fast was a high priority for most students.

    But ignoring that for now, I figured it¡¯d at least help to set up one more hut so that¡¯s what I got to work on.

    Before I knew it, the sun had vanished from the sky. Leaving the moon and stars in its place.

    Finally finished with the second hut, I was about to head back to my own and turn in for the night when I found two people snuggling together inside instead.

    ¡°What do you two think you¡¯re doing?¡±

    I looked down at Roy and Ella who were trying their best to fit both of themselves inside.

    ¡°What does it look like? We¡¯re trying to sleep.¡±

    ¡°I can see that. But why are you doing it in my hut? If you want a place to sleep then build your own.¡±

    Roy glared at me.

    ¡°As if we¡¯d stoop so low as to build a resting spot for ourselves.¡±

    ¡°I feel like doing this is even lower though.¡±

    Scratching the back of my head, someone came up behind me.

    ¡°You two shouldn¡¯t do that. He was the one who built it so he has the right to use it.¡±

    Glancing behind me, I saw Flynn standing there. Glaring at the two inside the cramped hut.

    ¡°Are you saying that you¡¯re siding with that commoner on this? What happened to us deciding to just let this rat be until he completed all the work for us? Should we not take advantage of him?¡±

    So that¡¯s what they were talking about before the trip started. I figured this was what they were going to do, but it still irritated me.

    Flynn frowned as he folded his arms. Giving the two an even sharper glare than before.

    ¡°What¡¯s that look for!?¡±

    Roy seemed to be growing agitated by the second.

    ¡°If I recall correctly, I stated I¡¯d choose how to approach things as I see fit. And right now, I deem what you¡¯re doing to be vile and cruel. He spent quite a bit of time building this for himself so that he wouldn¡¯t struggle through the night. And yet here you two are just taking it for your own despite doing nothing but sitting around all day. You¡¯re acting even lower than any commoner. Honestly, you¡¯re being complete scum right now.¡±

    Roy stepped out of the hut and stood over Flynn who was much shorter than him.

    Honestly, seeing the two face each other was kinda funny to look at.

    Roy hit his fist into the palm of his hand in a threatening motion.

    ¡°How dare you compare me to commoners and scum! I¡¯ll make you eat those words!¡±

    Roy raised his fist in the air and prepared to bring it down.

    ¡°Wah!¡±

    Suddenly, he was knocked to the side by a fist of wind before crashing to the ground.

    Flynn blinked for a moment before turning to me. Putting my hand down, I pretended like I didn¡¯t do anything and tried to change the subject.

    ¡°Um¡­Thanks for trying to help.¡±

    Flynn shrugged.

    ¡°I merely did what I believed to be right. I don¡¯t think any higher of commoners than anyone else.¡±

    ¡°Even so, I appreciate it.¡±

    Flynn gave me a slight grin before raising his hand out to me.

    ¡°Well then, this might be a bit late, but allow me to formally introduce myself. My name is Flynn Fonroin. A pleasure to meet you.¡±

    Oh yeah. We were just told our group member¡¯s names on the trip paper. We never did go over them ourselves, did we?

    I reached out and shook his hand.

    ¡°Axel Savoncho. It¡¯s a pleasure to meet you.¡±

    After shaking hands, I turned to Ella who continued refusing to relinquish the hut.

    ¡°Geez. How stubborn can one person be?¡±

    Rubbing my eyes, Xara walked up next to me.

    ¡°Didn¡¯t you build another hut? Why don¡¯t you use that one?¡±

    I glanced over at the second hut for a moment before turning to Xara.

    ¡°Nah. I can¡¯t use that one.¡±

    ¡°Huh? Why not?¡±

    ¡°Because that¡¯s the one I made for you.¡±

    ¡°For me?¡±

    I nodded.

    ¡°You seemed a little out of it before so I figured it wouldn¡¯t hurt to build it for you.¡±

    ¡°Oh¡­I see.¡±

    Slipping my hands into the pockets in my pants, I began walking towards the woods.

    ¡°I¡¯ll just make another one. It¡¯ll probably be midnight by the time I finish, but it¡¯s better than sleeping on the ground. See ya guys in a bit.¡±

    I was about to give them a quick wave when someone grabbed my shirt.

    Turning around, I saw Xara holding onto it.

    ¡°If you want¡­I¡¯m fine with sharing my hut with you?¡±

    ¡°Hm? You sure?¡±

    I personally didn¡¯t mind, but considering how much Xara cares about Riko, she¡¯d probably feel really uncomfortable sleeping in the same place with another dude.

    Xara nodded.

    ¡°You were the one who made it. It¡¯s only fair.¡±

    Xara gave me a look of nervousness and sincerity. In response, I felt my cheeks warm up a bit.

    Noticing my slightly flustered expression, Xara tilted her head in confusion.

    ¡°What?¡±

    ¡°Uh. Nothing. Anyway, it¡¯s fine. I¡¯ll just build another hut.¡±

    Without another word, I went into the woods far enough that the others couldn¡¯t hear me.

    After that, I walked over to a nearby tree and-

    ¡°RAAAH!¡±

    -slammed my head into said tree in order to clear my head.

    Even so, I could feel my cheeks growing even hotter as I thought back on what just happened.

    Despite not meaning anything by it, Xara had offered to share her hut with me. It made her look way too damn cute!

    ¡°No way! There was no way I was starting to have a crush on one of the heroines!¡± I screamed

    I hit my head against the tree once more.

    I already decided I¡¯d leave them be! Why were these thoughts running through my head!? And what just happened was straight out of a cheap dating sim! Why would a setup like this make me feel this way!?

    I slammed my head into the tree a few more times before my vision started growing blurry.

    Waiting for the pain to subside, I decided it was about time to get moving and slowly got to work on setting up my hut.

    I had expected Nia to comment about the way I was acting while I worked. But oddly enough, I was surprised by how quiet she had been during all this. Glancing at my belt, the grimoire seemed to be remaining completely silent. How strange.

    Well, it didn¡¯t matter. Right now, I was just gonna focus on building a hut. After that, I¡¯d leave any other problems for my future self to take care of.

    Not knowing that in said future, a danger I hadn¡¯t expected to happen, was about to take place.

 Chapter 14: A Painful Reality Check

    Finally finishing the hut, I was about to head back to the others when-

    "AAAHHH!"

    -a scream of agony entered my ears.

    Without a moment''s hesitation, I rushed off to the source of the sound.

    ¡°What the-!?¡±

    It seemed the sound was coming from the campsite.

    Running over, I saw Ella and Roy sitting in their hut. Ears covered. While Flynn seemed to be off somewhere.

    Reaching the source of the sound, I found Xara lying in her hut. Screaming to herself while flinging her arms all over the place.

    ¡°NO! STAY AWAY! NO! STOP IT!¡±

    She looked like she was suffering.

    Stepping close, I tried calling out to her.

    ¡°Xara!¡±

    ¡°STOP IT!¡±

    Xara!¡±

    ¡°NOOO!¡±

    ¡°XARA!¡±

    I tried reaching out to grab her shoulder but she smacked it away. Making it clear I couldn''t be hesitant in this situation. So, not knowing what else to do, I jumped onto Xara and hugged her tightly.

    She tried escaping from my grasp, but I clung on as hard as I could.

    ¡°Xara. It¡¯s okay. Shhh. It¡¯s okay.¡±

    Not sure how to console her, I tried doing what my parents always did in order to calm me down. It was all I had to work with.

    ¡°Shhh. It¡¯s okay. Just calm down. I¡¯m here for you.¡±

    I began patting her head gently, and after about five minutes, Xara began to calm down. Her crying turned to sniffles, and her screams turned to whimpers.

    I continued telling her it was okay and petted her head until she finally stopped crying and fell asleep in my embrace.

    A few minutes later, Flynn returned.

    ¡°So she¡¯s finally calmed down.¡±

    As he said that, he looked at her lying calmly in my arms. Then he let a smile slip onto his face.

    ¡°What is it?¡±

    ¡°...Nothing.¡±

    Going silent, Flynn sat down by the fire which had been fully set up, and laid on the ground before closing his eyes.

    "Why did he smile like that?¡± I muttered before looking down at Xara.

    ¡°...Wait a minute!¡±

    It was only then that I realized just how close the two of us were and my cheeks immediately felt a lot warmer.

    Wanting to leave before she woke up, I tried moving away only to be immediately pulled back in. She didn¡¯t want to let me go.

    ¡°Crap. This is a bit awkward.¡±

    It seemed I was stuck like this for tonight. Though I guess I don¡¯t mind.

    Before long, morning came. And to my relief, Xara let me explain myself as I used water magic to put out the fireball that she started to cast in her hand.

    Thankfully, Xara tried her best to move past it. However, one look at her told me she was probably really embarrassed about the whole thing.

    Or at least, that was the case at the start. However, before long, I noticed a concerned expression starting to appear on her face.

    But moving past that, the teacher came by and handed each of us a slip of paper with the tasks our group had to complete over the course of this week.

    I looked over them and¡­

    ¡°Why are these so easy?¡±

    I wasn¡¯t even joking. They were just the basics of survival. These weren¡¯t even a challenge.

    This list looked like the following:

    <ul>

    <li style="font-weight: 400">Hunt and cook an animal</li>

    </ul>

    <ul>

    <li style="font-weight: 400">Make a map of your campsite</li>

    </ul>

    <ul>

    <li style="font-weight: 400">Find a nearby cave and search for rare materials</li>

    </ul>

    <ul>

    <li style="font-weight: 400">Pet a wild animal</li>

    </ul>

    <ul>

    <li style="font-weight: 400">Complete a challenge as a team</li>

    </ul>

    Other than the last thing which would be a real pain, all of these could probably be completed within a two-day time period or less!

    ¡°Who made these tasks so ea-¡±

    ¡°Why are these all so difficult!?¡±

    I turned to find Ella and Roy looking over their papers.

    ¡°There¡¯s no way a noble could ever touch a filthy animal! Especially someone of high standing like me!¡± shouted Ella.

    ¡°No kidding! I may have a lot of strength, but half this stuff is impossible!¡±

    I looked at them with a dumbfounded expression.

    ¡°What¡¯s that look for commoner!?¡±

    Ella gave me an angry glare.

    Rubbing my eyes, I couldn¡¯t help but groan.

    ¡°How are you all this hopeless? You¡¯re completely pathetic,¡± I grumbled.

    ¡°What¡¯d you say!?¡±

    Roy already looked ready to pick a fight. To which I pulled up the paper and tapped on the list with my finger.

    ¡°These tasks a way too simple. If they really needed to be this dumbed down, I¡¯m scared just how helpless you nobles really are.¡±

    This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

    Gritting his teeth, Roy stared down at me. His stance giving a rather ape-like feel.

    That¡¯s when someone else spoke up.

    ¡°Savoncho is right,¡± Flynn stated standing next to Roy.

    In response, Roy glared at him.

    ¡°So you¡¯re still taking the commoner''s side huh?¡±

    Flynn shrugged.

    ¡°To people like us nobles, these seem like difficult tasks to accomplish. But if you actually think about it, they should be quite easy. Just think about them for a moment and you realize it.¡±

    Roy was about to say something but stopped himself. Thinking thing''s over.

    To his frustration, Flynn was right.

    Closing his mouth, Roy backed down.

    ¡°You¡¯re just gonna take that!?¡±

    Ella seemed completely dumbstruck. Roy clenched his fists.

    ¡°I hate to admit it, but they do have a point. As long as we just think about the tasks themselves and ignore our standings, they¡¯re quite simple and could be accomplished pretty quickly.¡±

    It seemed like Ella couldn¡¯t believe her ears.

    ¡°You must be joking!¡±

    Instead of replying to her words, Roy clenched his fists tighter and turned to me.

    ¡°From what you said before, I assume that means you know what to do. Correct?¡±

    I nodded.

    ¡°Drawing up maps isn¡¯t exactly my forte, but everything else should be doable. However, I can only accomplish them with other¡¯s support.¡±

    After that, I explained how we''d do this and, after hearing what I had to say, Roy nodded in understanding.

    He then turned to Flynn with a look of determination.

    ¡±Sir Fonroin, didn¡¯t you say before the school trip that you were a skilled artist?¡±

    Flynn nodded.

    ¡°Yes. I¡¯m actually one of the best artists in the school according to my peers¡±

    ¡°I see.¡±

    Roy turned back to me.

    ¡°In that case, I think Sir Fonroin should be in charge of taking care of drawing a map of the campsite.¡±

    I nodded in agreement.

    ¡°If he¡¯s in charge of that, can I rely on you and Xara to help me with some of the other tasks? We can worry about anything we can¡¯t accomplish later.¡±

    ¡°Understood.¡±

    I turned my head to Ella who scoffed at me.

    ¡°Heh. Guess working as a team will be quite a hard thing to accomplish,¡± joked Flynn.

    ¡°Yeah,¡± I agreed.

    Well, even if that might be a problem, we were finally starting to get moving and before long, we got to work on completing the tasks.

    To start, Xara, Roy, and I made our way into the woods with the goal of completing the hunting, petting, and cave tasks before the end of the day. Meanwhile, Ella and Flynn stayed behind with Flynn looking around the campsite in order to draw it as accurately as he could.

    Splitting the tasks three ways, each member of our team went off in different directions in order to complete what we needed to do.

    Leaving Axel and Roy behind, I made my way through the forest. Axel was supposed to hunt down the animal we needed to cook, and Roy was taking care of finding the cave and retrieving a rare material of some kind. At least, rare in the sense that it normally can¡¯t be found anywhere but here. As for me, I was tasked with petting a wild animal. I didn¡¯t know why this was one of the things we had to complete, but I figured it was easy enough for me to do.

    As I continued walking, I spotted another campsite. It must¡¯ve been another group stationed not too far from us.

    Deciding to leave it be, I went up a hill and wound up going farther than I thought I would. Turns out finding a wild animal to pet wasn¡¯t going to be as easy as I hoped.

    Before I knew it, four hours had passed. It was probably close to two in the afternoon at this point. Knowing Axel, he probably already finished his task.

    With a sigh, I continued walking. But even as I did so, my thoughts wandered back to what Axel had told me this morning. Apparently, I was screaming in my sleep and he had to keep me company in order to try and calm me down.

    Hearing that reminded me of all the horrible nightmares I¡¯ve been having since entering this school. Almost every night I¡¯d be stuck dealing with terrifying voices that were pouring awful thoughts into my head.

    Though oddly enough, last night wasn¡¯t that bad. Sure it started terribly, but after a bit, a strange calming sensation felt like it was washing over my body. Was that Axel calming me down? I honestly don¡¯t know. Still, he was kind enough to console me when I was dealing with that nightmare so he has my thanks.

    With a smile growing on my face, I thought back to the pleasant calming sensation I had during that nightmare.

    Knowing Axel was the one who did that, it was actually kinda nice.

    Feeling happy, I let out a small chuckle.

    ¡°As strange as it sounds, his kindness almost reminds me of Ri-¡±

    I stopped my sentence there. No¡­there was no one as kind as Riko. With a soul as sweet and kind as Riko¡¯s, no one else compared. He¡¯d never betray me, never think less of me, and always stays by my side. And that¡¯s something no one else can do.

    Another hour passed without any success.

    ¡°Hm?¡±

    But then, something off to the side caught my eye.

    Turning my head, I saw a deer glancing at me before running away.

    ¡°Hey! Wait a minute!¡±

    Without thinking, I spread my wings and flew after the deer. But despite my speed, I was still struggling to keep up with it.

    I was almost ready to give up when I noticed it was starting to slow down. No doubt that was happening because it was running out of stamina.

    I began closing in on it and reached out my hand to touch it when¡­

    ¡°Huh!?¡±

    I felt something tug at my wings and a sharp pain hit my back.

    My body shook for a moment before it came to a complete stop.

    Confused, I looked behind me. It turned out that I went too fast and my wings had dug into some trees. Completely immobilizing them.

    ¡°Aw come on!¡±

    Frustrated, I tried to shake my wings free to no avail. With a sigh, I looked around in hopes that someone was nearby to help. But there was no one in sight.

    And with how far off the ground I was, unless someone was there to catch me, I¡¯d no doubt break something.

    So with nothing else I could do, I waited there¡­in complete silence.

    Before I knew it, night had come. The stars shined in the sky and the darkness made it almost impossible to see anything.

    With how late it was getting, I began feeling myself nodding off.

    ¡°Kill them. Kill all humans.¡±

    My eyes immediately shot open.

    ¡°What!? Who said that!?¡±

    There was no one there. Don¡¯t tell me the voices were already back!

    ¡°Humans are evil! They don¡¯t care about us! They¡¯re vile!¡±

    ¡°No! You¡¯re wrong!¡±

    I knew that wasn¡¯t true!

    ¡°Not all humans are evil! I know there are some who care about us! I know Riko cares about me!¡±

    I knew that was true. Why else would he fight to protect me when he thought Axel was trying to mess with me!?

    ¡°He doesn¡¯t care about you. He only sees you as an object.¡±

    ¡°Th-That¡¯s not true.¡±

    I felt my words weakening. Even though I knew it wasn¡¯t true, I couldn¡¯t ignore these voices

    ¡°Riko cares about me¡­I know he does¡­he¡¯ll save me from you¡­I know it.¡±

    I was positive about that.

    Just then, I heard some rustling nearby. Turning my head, I saw someone I¡¯d been waiting for all this time. It was him.

    ¡°Riko! Help me! Riko! Ri¡­ko?¡±

    It indeed was Riko¡­with a woman walking beside him. He didn¡¯t even see me. He wasn¡¯t too far away, but he still didn¡¯t see me¡­and he seemed way happier talking with that woman than he did when he was with me.

    ¡°Riko¡­¡±

    ¡°Kill them all. Kill all humans. They¡¯re scum. They don¡¯t care about us. Kill the humans.¡±

    Those voices slowly started growing louder and louder.

    At this point, I didn¡¯t even care. Seeing how happy Riko looked, I couldn¡¯t help but lose my will to fight back.

    My vision started growing red, but I didn¡¯t care. I was losing consciousness, but I didn¡¯t care. It all felt pointless. And as my eyes started to close, Axel¡¯s words echoed through my mind.

    ¡°Have you ever thought about doing anything by yourself since coming here?¡±

    Now that I think about it, all I ever really did was hang out with Riko. Never doing anything on my own. No ambitions, no goals. All that mattered was spending time with Riko. So maybe giving in to these emotions was for the best. After all, I can¡¯t think of doing anything without Riko.

    ...I really am a pathetic person.

    And with that last thought, a single, ear-piercing screech echoed from my throat. And then, everything went dark.

 Chapter 15: Succubus Showdown

    ¡°She¡¯s still not back yet,¡± I said.

    Despite being given the easiest task of the three, Xara still hadn''t gotten back yet. I was starting to get worried.

    ¡°Do you think something bad happened to her?¡± Roy asked.

    Flynn put his hand to his chin.

    ¡°It¡¯s possible. Even with most of the dangerous wildlife cleared out, there could still be some creatures that could¡¯ve been overlooked.¡±

    We sat in silence for a moment as we thought about what could''ve happened before I finally stood up.

    ¡°That¡¯s it. I¡¯m gonna go look for her.¡±

    Not wanting to sit around and do nothing, I was about to walk back into the woods when someone grabbed my shoulder.

    ¡°Roy?¡±

    Turning toward Roy, he gave me a gentle smile.

    ¡°You shouldn¡¯t go searching for her alone. We¡¯d be safer traveling together.¡±

    Flynn stood up and walked behind Roy.

    ¡°Agreed. I feel concerned for our missing teammate as well, so I¡¯m coming along too.¡±

    ¡°Flynn.¡±

    I was glad to see Flynn was coming along, but Roy surprised me considering how poorly he had been acting just a few hours ago. Is this what being forced to work as a team does to people?

    Well, whether that was the case or not didn¡¯t matter, I was just glad to have some backup. Thus, we started walking toward the woods when a voice stopped us.

    ¡°Are you all insane!? The forest is dangerous this late at night,¡± Ella snapped.

    ¡°And that¡¯s exactly why we¡¯re going. Miss Femashito could be in danger,¡± stated Flynn.

    ¡°Er¡­¡±

    After hearing that, Ella went silent. Contemplating her current position before coming to a decision.

    ¡°Geez! Then let¡¯s go get her then!¡±

    Clearly not wanting to be left alone here at the campsite, Ella decided to suck it up and join us.

    With that, all four of us made our way into the forest in search of Xara.

    ¡°Xara! Where are you!?¡±

    ¡°Miss Femashito! Are you here!?¡±

    As Flynn and I tried calling out to Xara, Roy, and Ella looked at our surroundings for any clues to her whereabouts. But sadly, we didn¡¯t seem to be getting any results.

    ¡°MASTER!¡±

    ¡°Wah!¡±

    I felt the instinctive reaction to cover my ears as Nia¡¯s voice shot into my head.

    Moving a bit away from the others, I pulled the grimoire off my belt.

    ¡°Okay, first, ow. That hurt my ears. And second, where¡¯ve you been Nia? I haven¡¯t heard from you since this trip started?¡±

    ¡°Sorry about that. Also, I can explain later. But right now I need to warn you that I sense an abnormally dangerous energy coming from nearby! It¡¯s reeks of dark magic!¡±

    ¡°Huh? Dark magic?¡±

    I looked around confused.

    ¡°Something wrong?¡±

    Flynn glanced over at me, confused.

    ¡°Er¡­Well¡­¡±

    I wasn¡¯t sure what to say, so I scratched the back of my head with an awkward chuckle.

    There was no way I''d be able to get these guy''s to believe me if I simply told them some kind of dark magic stuff was at work right now.

    The only way they''d trust something like that would be if they themselves, could notice it as well.

    That¡¯s when it happened.

    In an instant, all of us tensed up as we felt a deadly aura come from nearby.

    ¡°You guys feel that?¡± asked Roy.

    Flynn and I nodded.

    ¡°It¡¯s creepy. Like something from a demon,¡± Ella stated.

    Cautiously, I began walking in the direction this feeling was coming from.

    ¡°Wait, you¡¯re actually gonna go check it out!?¡±

    Roy couldn''t believe what I was doing.

    I turned to him and nodded.

    ¡°Xara might be in danger. And considering we haven¡¯t had any luck finding her, this might be our best bet.¡±

    Plus, it was just a gut feeling, but I figured Xara and this dark aura were connected somehow.

    So with that, I began making my way towards the direction the eerie sensation was coming from.

    The others were clearly more hesitant than me, but I guess that made sense. I¡¯ve braved countless struggles in my life so facing danger was nothing new to me. Though I¡¯d be lying if I wasn¡¯t a bit scared.

    But even so, if Xara needed help, I needed to push forward. So that¡¯s exactly what I did.

    As the creepy feeling grew stronger, I began to see something in the darkness of the night.

    I couldn¡¯t quite make it out, but there were a few noticeable features.

    It had giant black wings, massive purple horns, sharp claws, and hair that went all the way down to its knees.

    I was a bit concerned about how to approach it, but then I caught sight of what it was doing.

    While it was hard to see, it appeared to be holding onto someone.

    ¡°Kill them all. Kill all humans.¡±

    What was it muttering? Kill all humans?

    Whatever the creature was, it began opening its claw and lifting it high into the sky.

    ¡°Wait! Is it about to-!?¡±

    Acting immediately, I jumped into the air and shot a ball of wind at the creature.

    It was sent flying back and I caught the person it was holding before landing on the ground.

    ¡°Hey. You okay?¡±

    The person seemed taken aback for a moment before responding.

    ¡°Uh¡­Yeah. Thank you.¡±

    It was then that I got a good look at the person¡¯s face.

    This was Kimichi Romaiyozu. The heroine the MC¡¯s supposed to be hanging out with during this trip. What was she doing out in this area?

    ¡°Miss Romaiyozu! Are you okay!?¡±

    At that moment, a familiar face came running over.

    ¡°Ah¡­What¡¯re you doing here!?¡±

    The MC was standing there in shock. But now wasn¡¯t the time for that.

    ¡°Forget about me for now. Get her out of here. That monster could be back any second!¡±

    Snapping out of his shock, the MC nodded his head.

    ¡°Um¡­Right!¡±

    With that, Kimichi and the MC ran off into the forest.

    As soon as they vanished, I heard a whooshing sound enter my ear. Sensing danger, I jumped forward just in time to dodge an attack from the monster. Looks like it recovered quicker than I¡¯d anticipated.

    It tried striking at me once more. This time managing to scratch my arm as I jumped out of the way.

    This thing was fast. There wasn¡¯t anything like this in the game was there!?

    Casting wind magic onto my feet, I shot into the air in an attempt to get a better view of the monster. But just as I flew up-

    ¡°Wah!¡±

    -it appeared behind me and grabbed hold of my hand. Upon doing so, it began squishing it with all its might.

    It was clearly expecting me to scream in pain. However¡­

    ¡°Hi-yah!¡±

    Without another thought, I used a blade of wind to chop off my metal hand and landed on the ground with a tumble.

    Getting back onto my feet, I looked up at the monster.

    ¡°...Wait a minute.¡±

    And then my eyes went wide.

    ¡°No way. What happened to you?¡±

    As the moon shined down on her. I recognized this monster immediately. Despite having larger wings and bigger horns, as well as almost an entire change in design, I could easily see who she was by her purple eyes and hair.

    ¡°Xara¡­Why do you look like that?¡±

    Rather than answering my question, Xara appeared in front of me and tried grabbing me by the neck.

    Getting a scratch on my cheek, I dodged her and rolled to the side.

    ¡°Xara! Answer me!¡± I shouted before gritting my teeth.

    Wait a second, why did I sound so mad while asking that? I was shocked sure. But I didn¡¯t think I was angry.

    It was then that I remembered something important.

    Not too long ago, I asked Nia to give me all the information she had on succubi. Despite the knowledge being burned into my brain, it took me a second to remember it. That¡¯s why I was mad. Not just at myself, but at Xara as well.

    ¡°Did you really fall for their words Xara?¡±

    As I asked that, she charged at me once more and I dodged out of the way before sending her flying with another wind ball.

    ¡°That¡¯s disappointing,¡± was all I could say as I stared at her.

    Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.

    I wanted to help Xara. But as it was right now, I¡¯d need time to prepare. Time I didn¡¯t have. Not while she was attacking me like this.

    Xara appeared before me again and slammed her claw down in an attempt to dig into my chest. However, I managed to duck to the side. Causing her to grab my arm instead.

    I heard a small crack come from said arm, but I didn¡¯t care. I was starting to get really pissed off.

    ¡°Honestly. You really are a hopeless clinger after all," I said before yanking my slightly crushed arm away.

    I know I shouldn¡¯t be saying this, but it was the only way I could show my disappointment.

    After all, I knew she was easy to win over in the game, but I didn¡¯t know she was just as easily manipulated.¡±

    ¡°Kill them all! Kill all humans!¡± Xara screamed out.

    ¡°Would you just shut up!?¡±

    Using all the strength I could muster, I sent Xara flying into some trees.

    She recovered immediately and tried jumping at me again.

    Dodging her over and over, I felt like I was beginning to run out of stamina.

    ¡°Damn. If this keeps up, I won¡¯t even have the strength to fight back. Much less cast any useful spells,¡± I muttered in frustration.

    Dodging a few more times, my speed was dwindling more and more.

    Another moment later and-

    ¡°Ah.¡±

    -I slipped. I didn¡¯t even glance at the ground below me. If I had both hands, I could¡¯ve shot out some wind magic to send myself away. But since my metal hand was gone, it was impossible for me to avoid falling.

    Taking advantage of this, Xara rushed towards me with one claw extended.

    This was really it. Everything up to this point led here. And I didn¡¯t even get to finish my time at school. Aw well. I guess it was a good life.

    Closing my eyes, I prepared myself for death.

    CLANG!

    Suddenly, the sound of metal echoed in my ears and I opened my eyes.

    ¡°Flynn!¡±

    Standing there with a sword in his hand, Flynn tried his best to hold back Xara.

    ¡°Get out of the way Savoncho! I can only hold her for so long!¡±

    ¡°Uh¡­Right!¡±

    Getting up onto my feet, I ran out of the way before Flynn had to jump back.

    ¡°Wait a second, where¡¯d you get that sword!?¡±

    I didn¡¯t see it on him when we left.

    ¡°I¡¯ll explain later. But first, we have to deal with her.¡±

    Flynn looked at Xara, concerned.

    ¡°Tell me, do you know of a way to fix whatever happened to her?¡±

    Thinking back on what Nia had told me before, I nodded.

    ¡°I do. However, I¡¯ll need at least two minutes to prepare it.¡±

    Flynn gripped his sword tightly.

    ¡°Considering her speed and strength, I could probably only hold her for around thirty seconds.¡±

    That didn¡¯t sound good.

    ¡°Then we¡¯ll help too!¡±

    Suddenly, Roy popped out wearing a set of gauntlets that looked similar to the ones Riko wore during our duel.

    ¡°Y-Yeah! I¡¯m sure we can!¡±

    Ella stood behind him. Hiding from view. She had a staff on hand.

    ¡°You need two minutes right? We can manage that. But just to be certain, you¡¯re sure you can save her right?¡± Roy asked.

    ¡°Yeah. I know I can.¡±

    Roy and the others seemed satisfied by that answer.

    ¡°In that case, let¡¯s do this!¡±

    With that, Roy and Flynn charged at Xara with Ella staying behind as she started casting spells.

    With them keeping her distracted, I opened up my grimoire.

    ¡°Nia, do you have the spell that lets me enter someone''s mind?¡±

    ¡°I do. However, it¡¯s not an easy spell to teach. It should only take about a minute, but can you withstand the pain?¡±

    That''s right. Every time Nia imprinted a spell on my brain, it sent shockwaves through my whole body. Causing me to wither in pain until it was over. It wasn''t a fun procedure. However...

    ¡°That doesn¡¯t matter right now. Just give it to me.¡±

    Nia was silent for a moment before letting out a sigh.

    ¡°Understood. ¡±

    After she said that, pain shot throughout my body. Pain that was far worse than anything I had experienced up until this point. It was truly awful. Like my whole body was burning and all I could do was let it happen.

    Trying my best to hold in the urge to scream, my blood felt like it was boiling.

    But after a minute that felt like an hour, my body began to cool down.

    ¡°It¡¯s complete. You can now use the spell known as Mind Entry.¡±

    Stretching out my arm, I winced in pain, and my mind started telling me how to do the spell.

    ¡°Man. Doing this is gonna be a real pain,¡± I muttered. Thinking about what I had to do.

    Turning towards the fight, I shouted out to the others.

    ¡°I¡¯m ready guys! When I give the signal, protect me so I can get close!?¡±

    Roy glanced over at me.

    ¡°You got it!¡±

    As he said that, Flynn and Ella both nodded and I dug my feet into the ground as I started channeling wind magic inside them.

    ¡°Now!¡±

    With that signal, I dashed forward.

    Noticing me, Xara tried to attack only for Flynn to jump in her way to hold her back. But due to how hard he¡¯d been fighting, Xara easily pushed him away and tried to attack me once more.

    But before she could, Ella shot fireballs at her leaving Xara to focus her attention on dodging.

    Once she had finished evading all the attacks, Xara tried going for me one last time only to be stopped by Roy who grabbed hold of her arms.

    ¡°She¡¯s open! Get her!¡±

    Taking the opening he¡¯d given me, a small purple orb began forming in my hand.

    ¡°Haaaah!¡±

    Thrusting my hand forward, I sent the orb into Xara¡¯s head. As I did so, a light flash shot out all around us before finally disappearing.

    And after another moment, Xara''s eyes went blank and she collapsed to the ground.

    Seeing what happened, the others let out sighs of relief.

    ¡°D-Did we do it?¡± Ella asked.

    Taking in a deep breath, I shook my head.

    ¡°Not yet.¡±

    After saying that, I began to feel sleepy.

    ¡°Huh? Savoncho?¡±

    Flynn looked at me confused.

    But I didn¡¯t have any time to explain.

    ¡°I¡¯ll¡­be back¡­in a few¡­¡±

    Before I could finish speaking, I collapsed to the ground.

    It was dark. I couldn¡¯t see a thing.

    ¡°So this is it. Xara¡¯s subconscious.¡±

    I looked around in the darkness for any signs of Xara when the sound of someone crying entered my ear.

    I followed the sound before eventually finding what I was looking for.

    ¡°So this was where you were.¡±

    There was a person sitting on the ground in front of me.

    They stopped crying upon hearing my voice and turned to look at me.

    ¡°Axel?¡±

    ¡°Yeah. Hey Xara.¡±

    Getting down onto one knee, I looked her in the eyes.

    ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    Xara went silent. Clearly hesitant to speak to me.

    ¡°Y¡­You were right.¡±

    ¡°Hm?

    Xara¡¯s hands clenched into fists.

    ¡°Today, I saw Riko with another girl. I never once thought I¡¯d be the only person he¡¯d want to hang around. But when I saw how happy he looked with that girl, it made my chest hurt. And I couldn''t help but let the voices take over.¡±

    Ah. So that¡¯s what this was about. It was all thanks to that stupid event at this point in the game. What a pain.

    With a sigh, I rubbed my eyes.

    ¡°Well, I can¡¯t really help you there. Romance isn¡¯t my forte.¡±

    ¡°Heh. Yeah. I guess you can¡¯t.¡±

    Standing up on her feet, Xara looked up into the darkness above.

    ¡°In the end, I gave in to the voices in my head. Not like it matters. I¡¯m just a dumb succubus who can¡¯t even accept another''s happiness.¡±

    She turned to me and gave me a sad smile.

    ¡°You were right. I really am nothing but a weak, clingy idiot who wants everything to go my way. I¡¯m completely pathet-¡±

    BONK!

    I gave her a quick chop on the head.

    ¡°Ow!¡±

    Xara rubbed her head.

    ¡°What was that for!?¡±

    I rubbed my eyes.

    ¡°I¡¯m sick of all your blathering. Y¡¯know, I thought you had at least had a decent head on your shoulders. But the fact that you can accept this just shows how weak your mind is.¡±

    ¡°I¡­I guess you¡¯re right.¡±

    BONK!

    I chopped her on the head again.

    ¡°Ow!¡±

    ¡°And that¡¯s precisely the kind of negative attitude you need to drop already!¡±

    ¡°Huh!?¡±

    ¡°You probably didn¡¯t understand, but what I meant to say when I said your mind¡¯s weak isn¡¯t that you can¡¯t have your own feelings, I meant it as you need to learn and grow.¡±

    ¡°Learn...and grow?¡±

    I nodded.

    ¡°Let me ask you. Did you ever have any dreams before meeting Riko?¡±

    ¡°Dreams?¡±

    Xara thought to herself for a moment.

    ¡°Only one. That one day I could find someone who¡¯d accept me as a person. And Riko fulfilled that dream.¡±

    ¡°Okay. Then that¡¯s one person down. So why just stop there?¡±

    ¡°What?¡±

    ¡°You said you wanted to find someone who accepts you. Why does that dream have to be fulfilled by one person and one person alone? In case he doesn¡¯t want to always be around you, then find someone else. Hell, find lots of people. Don¡¯t let that one person take control of what your dream is forever.¡±

    That''s right. I may not be one to talk, but finding multiple people who like you is the key to enjoying your life. So there was no reason to put all your focus on a single person. That was why I hated Xara''s route. Because she had the potential to meet a ton of people. And yet she tied herself down to Riko. It seriously pissed me the hell off and I wanted Xara to understand my feeling and thoughts. However, it seemed she completely misunderstood what I was trying to say. And that''s entirely on me.

    But that wasn''t important right now. What was important was getting Xara out of this situation.

    Getting onto my feet, I was about to start the escape plan, when I suddenly felt a chill run down my spine.

    ¡°Kill them all. Kill all humans. They¡¯re the monsters. Kill them all. Kill the humans.¡±

    Fear entered Xara¡¯s eyes.

    ¡°No¡­the voices.¡±

    Xara covered her ears. Upon doing so, grey shadows began forming around her.

    ¡°Kill them all. Kill all humans.¡±

    With a sigh, a blue orb began forming in my hand.

    ¡°Would you all just shut up!?¡±

    Slamming the orb into the ground, I instantly formed a barrier of water around me and Xara.

    The shadows vanished instantly. However, they still whispered to us outside.

    With my footsteps echoing off the walls of the barrier, I walked over to Xara and put a hand on her shoulder.

    She looked up at my face.

    ¡°Xara. Don¡¯t let Riko control your future. Don¡¯t cling to a single person for salvation. Don¡¯t think there isn¡¯t anyone else like him. There are plenty of other people in this world who will accept you. This, I¡¯m sure of.¡±

    Xara¡¯s eyes went wide in surprise as tears began falling down her face.

    ¡°Do you really think¡­that there¡¯s someone else?¡±

    I nodded.

    ¡°I¡¯m positive. So shake off this pain and keep moving forward. If you can do that, I know you¡¯ll be fine.

    Taking in my words, Xara gave me a light chuckle before wrapping her arms around my neck. Hugging me tightly as tears continued falling down her face.

    Without thinking, I began petting her on the head.

    As I comforted her, the voices slowly dissipated and the room began growing brighter.

    About half an hour later, Xara finally stopped crying and opened her eyes.

    ¡°Thank you, Axel. I needed to hear that.¡±

    Giving her a smile, I let out a relaxed sigh.

    It was finally over.

    Just then, I felt my consciousness beginning to slip. It was time to return to the real world.

    So with that, everything went dark and I felt myself leaving Xara¡¯s mind.

    All while she continued to cry. Never letting her go until my mind left her own.

    Slowly opening my eyes, I felt something warm on my body.

    Looking down, I saw I was covered by a blanket.

    Figuring one of the others had put me here, I attempted to pull up the blanket to get more comfortable. That¡¯s when I noticed it was a bit heavy. Also, was it just me, or was my shoulder feeling warmer than everything else?

    Turning my head to figure out the cause, I was immediately caught off guard to find Xara lying there next to me. Staring into my eyes.

    ¡°Hey.¡±

    ¡°Er¡­Hey.¡±

    Crap. This wasn¡¯t what I was expecting to wake up to.

    Looking out into the sky, I saw it was still dark out and the other three appeared to be sleeping in the two other huts I¡¯d made.

    Suddenly, I felt something grab onto me.

    ¡°Huh? Xara?¡±

    She was holding me tightly for some reason.

    ¡°Thank you¡­thank you for saying all that to me.¡±

    Not sure what else to do, I chuckled awkwardly.

    ¡°You sure you wanna hug me like this? You¡¯re gonna be stuck getting a big whiff of my weird scent if you do.¡±

    Xara was silent for a moment before giving me a smile.

    ¡°That¡¯s fine. It may not be as sweet as Riko¡¯s but¡­I don¡¯t hate this scent.¡±

    Saying that, she hugged me tighter.

    ¡°...I see.¡±

    After that, I leaned back and closed my eyes. Trying to hide how red my face was getting.

    Still, I didn¡¯t mind all this. So, with a grin on my face, I closed my eyes and before long, I fell asleep.

 Chapter 16: A New Day Begins

    When the next day arrived, I got up first and began preparing some firewood. Flynn woke up next followed by Roy and Ella. Xara woke up last and the others were relieved that she was okay.

    Also, it seemed after yesterday the others had a bit more respect for me as they listened to what I had to say without any hatred or disgust to be found. Well, except for Ella who looked a bit conflicted as to how she should talk with me. Still, she wasn¡¯t against listening to my instructions and helping out so I just let her act how she wanted.

    Thanks to everyone''s cooperation, we were able to immediately get started on the remainder of the tasks we were given.

    Also, while we worked, Flynn and the others talked to me about their weapons.

    Apparently, since their families were teaching them magic from a young age, they were taught to summon their weapons to their side. Though it takes quite of bit of power to do so consistently. So they tried to avoid doing it too often.

    At least that¡¯s what Flynn and Ella said. As for Roy, he apparently just snuck in the gauntlets as a last measure against monsters.

    But moving past that, we finished the last of our tasks about two hours before nightfall and since it was at least a six-hour trek to the base camp, we decided to just stay out here for one more night.

    I prepared a few more huts so that everyone had one and we left the next day.

    Making our way to the base camp, we happily chatted amongst ourselves until we finally arrived where we were met with two other groups that had finished their list of tasks. One seemed to consist of second and third years, and the other was¡­oh.

    ¡°Heh heeeh. Hey Riko. How ya doing?¡± I asked awkwardly. To which the MC walked over to us and merely glanced at me for a moment before moving over to Xara.

    ¡°Xara! Are you okay!? Nothing happened to you out there right!?¡±

    ¡°Err¡­I¡­uh¡­¡±

    Xara seemed to struggle with coming up with a response. In fact, she looked a little¡­uncomfortable.

    Just then, Ella stepped in between them.

    ¡°She¡¯s fine. Don¡¯t be such a worrywart, you weirdo.¡±

    ¡°W¡­Worrywart? Weirdo?¡±

    If I had to guess, the MC more than likely thought his concern for Xara was perfectly normal.

    While he was trying to process Ella¡¯s words, Kimichi walked over to me.

    ¡°Hey. You¡¯re the guy who helped me the other day.¡±

    ¡°Oh. So you were the one being attacked by that thing. Glad to see you¡¯re okay Miss¡­Uhh.¡±

    Kimichi chuckled.

    ¡°The name''s Kimichi. Kimichi Romaiyozu.¡±

    Naturally, I had to pretend this was the first time I¡¯d met her. I mean it technically was. However, I didn¡¯t want to seem like a creep who somehow knew all these random people¡¯s names so I figured it¡¯d be best to use this chance to formally meet with one of the heroines.

    ¡°Well, it¡¯s nice to meet you Kimichi. My name''s Axel Savoncho.¡±

    I held out my hand and she shook it with a smile.

    Once introductions were over, we entered the meeting site to prove we did our tasks.

    I was wondering how they were going to check if we did all our tasks, but it turns out there was actually magic out there that could tell people if you were lying or not. Come to think of it, I believe they used it when trying to see if I was lying or not about my identity after escaping the dungeon hell hole. So I guess it shouldn''t be surprising that they''d use that kinda stuff for other kinds of uses.

    But anyways, the teachers had us come in one at a time to confirm we¡¯d all completed our tasks. Once our whole group had been cleared, we were allowed to finally enjoy the base camp in all its glory.

    Well, it was less of a base camp and more of a miniature castle that was just large enough to hold around a hundred people.

    Each of us was given a room and I went to mine the minute I got my room key. Honestly, this felt exactly like the dorms.

    Reaching my room, I opened the door and got a look at the inside.

    ¡°Whoa.¡±

    I marveled at how slick the design was. This was just like a five-star hotel. You couldn¡¯t even tell we were in the middle of a giant forest.

    After receiving a fresh set of clothes, I got into the shower and washed myself down. Weirdly enough, even though we were only out there for about three days, I still felt like I stunk to the high heavens.

    But moving past that, once I was clean, I went around to check out all the different attractions this place had to offer. And as I did so, I ended up running into Flynn and Roy and the three of us decided to try out all the different games.

    First, we took turns playing ping pong, then tried seeing who could score the most shots with this world''s version of basketball, and then stopped at the building''s all-you-can-eat buffet. It felt like paradise.

    However, all good things must come to an end at some point.

    ¡°Hey, commoner! Stop stinking up the place with your filth!¡±

    ¡°I agree! We don¡¯t need people like you here ruining our fun!¡±

    Yeah. A bunch of royal assholes saw us having a good time and decided to ruin it.

    Deciding I¡¯d ignore them, I began walking away when two hands rested on my shoulders.

    ¡°The only ones stinking up the place are you guys. If you didn¡¯t always act so high and mighty, you¡¯d see who the real filth is here,¡± said Roy.

    ¡°What¡¯d you say!?¡±

    ¡°He¡¯s right. You guys should leave before you ruin more people''s fun,¡± agreed Flynn.

    I was completely flabbergasted.

    ¡°Flynn¡­Roy¡­¡±

    These guys were standing up for me?

    Roy gave me a thumbs-up.

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry dude. We¡¯ve got your back.¡±

    If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

    Flynn nodded in agreement.

    ¡°You guys¡­¡±

    After seeing these two take my side, the royal assholes took a few steps before leaving. Once they were gone, I turned towards Roy and Flynn.

    ¡°Thanks for that.¡±

    Roy chuckled.

    ¡°After all we¡¯ve been through, it¡¯s no big deal.¡±

    It still astounds me this was the same guy who mocked me mere days ago. But even so, I¡¯d much rather take this version over the other.

    So with that, we went around and continued exploring the place and had even more fun.

    I think¡­I officially made my first true friends during this trip.

    As night came, I waved goodbye to Flynn and Roy and prepared to head to bed.

    But as I was slipping into some pajamas, I glanced at myself in the mirror.

    ¡°Is it just me, or do I look a little more built?¡±

    ¡°Well, you did go through another transformation. I¡¯d be more surprised if your body didn¡¯t change.¡±

    Hearing Nia¡¯s voice from within the grimoire lying on my nightstand, I walked over and picked the book up before lying down in the bed.

    The mattress was so fluffy.

    ¡°You look like you¡¯re enjoying yourself.¡±

    I shrugged. And opened up the grimoire.

    Appearing next to me in her physical form, Nia gave me a look of curiosity.

    ¡°Sooo¡­looks like you and that succubus are growing closer.¡±

    I rolled my eyes.

    ¡°Don¡¯t even try. The closest we¡¯ll probably ever be is friends.¡±

    ¡°Ehhh. Is that so?¡±

    She gave a rather mischievous grin.

    ¡°In that case, don¡¯t mind me then.¡±

    Without a moment''s hesitation, Nia got onto my chest and started rubbing her body against me.

    ¡°What¡¯re you doing?¡± I asked with a bored look.

    ¡°Trying to get you excited.¡±

    Huh? Did she really just say that?

    ¡°Where the heck did this come from?¡±

    ¡°Oh come on. You know you want me. Just go ahead. I¡¯m all yours.¡±

    With a sigh, I sat up, leaned close to Nia, and picked her up before plopping her onto the ground next to the bed.

    ¡°Ow!¡±

    After that, I put the grimoire down and got under the covers.

    Nia gave me a small pout.

    ¡°You¡¯re no fun.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not a lolicon.¡±

    ¡°Lolicon? What¡¯s that?¡±

    Instead of answering, I closed my eyes and tried to get some sleep.

    Suddenly, I felt someone''s breath in front of me.

    Opening my eyes, I saw Nia lying there.

    ¡°At least let me do this if you¡¯re not gonna let me do anything else.¡±

    I let out of sigh.

    ¡°Fine.¡±

    Nia gave me a joyful grin before closing her eyes.

    The two of us lied there in silence for several minutes.

    In order to pass the time, I decided to start a conversation.

    ¡°Say¡­What was going on with you earlier on during the trip? You went silent for quite a while.¡±

    ¡°Why do you wanna know? Were you worried about me?¡±

    ¡°Of course I was.¡±

    Nia didn¡¯t seem prepared for that answer since her next words appeared to get stuck in her throat.

    A few seconds later, she continued speaking.

    ¡°Well, I guess you could say I was preparing.¡±

    ¡°Preparing?¡±

    ¡°Yeah. You see, back when you first found me, I was prophesied to be claimed by a certain person. A boy with a kind soul who despite being of lower standing was still trying to make his way in the world. One who had people around him to watch his back. So when you treated me so poorly after we first met, I was at a complete loss. And until this point, I struggled to really imagine you as my master.¡±

    ¡°So you were mentally preparing yourself to accept me as your master?¡±

    Nia nodded.

    ¡°For grimoire spirits, the future is set and stone. So when you showed up to change my future, I was both intrigued and concerned. Especially so when you kept hitting me in the head.¡±

    ¡°...I see.¡±

    Giggling, Nia turned to look at the ceiling.

    ¡°Now, I think I¡¯m finally ready to accept this future. And I look forward to what it has in store for us.¡±

    Hearing that, I smiled and petted Nia on the head.

    ¡°Same here Nia. Same here.¡±

    With that, the two of us went to bed side by side. Ready for whatever came next.

    The rest of the week flew by in the blink of an eye and despite each day being similar, today there was one major difference.

    ¡°Xara¡¯s been avoiding you more and more lately? And that¡¯s supposed to be my problem?¡±

    The MC nodded his head. Causing me to groan in frustration. Apparently, over the last few days, the MC has been trying to hang out with Xara. But not only is she refusing him every time he offers, but she¡¯s also doing everything in her power to avoid the MC. Never elaborating as to why. Leaving the MC completely lost.

    Personally, I haven¡¯t really noticed since every time I¡¯ve met with Xara she meets me with a smile and we enjoy talking with each other. So whatever the problem was, it didn¡¯t have the same effect on me.

    ¡°Please just help me with this! I¡¯ll do anything you want if you do.¡±

    ¡°And what kind of stuff do you think I¡¯d want you to do?¡±

    ¡°I¡­I could lick your boots!¡±

    ¡°Are you a masochist?¡±

    ¡°No!¡±

    The fact that that¡¯s the second time he¡¯s offered that concerns me.

    But I guess I was technically the one who told Xara to stop clinging to the MC so it might be a teeny tiny bit my fault.

    With a sigh of resignation, I looked the MC in the eyes.

    ¡°Fine.¡±

    ¡°Really!? Thank you!¡±

    At that moment, the MC tried to go in for a hug and I dodged out of the way causing him to crash to the ground. Geez. Something told me this was gonna be one awkward thing to resolve.

    ¡°I just wanna stop clinging to you. And your desperation¡¯s been kinda freaking me out.¡±

    Or Xara will get straight to the point. That was surprisingly easy to resolve.

    ¡°Well, there you have it.¡±

    The MC fell to his knees.

    ¡°I¡¯ve been¡­freaking her out?¡±

    As he thought about those words, the MC''s face went pale white. And after that, he collapsed to the ground.

    Wow. This went both really well and really poorly and I honestly can¡¯t tell how this whole thing was gonna turn out.

    Returning to the academy, we all rode with our groups. Thankfully, the ride back was much easier as all five of us chatted pretty much the whole time.

    Before I knew it, the hour blew by in the blink of an eye.

    Once we were back, Sirin appeared next to me.

    ¡°Report: Three groups tried stealing the island during your absence.¡±

    ¡°Really? Damn. Maybe we should make a warning sign or something. Cleaning up these guys sounds like it''s becoming a real pain.

    ¡°You don¡¯t know the half of it, Master.¡±

    Reaching my dorm room, I got a quick shower before slipping back into my normal uniform.

    Starting tomorrow, it would be the weekend.

    Not having any plans, I was considering just going back to my island.

    I did need to get my hand repaired after all.

    Besides that, I guess I was free to do whatever I wanted.

    Maybe I should try going out and exploring the town below the school, or meet up with Flynn and Roy. The possibilities were¡­well, I was gonna say endless but those are pretty much the only things I could really think of doing. Still, it¡¯s better than having nothing to do.

    With that in mind, it looks like my time here at this school was slowly starting to take a turn for the better.

 Chapter 17: The Date

    ¡°You wanna hang out this Suhnday?¡± I asked Xaa while using this world''s version of Sunday while she stood outside my door.

    ¡°Y-Yeah! I figured since we didn¡¯t have any school, we could try and hang out around town. What do you think?¡±

    I put my hand to my chin.

    ¡°Is Riko coming?¡±

    Xara immediately shook her head.

    ¡°I don¡¯t plan to talk with him for a while.¡±

    Interesting. I guess she¡¯s taking what I said before as a chance to grow. Or at least, I think so, but something about her coming here puts me off a bit.

    ¡°So what do you say?¡± asked Xara.

    Thinking it over, I shrugged.

    ¡°Sure. I don¡¯t have anything to do that day.¡±

    ¡°Really!? Yes!¡±

    Well, she sounded ecstatic.

    ¡°Then I¡¯ll see you Suhnday!¡±

    After that, with a wave of her hand, Xara ran off toward the stairs leading out of the boy''s dorm.

    ¡°...Wait a minute. She didn¡¯t even tell me what time we were supposed to meet. Or where we were supposed to find each other,¡± I realized after Xara had already left.

    Thankfully, Xara came back a bit later to explain the details. We agreed to meet in the middle of the town below the school since there was a park where we could hang out.

    The time would be around ten in the morning and she asked me to wear some casual clothes so as to not draw attention. Not that I had any fancy clothes to wear in the first place.

    ¡°So you¡¯ll be out for the day tomorrow Master?¡± Sirin asked me as she floated by my head.

    ¡°Yeah. I¡¯ll be hanging out with Xara.¡±

    ¡°Curious. Will anyone else be joining you?¡±

    ¡°I dunno. From the way she asked, it doesn¡¯t sound like it.¡±

    ¡°I see. Then is it safe to assume this will be what people call a date?¡±

    I shook my head.

    ¡°Nah. Her being one of the heroines, I highly doubt she¡¯d do something like that while she has the M-I mean Riko. This is probably just thanks for helping her during the trip.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m confused. What do you mean when you call her a heroine?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s not important. Anyways, how¡¯re the repairs going?¡±

    ¡°They are almost complete. This should only take a few more minutes.¡±

    Teleporting back to my island, I laid back in the chair that I¡¯d been sitting in before Sirin told me about Xara coming to my dorm room.

    Once I was seated, I waited patiently for Sirin to finish fixing the rest of my hand.

    After all, I needed to get it repaired after I chopped it off during the battle in the forest. Honestly, I didn¡¯t know why it¡¯d taken me so long to get it fixed.

    A few minutes later, it was done.

    I moved my hand a couple of times to make sure it was in working condition before stretching out my arms. It moved fine enough, but my body was kinda stiff after having sat down for so long.

    Picking up my grimoire from a nearby table, I reattached it to my belt and left my island.

    ¡°That place really is huge. Say, would ever consider trying to start a town on that island?¡±

    Nia appeared next to me just as I arrived back in my dorm room. I shrugged in response.

    ¡°I dunno. I haven¡¯t really thought much about it. And with how many things have been happening lately, I doubt I could pull off such a feat.¡±

    Though I¡¯d be lying if I said the idea never crossed my mind. There was a lot of space on the island after all. So it wouldn''t be out of the question to look into trying something like town building in the future.

    Hearing the chirping of birds, I was dragged away from such thoughts for a moment as I glanced out the window which was shining light into my room. If I were to guess the time, I¡¯d say it was around the middle of the day.

    ¡°Is that so? It sure doesn¡¯t feel like much has happened.¡±

    ¡°Really? This coming from the person who¡¯s been chilling out in that grimoire pretty much the entire time.¡±

    ¡°Wha-!? That¡¯s not true!!¡±

    Wow. She got mad easily. Actually, now that I think about it, Nia¡¯s been acting completely different ever since the trip.

    She mentioned it was because she¡¯d finally accepted her future with me, but was that really why she had such a sudden shift in attitude?

    Deciding not to think about it any further, I let out a yawn and began leaving the room.

    This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

    Nia, still upset, returned to the grimoire with a huff and I made my way to the school building.

    What was I doing there? Nothing in particular. I just figured I had nothing better to do.

    Tomorrow would be here soon enough so I might as well pass the time somehow.

    Walking through the halls, I noticed a teacher go into the teacher''s lounge. As it was no concern of mine, I began walking by.

    ¡°Ah. Are you Axel Savoncho?¡±

    Hearing my name, I turned around to see the teacher I noticed just now was calling out to me.

    ¡°Uh¡­Yeah. What do you need?¡±

    The teacher walked over to me and held out her hand.

    ¡°My name¡¯s Maria Rashion. I¡¯m the one behind the classes for future squires.¡±

    ¡°Future squires?¡±

    ¡°Yes. It¡¯s a part of the school dedicated to growing future students that are too young to enter the school officially.¡±

    ¡°I..see.¡±

    Was that a thing in the game? I didn¡¯t remember anything about squire classes.

    ¡°Well, we refer to them as squires, but they''re actually just children who wish to get an early start on their education.¡±

    ¡°That makes sense I guess.¡±

    ¡°However, in order for these kids to be admitted, they first have to serve under someone. Someone that could act like a tutor who teaches them the ropes.¡±

    ¡°Uh¡­Okay.¡±

    For some reason, I didn¡¯t like where this conversation was going.

    ¡°With all that explained, I¡¯d like to discuss having you take on a sq-¡±

    ¡°Not interested.¡±

    ¡°Huh?¡±

    ¡°If this is about me taking one of those kids under my wing, I¡¯m not interested. I can barely take care of myself much less a squire or whatever these kids are called. Thanks but no thanks.¡±

    With that, I waved the teacher goodbye and went on my way.

    ¡°Ah¡­Wait a minute!¡±

    She began to give chase. Geez.

    Pushing wind magic into my feet, I dashed down the halls, and soon enough, she vanished from my sight.

    With a sigh, I slipped my hands into my pockets and left the school.

    ¡°A squire. Like I could handle that,¡± I muttered. Figuring I didn''t need to think about that exchange any further.

    After that, the day went on without much else occurring. And as night came, I found myself thinking about tomorrow. I didn¡¯t know what would happen, but I was sure it¡¯d be interesting.

    As I groggily got up the next morning, I looked outside. Turning my head to the sky, I think I still had two hours left before I had to meet up with Xara.

    So, seeing as I had time, I hopped into the shower.

    And once I was done, I dried myself off before putting on a black T-shirt and some grey pants.

    Deciding to bring a bag, I grabbed my old adventuring one and started cleaning it out.

    ¡°Hm? That item I bought is gone.¡±

    The item I was referring to was the thing I¡¯d purchased before that gave me the chance to use magic within a magic-blocking barrier. Come to think of it, didn¡¯t I bring that thing along with me when I got trapped in the school dungeon? I wonder what happened to it.

    Well, whatever. No use complaining about it now.

    Once I made sure my bag was prepped, I slung it over my shoulder.

    Checking the clock, I saw I still had an hour and a half left. Guess I needed to pass time some other way.

    In the end, I picked up a book and read through it for an hour. There wasn¡¯t much left to read so it was no surprise I finished it with time to spare.

    ¡°There¡¯s still half an hour before we have to meet up. Guess I¡¯ll head down there early.¡±

    Putting the finished book down, I left the room and began making my way to the town below.

    ¡°What¡¯re you doing here so early Xara?¡±

    I arrived in the middle of town. And to my surprise, Xara was already standing there.

    ¡°Oh, not at all. I just got here.¡±

    ¡°...Huh?¡±

    I blinked in confusion as Xara¡¯s face went red from embarrassment.

    ¡°Oh! Sorry! I just expected you to say something else!¡±

    ¡°Er¡­Right.¡±

    It seemed Xara was nervous for some reason. Weird. Riko isn¡¯t around so what could she possibly be nervous about?

    ¡°Well moving past that, I guess we both got here pretty early,¡± I said.

    ¡°Hm?¡±

    Xara gave me a confused look before glancing up at a nearby clock.

    ¡°Oh. You¡¯re right. Why are you here so early?¡±

    ¡°I just didn¡¯t have much else to do so I decided to come here a little earlier than planned. You?¡±

    Xara immediately tensed up.

    ¡°Uh¡­S-Same as you!¡±

    ¡°I see.¡±

    Guess we were thinking the same thing.

    ¡°Sooo¡­What now?¡±

    Hearing my question, Xara calmed down and thought it over for a moment.

    ¡°Uh¡­How about we just get things started? This is all for fun after all.¡±

    I shrugged.

    ¡°That¡¯s fine with me. Although, I am curious about something.¡±

    ¡°Hm? What is it?¡±

    ¡°Will there be anyone joining us? You never really specified? Like, I know you mentioned it, but is Riko really not joining us?¡±

    Figuring it wouldn¡¯t hurt to ask, I decided to get something on my mind cleared up. Upon doing so, however¡­

    ¡°Why would Riko need to be here!? Do you want him here or something!?¡±

    ¡°S-Sorry. I was just checking.¡±

    Xara completely flipped out. What about that question made her so mad? I thought she would¡¯ve loved to bring the MC along.

    Clearing her throat, Xara answered my question.

    ¡°We¡¯re not being joined by anyone. It¡¯ll just be me and you today.¡±

    ¡°Ah. I see.¡±

    It looks like it really would be just the two of us. In other words, this could be called a date.

    ¡°Well, let¡¯s get going then. Where do you wanna go first?¡± I asked.

    Happy I didn¡¯t complain, a smile formed on Xara¡¯s face as if all the anger from before had completely vanished.

    ¡°Could we check out some food stalls? I was so excited this morning that I forgot to eat.¡±

    ¡°Hm? Was the idea of hanging out with me really that exciting?¡±

    ¡°Of course!¡±

    ¡°Uh...Cool. Well then let¡¯s go check out some food stalls then.

    ¡°Yeah!¡±

    And that¡¯s how our time out together began.

    Little did I know at the time, just how big of a situation this would turn out to be.

 Chapter 18: Time Moves On

    ¡°Is¡­Is this really a fantasy game?¡±

    I was dumbfounded by the sight in front of me. The streets were lined up with all kinds of food stalls I was all too familiar with in my old world. They were serving things like hot dogs, burgers, ice cream, and a bunch of other food you¡¯d eat while on the move. I never would¡¯ve guessed food like this would be served in this world.

    Ignoring my surprise, Xara dragged me off to a hot dog stand and our food adventure began.

    Thankfully she hadn¡¯t asked me to pay for everything because I wasn''t exactly in the mood to spend anything right now. And I''m glad that''s how things went since in the end Xara both bought and ate pretty much everything the food stalls had to offer. Even stuff I personally thought tasted weird or disgusting. Did that make her one of those foodie characters? She never really went out with the MC in the game more than once and that wasn¡¯t even for food. Meaning I guess there are things even I don¡¯t know about these heroines.

    We ended up spending around two hours at those food stalls.

    By the time we were done, I was stuffed to the brim and found it hard to move. Xara, however, still seemed like she was ready for more.

    In order to keep my stomach from exploding, I managed to convince Xara that we should do something different.

    With that, she took me off somewhere completely unexpected.

    ¡°A¡­Museum?¡±

    ¡°Mhm. Apparently, this place goes over the entire history of magic over the last forty years. I¡¯ve always wanted to check it out.¡±

    ¡°Really? Why didn¡¯t you go to it sooner then?¡±

    Xara hesitated for a moment before speaking.

    ¡°I¡­wanted my first visit to this place to be with someone special.¡±

    ¡°...I see.¡±

    Someone special? So why didn¡¯t she go here with Riko?

    As we explored the museum, I started thinking about this whole thing.

    She mentioned she wanted to come here with someone special, and we just spent the day grabbing food and enjoying each other''s company. Aren¡¯t these things you do when you¡¯re on a date with someone?

    If that¡¯s the case, why would she have invited me instead of Riko?

    Wait. Don¡¯t tell me¡­

    ¡°Axel! Check this out!¡±

    Before finishing that thought, Xara called out to me.

    Walking over, Xara began pointing out a lot of different stuff she was interested in with a sparkle in her eye and we ended up spending quite a bit of time at that museum and didn¡¯t finish until it was almost five in the afternoon.

    There were plenty of interesting things in there to look at, but I never got the chance to get a good look since Xara would drag me off to the next location every time she was done looking.

    Once we were finished in there, we stepped out and Xara turned toward me.

    "Hey, there''s one more place I want to take you today. Is that okay?

    "Um...Sure."

    Thinking about where the heck this last place could be, I didn''t even noticed Xara grabbing hold of my hand and dragging me off in the complete opposite direction of the school.

    We continued walking for another twenty minutes or so and that¡¯s when I was starting to wonder just how far off this place was.

    Around noon, we finally arrived.

    ¡°This is the place,¡± said Xara.

    I found myself looking up. We appeared to be standing in front of a bell tower. I recognized this place. Wasn¡¯t this¡­?

    Wanting an answer, I turned to look at Xara.

    ¡°Why did you take me here Xa-Whoa!¡±

    Keeping her grip on my hand, Xara flapped her wings and soared into the air with me being dragged behind her.

    The wind blew through my hair as we flew upward. It kinda felt like when you put your hand out the car window.

    A moment later, the wind came to a halt when Xara stopped at the top of the tower.

    Placing me on the stone floor next to the bell, Xara planted her feet on the ground and looked at me.

    ¡°There¡¯s something I wanna show you. Come here for a second.¡±

    Her voice suddenly got serious as she gestured for me to look over the edge of the bell tower.

    Knowing what was coming next, I slowly walked over to the edge and looked out at the horizon. From where I stood, the sun was beginning to fade. But unlike normal where it just faded out of view, I could see a purple and orange hue emanate from it. Honestly, it looked incredible. This was the sight of a setting sun. Not an easy view to get unless you know the perfect spot.

    ¡°Wow,¡± was all I could say.

    It had a completely different feel than it did when playing the game.

    It felt¡­new, different, fresh. It was remarkable.

    Xara stepped up next to me.

    ¡°When I saw you that night and you showed me a beautiful sight of the town, I thought I¡¯d return the favor by showing this great spot I found. It¡¯s really beautiful.¡±

    I nodded in agreement.

    ¡°It¡¯s amazing.¡±

    You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

    This really was like a whole new experience. But as nice as the sight was, what came next was gonna be a big blow to my heart.

    As the sky slowly began to darken, I took a step back and found myself looking at Xara who moved in front of me and looked into my eyes.

    ¡°Axel. When we first met, I only thought of you as a teasing jerk and someone who never cared for other''s feelings. But when I was suffering, you came to my rescue and showed me you¡¯re more than that.¡±

    Xara held her hands to her chest.

    ¡°And after everything you¡¯ve done for me, I¡¯ve realized something very important.¡±

    After that, the next words that left Xara¡¯s mouth made my heart ache and flutter at the same time.

    ¡°Axel¡­I think I''ve fallen in love with you. You¡¯ve shown me there¡¯s more to life and how far dreams can really go. You mean more to me than anyone else I know. Would you please...be my boyfriend?¡±

    Yep. There it was. The confession at the end of the Xara route. Something truly wonderful¡­.as well as something I don¡¯t deserve.

    ¡°Xara. Before you hear my answer, let me ask you something.¡±

    While I already made up my mind, I¡¯d be lying if I said winning her love didn¡¯t sound appealing. Even if it meant taking Riko¡¯s happiness away, I could still have a happy life myself. However, her answer to my question was what would lead to whether I change my mind or not.

    ¡°What is it?¡±

    I was silent for a moment. As much as it hurt to ask this, it was necessary.

    ¡°If I said yes, would you cling to me like you did Riko?¡±

    Xara¡¯s eyes went wide.

    ¡°Of course no-!¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t just answer! Think before you speak!¡±

    Startled by my tone, Xara began to think of her response.

    As she did so, a heavy silence hung over the two of us. It was so quiet that I almost forgot to breathe.

    Finally, she answered.

    ¡°I¡­I can¡¯t promise that.¡±

    I knew it.

    ¡°Xara. You remember the night I told you about clinging to Riko and how bad it was?¡±

    ¡°Y¡­Yes.¡±

    ¡°Just to be clear, I didn¡¯t say that for you to stop clinging to Riko and cling to me instead. I said that because I realized the dangerous path you were treading. A path no one wants to go down.¡±

    As I remembered her route, it was clear she never thought for herself. She never grew. Honestly, I didn¡¯t even know what the creators were thinking when making her character. It made me sick to think of how dependent she¡¯d be on the MC in the future.

    Xara didn¡¯t seem to fully understand what I meant, but that was okay.

    ¡°It¡¯s fine if you don¡¯t get it. However, until you can say for certain that you can survive without having to cling to me, I can¡¯t return your feelings. I¡¯m sorry.¡±

    With that, I jumped off the roof and created a pad of wind to catch me before I hit the ground. As I left, I could barely hear Xara crying from the top of the tower.

    I¡¯m sorry Xara. But this just isn¡¯t how I want it to turn out. I never intended for you to fall for me. And with the way things are now, it just makes me look like someone who manipulated you into dropping one guy for another.

    Thus, I left, ignoring that nagging feeling in my head telling me to turn back. Refusing to let the feelings of the man I used to be affect who I am now.

    As Axel left me behind, I found myself in tears. Why wouldn¡¯t I be? I just got rejected by the guy I liked. I¡¯d be more surprised if I wasn¡¯t sad. Trying to wipe away the tears, I looked into the sky to find it had grown dark. It looked like night had taken over.

    Curling up into a ball, I rocked back and forth as the tears continued falling down my eyes. No matter what I did, they wouldn¡¯t stop.

    Still crying, I thought back to his question.

    ¡°If I said yes, would you cling to me like you did Riko?¡±

    I knew I couldn¡¯t say no to that. Not after everything that happened.

    And when I think about it, that was probably why he rejected me. He didn¡¯t want a repeat of what happened before. Despite it making sense, that didn¡¯t stop the pain in my chest. I poured my heart and soul into that confession.

    So, because I was unable to hold back the tears, I ended up crying until daybreak.

    School was back in session. However, Xara wasn¡¯t there. Apparently, she hadn¡¯t even returned to the dorms until early this morning. And I already had a good idea as to why.

    But as much as I wanted to help her, I knew seeing me wouldn¡¯t be a good thing right now. So I decided to stay away for the time being.

    Talking with Dianne, I tried my best to keep on a smile as best I could. And after that, I left class during the first break to hang out with Roy and Flynn.

    Throughout the whole day, I kept on a fake smile.

    Finally getting back to my dorm room, I plopped on my bed as Nia appeared next to me.

    ¡°I¡¯m guessing this attitude has something to do with that succubus. Right?¡±

    I didn¡¯t say anything. I just continued lying there.

    With a sigh, Nia used all her strength to pull me over and sat on top of me.

    ¡°What¡¯re you doing?¡± I asked with a groan.

    ¡°I''m sitting here until you cheer up.¡±

    ¡°What does cheering me up have to do with sitting on me?¡±

    Ignoring my question, Nia laid down on my chest.

    ¡°You¡¯re still feeling guilty about unintentionally manipulating her feelings right?¡±

    I was silent for a moment before nodding.

    ¡°I never would¡¯ve guessed just sharing my thoughts with her would lead towards her opening up that curse.¡±

    ¡°Even if that wasn¡¯t what you were trying to do, you still did it.¡±

    ¡°...I know.¡±

    The curse of the succubi ancestry. I read about it when I asked Nia to show me everything she could about succubi. It¡¯s apparently a curse placed by the first succubi on all future generations. It¡¯s a curse that attacks them in their dreams in an attempt to take over the mind of a weakened succubus and turn them into a human killing machine. Why? Because of a stupid war between humans and succubi fifty years ago. I didn¡¯t remember anything like this happening in the game, so it took me a bit to realize that was what was going on with Xara.

    Actually, now that I think about it, right before I was sent to this world, I recall an announcement for a fan disc, some special bonus that''s similar to DLC that was set to come out and expand on some of the heroines throughout the game.

    Was this that fan disc? Or was this something the world had come up with on its own? I didn¡¯t know.

    As for the curse itself, while I wasn¡¯t sure, I think telling Xara my honest thoughts about her clinging problems might¡¯ve been the reason behind her mental instability. Because I told her my personal gripe with her character, she found herself doubting both Riko and herself which gave the curse a chance to take effect.

    Now that might not be the case at all. But it¡¯s my belief that I caused her this pain. Because of that, I can¡¯t accept her feelings since they were merely the result of my poor choices. For that, I refused to accept her until I was positive she could think on her own. As well as deal with my own feelings on the matter.

    I may have been disappointed at the time when I realized she had given into the curse, but when I think back on what I said, it might¡¯ve been my fault to begin with. And for that, I take full responsibility.

    Getting up from my bed as Nia fell off me, I walked over to the window and looked out at the school below. I¡¯d almost forgotten how high my room was.

    Stretching out my arms, I turned to Nia.

    ¡°Well, I guess it¡¯s about time I start getting back to normal. Can¡¯t have myself losing focus now. If I slip up even once, those royal assholes will pounce on me before I have the chance to react.¡±

    Smacking my face with both hands, I tried my best to clear my thoughts. That¡¯s right. The people at this school hate me. I can¡¯t leave myself open. Otherwise, my life here could end in an instant.

    Taking in a deep breath, I smiled and looked out at the sight in front of me.

    As crazy as it sounds, It¡¯s been a little over six years since I was sent to this world. Six wild years with several twists and turns I never saw coming. And despite the struggles, I was still here. And as I thought about what could be in store for me here at this school, I found myself looking forward to what the future held.

 Chapter 18.5: Xara Joins a Club

    It¡¯d been about a week since Axel rejected me. And while I¡¯ve been able to clear my head a bit, his words still resonate in my head.

    ¡°...Until you can say for certain that you can survive without having to cling to me, I can¡¯t return your feelings.¡±

    I had considered that he might reject me, but it still hurt when he pointed out that I still had to deal with that flaw. Even if it was true.

    Looking into my mirror, I had just finished putting on my school uniform. And while the chest area was a little tight on me, it worked fine for what it was. Thus, I decided to live with it and once I was certain I looked good to go, I left my room and headed out of the dorm.

    Reaching the entrance of the school building, I glanced at the people around me who seemed to be enjoying themselves as they talked about everyday things. Something I wish I could do. However, since I spent so much time with Riko, I never really attempted to interact with anyone else. Reminding me once again of some stuff Axel had told me in the past.

    But leaving that be for now, I headed into the school building where I was immediately met with Riko who appeared to be waiting for something.

    And when he noticed me walking by, he held his hand up in an attempt to greet me. However, I simply walked by and ignored him.

    It wasn¡¯t easy, but I knew that if I went back to spending all my time with Riko, I could find myself in the same position as before.

    That¡¯s why I had to leave him be for now.

    Moving through the halls, I reached class without much thought and sat through the lesson until it was time for the break period.

    While this would normally be a chance to grab some lunch, I wasn¡¯t really interested in eating. So I just walked outside to get some fresh air.

    Looking out at the sky, it was shining a bright blue as white clouds moved across it like little animals walking through a grassy terrain.

    Trying to look at all the shapes of the clouds, I was able to notice some had weird shapes to them.

    Like how one appeared to have a head with spiky hair, and another was shaped like a set of succubus wings, and then there was one that looked like a heart¡­

    ¡°Okay that¡¯s enough looking at the clouds,¡± I muttered.

    I wasn¡¯t sure if that was just my eyes playing tricks on me, but I¡¯d rather not think about it.

    Thus, I spread out my wings and flew to the top of the school and landed on the roof before letting out a small sigh.

    ¡°Hey there! Is everything okay?¡±

    Startled by a voice that came out of nowhere, my eyes went wide as I turned toward where it came from.

    What I saw sitting there was a girl with orange hair tied up into pigtails and her body was covered in a mix of pale skin and crimson-red scales that were noticeable on the parts of her that weren¡¯t covered up by her school uniform.

    For some reason she had a wide smile on her face that was a bit weird to stare at. Causing me to look away.

    ¡°Er¡­Yeah. Everything''s fine.¡±

    I tried to answer and leave. However, the girl got up and moved in front of me before I could get away.

    ¡°May I help you?¡± I asked. The confusion in my voice all too obvious.

    ¡°No I¡¯m good. Actually, I¡¯m wondering if you may need help yourself?¡±

    ¡°W-What do you mean?¡±

    ¡°Well going off the bags under your eyes, lack of any form of make up, and an overall slumped figure, I¡¯d have to say you give off the air of someone who isn¡¯t okay.¡±

    ¡°I-Is that so?¡±

    I mean, she made a lot of good points. But I wasn¡¯t exactly in the mood to agree with her.

    Putting her hand to her chin, the girl muttered to herself as if she was deep in thought before pointing her finger upwards as if she just came up with an idea.

    ¡°Say, would you come by my club later?¡±

    ¡°Your¡­club?¡±

    Why would I do something like that?

    ¡°Yeah! I don¡¯t know if it can help you that much, but I might have just what you need to cheer up.¡±

    ¡°You think so?¡±

    ¡°Of course!¡±

    ¡°Why?¡±

    ¡°Hm? What do you mean why?¡±

    ¡°....¡±

    ¡°What?¡±

    Either this girl was quite confident she could cheer me up or she was a complete idiot.

    As to which I honestly couldn¡¯t pin it down. Though since she had stars in her eyes as she talked about her club, I was willing to bet on the latter.

    ¡°Look. Just be there okay? I promise you won¡¯t regret it!¡±

    After saying that, red scaly dragon wings appeared behind the girls back and she began to fly off.

    ¡°Hey wait a minute! You never even told me the club''s name!¡±

    ¡°Hm? Oh yeah! It¡¯s the Interspecies Cooking Club! We usually start an hour before school begins and come back after classes when they''re done. So be sure to show up later! See ya!¡±

    Finished talking with me, the girl flew off.

    Lost on what just happened, I scratched the back of my head and let out a sigh.

    I had no idea who that girl was, so I wasn¡¯t really obligated to go to her club.

    Though considering I didn¡¯t really think about clubs at all since I figured I¡¯d spend all my time with Riko, I guess checking one out couldn¡¯t hurt.

    Thus, with a small shrug of my shoulders, I decided I¡¯d take a look at this Interspecies Cooking Club

    Once classes ended for the day, I asked for instructions on how to get to the club that girl mentioned and before long, I found myself standing there staring at the door.

    There was nothing special about it, and honestly, I wasn¡¯t sure what I was even doing here.

    Still, I guess since I was already at the door so it would be a bit awkward to just leave.

    Thus, I began reaching my hand toward the door handle.

    ¡°You made it!¡±

    Just as I was about to push the door forward, it swung open as the girl from before greeted me with a smile. Causing me to jump in surprise a little bit.

    ¡°Er¡­Yeah. Thank you for inviting me.¡±

    Nodding as if she was satisfied with something, the girl ushered me inside.

    As she did, I was greeted by a mix of different smells.

    From the scent of freshly baked cake, to juicy steak, as well as what I assumed was eggs mixed with cheese. The whole thing caused my stomach to growl a little bit.

    Placing me down at one of the tables near the front of a blackboard, the girl giggled a bit to herself as she walked up to said blackboard and started writing on it.

    While she did that, I took a look around.

    As the name of this club suggested, tons of species were sitting in this room.

    From slime people, to centaurs, and even regular old humans. They really had a variety of people that seemed to get along with each other.

    The room was massive and had a total of twenty tables set up along with several windows that sent the scent of the food flying outside.

    Each table was nailed into the ground and was large enough to fit at least six people. Though considering there were creatures like half-giants in here, I guess some of these tables would only fit one or two in the end.

    The whole thing was a bit overwhelming, but I tried my best to calm down and relax.

    Finished with writing, the girl turned back to everyone with a smile on her face.

    ¡°Hey there everyone! We have someone checking out the club today, so be sure to treat her right, okay?¡±

    As the girl said that, she pointed at me and everyones attention turned in my direction.

    ¡°Um¡­Hi there all of you,¡± I said. Feeling a bit awkward about the whole thing.

    ¡°...¡±

    After I spoke, there was a rather heavy silence in the room before finally-

    ¡°Hey there! Nice to meet you!¡±

    ¡°Wow! You¡¯re beautiful! Are you a model or something?¡±

    ¡°So how long have you been cooking for? Or are you new to it all?¡±

    -I started getting bombarded with questions which made it difficult to get a word in.

    ¡°Hold up everyone! You¡¯re clearly making her uncomfortable so please give her some space,¡± said the girl as she went back to writing something else on the blackboard.

    Listening to what she said, the other members of the club backed off and let me catch my breath.

    ¡°Phew. They sure are a chatty bunch,¡± I muttered to myself.

    If you come across this story on Amazon, it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it.

    Not that I mind at all. Honestly, it was kinda nice having so many people talk with me. I just wish it was easy for me to talk back.

    ¡°Now then, since this could be a chance to bring in a new member, how about we try something simple today? I¡¯m thinking of omelets. Does that sound good to everyone?¡±

    The club members around me immediately started cheering.

    ¡°Yeah! That sounds great!¡±

    ¡°Awesome idea! That should be easy to make for even the newest of cooks!¡±

    ¡°Brilliant work club president!¡±

    It seemed everyone was on board with this. Well, I didn¡¯t really have much of a say on it, so I guess I¡¯ll just do what everyone else was doing.¡±

    As if reading my thoughts, the girl next to the blackboard glanced at me and then spoke up.

    ¡°Actually, on second thought, let¡¯s try something more interesting.¡±

    ¡°Hm?¡±

    What did she mean by something interesting?

    Walking up to me, the girl suddenly pulled ingredients out of what seemed like thin air and plopped them down in front of me.

    ¡°What the-!?¡±

    ¡°I think we should have a cooking competition! That should really show off our club''s spirit!¡±

    As the girl made that proclamation, everyone else nodded their heads.

    ¡°A cooking competition? Sounds fun!¡±

    ¡°Count me in!¡±

    ¡°Hmph. I suppose I could participate.¡±

    It seemed like no matter what this girl said, people were gonna agree with her.

    ¡°Alrighty! With that settled, who should we have as the judges?¡±

    ¡°Ooh! Me!¡±

    ¡°Me too!¡±

    ¡°Please pick me!¡±

    Four to five people immediately raised their hands.

    In the end, though, only two of those hands were picked as the girl decided to include herself among the judges.

    And it seemed things were about to get much more intense than how I thought it would go.

    ¡°Alright! Are you all ready for this!?¡± shouted the girl as she and the other judges sat down in front of everyone. Looking like she was the most excited one to be there.

    ¡°Yeah!¡± shouted everyone in unison as they gathered their ingredients and prepared to cook.

    Meanwhile, I found myself pondering what I should make.

    Honestly, I wasn¡¯t someone who baked stuff too often, so I didn¡¯t know that many recipes. This means my choice of things I can make is extremely limited.

    ¡°...Guess I¡¯ll try and make a red velvet cake then,¡± I muttered.

    It was always my Mom¡¯s favorite dessert, so maybe if I followed the recipe she told me, I might be able to win this thing.

    Checking the ingredients in front of me, it seemed I had everything I needed to bake one, so I separated those from the rest of the ingredients I didn¡¯t need as the girl raised her voice again.

    ¡°Alrighty then! You have one hour. Get ready¡­Get set¡­Go!¡±

    As the girl said those words, I got to work on cooking as fast as I could.

    Starting with the cake flour, I poured it into a bowl along with cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt as well as set the oven to preheat to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

    After that, I mixed everything into the bowl together and once that was all mixed together, I put it to the side to get started on the next thing by grabbing the handheld mixer and grabbing another bowl which I tossed the butter and sugar into.

    Once inside, I started mixing them together before adding egg yolks, oil, vinegar, and vanilla extract.

    I stirred everything as rapidly as I could and before I knew it, the whole thing had turned to mush.

    Pouring the contents of both bowls together into a new bowl, I then added some red food coloring into the mix and stir it once more as the batter started to take on a red texture.

    After everything looked good, I grabbed two cake pans and poured the batter inside both until they were filled to the brim.

    Once I was finished with that, I checked the oven and it looked like it was ready so I put the cake batter inside and waited for the food to cook.

    While I did so, I glanced at the club members nearby who were working on their own dishes.

    One person seemed to be making melon bread, while another appeared to be creating a mini pizza.

    There were a few other people who, like me, were trying to make cake, while there were some people cooking cookies and cupcakes as well.

    And while stuff like cooking was a grueling endeavor, the smiles on everyone''s faces made it clear that while it was tough, it was fun.

    And as I turned back to my own cake that was currently cooking in the oven, I¡¯ll admit, I was kinda having fun too.

    It really helped me get my mind off my problems when I simply just spent some time cooking something for no reason at all. I did because it was fun to do. And nothing more.

    Eventually, my cake was finally cooked and as I glanced up at the time, it seemed like I had just about ten minutes to wrap everything up.

    Thankfully, while I waited, I made the frosting by mixing butter and cream cheese together and after a couple of minutes added vanilla extract, sugar, and a hint of salt.

    Once that was all creamy, I added a bit of confectionery sugar and before I knew it, the frosting was done.

    And since I took the time to make it while the cake was cooking, it would be easy enough to simply apply it.

    Thus, with ten minutes left on the timer, I placed the cakes on two separate plates before placing them on top of each other.

    Now, normally, at this point, you¡¯d shove the cake in a fridge for a while to let it fully take shape. However, I didn¡¯t have time for that.

    So instead, I walked over to the specialized freezer the school had and placed the cake inside.

    After that, I set a timer on the freezer to speed up one hour to five minutes. Which was the fastest the device could freeze something and then waited patiently for it to be done.

    So with six minutes on the clock, I impatiently tapped my foot while crossing my arms until five minutes later I heard a loud DING and opened up the freezer to find a perfectly baked red velvet cake.

    Knowing there wasn¡¯t much time left, I took out the cake and placed it on a fancy plate before cutting it up into nice, neat slices and finished it up with some berry flavored syrup and a small strawberry on every slice.

    Once it was all finished, I could hear a ringing sound in my ear and turned to find that the girl from before had cast some sort of alarm spell to signify time was up before standing on her feet.

    ¡°Time¡¯s up everyone! Let¡¯s see what you all made!¡±

    So with that, everyone began showing off what they cooked.

    As they were presented with all sorts of treats and dishes, the judges ate them one after the other.

    ¡°Hm. It¡¯s good, but I think it needs a bit more sugar,¡± one judge would say.

    ¡°I think you need a bit more cheese,¡± another would reply when asked how it tastes.

    And then there was the girl who had started this whole thing.

    ¡°I know you tried your best, but this definitely needs a bit more work. Be sure to see me after club activities are over and we¡¯ll go over some ways to help you improve.

    Despite telling the competitors the truth, she tried her best to be as kind as possible and worked her hardest to give a good opinion that could assist everyone''s cooking in the future.

    It was quite a sight to behold.

    ¡°Alright. You¡¯re up next!¡± shouted the girl pointing at me.

    ¡°Huh? Oh! Right!¡±

    Having got lost in the moment, I recollected myself and approached the judges. Presenting my red velvet cake to the three of them.

    Then, with a smile, the girl moved a slice to each judge''s plate and they all lifted a piece from their plates before sticking them into their mouths. And then¡­

    ¡°...¡±

    Nothing. Just silence. Was that a good or bad sign? I had no idea!

    Thus, I continued awkwardly standing there. Waiting to hear what they had to say.

    ¡°T¡­This is¡­¡± said the girl. Leaving everyone in suspense.

    Finally, all the judges spoke out at the same time.

    ¡°It¡¯s so good!¡±

    To my relief, they seemed to like my cake as they finished the slices they were eating and turned to me.

    ¡°Say, now that I think about it, I never got your name,¡± said the girl.

    Well, that was random. But not wrong.

    ¡°Oh. Really? It¡¯s Xara. Xara Femishito.¡±

    I didn¡¯t have any problem introducing myself now, but it was indeed quite strange that I didn¡¯t mention my name up until this point either.

    ¡°I see I see.¡±

    As she said that, the girl nodded her head before standing up on her chair.

    ¡°That¡¯s it! I¡¯ve decided on our winner! And that goes to Xara Femashito!¡±

    ¡°W-What!?¡±

    Can she really just do that!? I thought the three of them were judges who had to give their fair opinions!

    ¡°Congratulations Miss Femashito!¡±

    ¡°Good job!¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m so happy for you!¡±

    Despite thinking that, it seemed everyone else was just rolling along with it while the girl walked up close to me.

    ¡°Sorry if all this is leaving you confused and all, but your cake was really good. Honestly, I¡¯d love to have someone like you in this club. What do you say?¡±

    As she asked that, the girl gave me a delighted smile and while I still wasn¡¯t a fan of how that whole competition went, it was nice being able to interact with different people who moved at a different pace the me.

    In fact, it was actually rather refreshing.

    ¡°Was this what Axel meant when he told me I should get more friends?¡± I thought to myself as the smallest of smiles slipped onto my face.

    ¡°Yeah. I think I¡¯d like to join,¡± I muttered. To which the girl¡¯s grin grew wider before holding up her hand.

    ¡°Attention everyone! Xara has officially agreed to join the Interspecies Cooking Club!¡±

    When she announced that, cheers rang across the room.

    And as I stared at all the happy faces, I couldn¡¯t help but grin.

    While it wasn¡¯t the same as hanging around people like Riko or Axel, it was still really nice and I think I could get used to enjoying it.

    Thus, I signed up for the club and officially joined with a sense of happiness welling up from inside me.

    ¡°Good morning everyone!¡± Xara shouted as she waved out to her fellow club members!

    ¡°Xara! Welcome in!¡± shouted the girl who had brought her to the club.

    ¡°Hi, Club President!¡±

    ¡°Please. We¡¯re friends now. Just call me Valentina.¡±

    ¡°Heh. You got it!¡±

    The president of the interspecies cooking club, Valentina Dragorth, greeted the club''s newest member with a smile on her face while Xara made her way to her spot in the club.

    Soon enough, the place was done filling up and Valentina walked to the front of the classroom and began writing on the blackboard.

    ¡°Alright. Today, we¡¯ll be learning how to make red velvet cake like the one Xara made a couple of weeks back. That means Xara will be taking over for today. Does that sound good with you everyone?¡±

    Nodding in response, all eyes turned to Xara who walked up front and waved to everyone.

    ¡°Okay. Today I¡¯ll be going over the red velvet cake recipe that I used during that competition. So be sure you all pay attention. Now then, let¡¯s get started.

    As she said that, Xara began writing on the board with a big grin on her face.

    It was bizarre to think that just a couple of weeks ago, she¡¯d been completely down in the dumps.

    But now, she was beaming with pride as she had finally started to understand everything Axel was telling her.

    And with the way things were going, Xara knew she could make her way on her own. But even so¡­

    ¡°Even if it¡¯s not right now, I promise that my love for you is real. And I¡¯m gonna prove it!¡±

    While those determined thoughts flowed through her mind, Xara continued to happily teach her clubmates how to make red velvet cake.

    And as Valentina watched in the corner, she found herself grinning from ear to ear.

    ¡°You¡¯ve really gotten used to this club, haven¡¯t you Xara?¡± she muttered as she recalled how Xara had been before she joined.

    And yet now, she was teaching those around her how to cook. It was crazy to think about.

    But even so, it was a nice change of pace. And Valentina was confident that with a little more time, Xara would improve as a person. She had no doubt about that.

    Thus, Xara¡¯s days at school continued onward. Just what would await her in the future? Only time could tell.

    Sitting in his office, a man looked at a flyer he had been handed for a school-wide event set to start in the coming weeks.

    ¡°Hm. So the Hunter Games are about to begin, eh?¡±

    As he said that out loud, he turned to look out the window of his office with a grin on his face.

    ¡°I¡¯m curious how you will perform out there¡­Axel Savoncho.¡±

    Keeping his voice low as he said that, the man leaned back into his chair with a small chuckle before returning to his work. Finding himself getting excited about how things were going to turn out once this event finally got started.

    But that¡¯s a story for another time.

 Chapter 19: The Squire I Donéˆ¥æª› Desire

    This is just a hypothetical question, but what would you do if you were transferred to a world based on a game you loved? It¡¯d be pretty sweet right? Wrong. Next thing you know you end up in a shooter zombie invasion where you don¡¯t last two minutes, or a dating sim with a yandere who kills all the other love interests you wanna win over. In short, it kinda sucks. How do I know this? Well, let¡¯s just say that hypothetical question is more real to me.

    Having been brought into a dating sim visual novel by some god, I quickly found myself in an awkward position when, instead of being reincarnated into this world, I was sent here against my will with my original body.

    But not only that, the god said they had to age me down to the point I could fit in the portal to this world. Forcing my body to age back to when I was ten. All just so I¡¯d be able to make it here in the first place.

    When I arrived, I found myself a bit unsure of what to do seeing as the only thing the god really gave me other than my youth was this ability I called expanded thinking which acted as a secondary brain of sorts that let me analyze things better than I normally could.

    After finding some lodging and growing accustomed to the world, I felt a little unsure about what the hell I was even supposed to do at that point. Should I have kept living there, or gone off to explore? I didn¡¯t know.

    That was until I found out which game I¡¯d been transported into.

    The game''s name was ¡°Medieval Fantasy¡± and it honestly wasn¡¯t a bad game. However, one thing that pissed me off about it was how in the end you could only choose a single girl. As an avid lover of harems, that part of the game irritated me to no end.

    But once I learned that I¡¯d been transported here, I realized I could finally make my dream of having my own harem a reality by winning over the main heroines of the game and making them my own.

    However, things took a turn for the worse and despite all my hard work, I nearly died at the hands of people from this world. Just because I wasn¡¯t some royal asshole they assumed I wasn¡¯t worth anything. So after almost dying, I found a grimoire containing a spirit named Nia and escaped my death. And I obtained the power I needed to finally shut those royal assholes up.

    After that, I continued my life here in this world while attending the school known as the ¡°High School of Magic and Swordsmanship¡± which acts as the game''s main starting point.

    A lot has happened since then, but seeing as how recapping it all would be a pain, I¡¯ll just stop things there.

    So moving past that, I was currently relaxing in my room. Enjoying the fact that the weekend had finally arrived and I could spend some time lazing around doing what I wanted when someone suddenly knocked on my door.

    I didn¡¯t know it at the time, but the moment I opened it up to see who was there, my peaceful life would be gone for a long time.

    ¡°H-Hello there Sir Savoncho! As of today, I¡¯ll be your official squire! Thank you for having me!¡±

    Opening the door, I found myself greeted by a girl who looked to be around the age of thirteen to fourteen. She was wearing some cheap armor and was shaking like crazy while she introduced herself.

    ¡°...Huh?¡±

    Wait a minute. Did she just say she was my squire?

    Lost on what was happening, I tried thinking of what this girl was talking about when I remembered someone mentioning stuff about a squire thing a few weeks ago.

    I think it was a teacher who said she taught kids to be squires who served under people until they were old enough to come to this school themselves since they couldn¡¯t enter officially until the proper age. At least, I think that¡¯s what she said.

    Rubbing my eyes, I looked the girl up and down. And no I wasn¡¯t checking her out. She may only be a couple years younger than me, but I felt like she still fell into the loli category which wasn¡¯t my thing.

    ¡°Uh¡­Excuse me. Sir Savoncho?¡±

    The girl seemed confused by my lack of response and she fished out what looked to be a set of notes from her pocket.

    ¡°Oh¡­um¡­They told me you¡¯d already been informed of this so now I just feel embarrassed.¡±

    Flipping through her notes a little more, she tried coming up with what to say next as I just stood there awkwardly. Honestly, this whole thing was still really confusing to me.

    After seeing the girl stumble with her words for a few more minutes, I let out a sigh. Without another word, I left the room and began making my way down the hall.

    ¡°Ah! Wait for me Sir Savoncho!¡±

    Noticing my departure, the girl began chasing after me.

    ¡°Why¡¯re you following me?¡±

    ¡°It¡­It¡¯s a squire''s duty to stay by their lord¡¯s side until it¡¯s time for class!¡±

    I found myself scratching the back of my head.

    ¡°Look. I¡¯m sorry to say this, but you probably have the wrong guy. I never even joined that squire program thing.¡±

    ¡°Oh. I¡¯m aware. I personally asked to be your squire.¡±

    ¡°...Huh?¡±

    Giving the girl a suspicious glare, I began walking again. All the while, she trailed behind me with our footsteps echoing in the hallway.

    Wanting to figure things out what was going on, I decided it was time for answers.

    Hearing this girl say she wanted to be my squire made me think back to my first friend here at this school. She approached me without much explanation as well and treated me like a friend. Then, when I least expected it, she left me for dead in a dungeon. Ever since then, I¡¯ve been cautious of the people around me. Even now, despite everything we¡¯ve been through, I still don¡¯t completely trust my two closest friends here at the school. Flynn and Roy. Who I got close to during the school trip a month ago

    So while I kept an eye on the girl behind me, I made my way toward the school.

    ¡°What she said is true. She personally requested to be your squire upon her arrival. She seemed quite enthusiastic about it too.¡±

    In order to get to the bottom of this, I met up with Mrs.Rashion who acted as the head of this whole squire thing. If anyone knew anything about this, I was sure she would. However, all I got as a response was confirmation of what the girl had said.

    ¡°So she said she wanted to be my squire. Okay. But if what you say is true, why didn¡¯t you tell me about it? I feel like my input is kinda important in a situation like this.¡±

    Mrs.Rashion frowned.

    ¡°I tried telling you. Do you not remember walking away when I tried talking with you?¡±

    Thinking about it now, I realized she was right. I¡¯d assumed she just wanted to sign me up to take on a squire, so I dipped before she could get a word in.

    ¡°Heheh¡­I¡¯m sorry.¡±

    I bowed my head in apology. I guess she did try to tell me about it so I''m at fault in that regard.

    With a frustrated sigh, Mrs.Rashion shook her head.

    ¡°Normally we don¡¯t let the squire pick who they serve. But since she is only a recently established noble, her choices as a squire were given a bit of freedom. And since I highly doubt other nobles would talk kindly to her, putting her with anyone else would go quite poorly.¡±

    ¡°A recently established noble?¡±

    Mrs.Rashion nodded.

    ¡°Squires in this program consist of three different classes. The simple class, royal class, and grand master class. Each class shows off what rank you have and the expectations that are set for you.¡±

    ¡°I see. Does that mean this girl is in the simple class?

    ¡°Well actually, a new class was created this year as per the request of the school¡¯s principal known as the commoner class. A place where common folk with the necessary funds and recently established nobles can spend their time training and make it possible for more people to serve the kingdom.¡±

    ¡°So you¡¯re saying this girl is in the newly established commoner class?¡±

    Mrs.Rashion nodded.

    ¡°Correct.¡±

    ¡°Okay. I got that part. Still, why is there even a need for another class? Aren¡¯t there already enough people who learn at this school?¡±

    At least that¡¯s how it felt to me when I saw all the students roaming the halls since I got here.

    ¡°Well you see, since there aren''t many nobles who are willing to work with commoners, it was decided that the next generation would be taught to treat them better which helped with creating this program. The only problem now is that lots of students aren¡¯t very willing to take on a commoner or recently established noble as a squire. So we give these kids the right to choose whoever they want to serve. Because of this, the girl next to you has officially been labeled as your squire. Even if you don¡¯t wish for this, it can¡¯t be helped.¡±

    ¡°You gotta be kidding me.¡±

    Letting out a sigh, I looked up at the ceiling. Trying to collect my thoughts. I guess in the end, I just had to accept it.

    Despite my personal feelings on the matter, I found myself stuck with a squire.

    Dammit. I guess all I can hope for is this being the last problem I have to deal with today.

    ¡°Axel¡­you¡¯re a lolicon!?¡±

    Xara, a succubus I was familiar with, looked at me with a surprised look on her face.

    ¡°How do you even know that term?¡±

    As I was walking around trying to explain a few restrictions and rules to this squire girl, we ended up running into Xara who seemed to get the completely wrong idea when she saw this girl following behind me.

    Massaging my temples, I let out a groan and explained things to Xara.

    ¡°Oh. So she¡¯s just following you around as your squire?¡±

    I nodded.

    ¡°That¡¯s what it looks like. Apparently, after classes every day, she¡¯s meant to stay by my side twenty-four-seven. I¡¯d love to say no, but it doesn¡¯t look like I get to do that.¡±

    ¡°I¡­see.¡±

    Xara glanced at the girl one last time before leaving.

    ¡°Well, I¡¯ve gotta get to my club now. So see ya later.¡±

    ¡°Yeah. Later.¡±

    With that, Xara was gone.

    While the way she looked at this girl was a bit weird, I was just glad to see her feeling better after what happened when she confessed her feelings to me.

    I rejected her, but it wasn¡¯t because I disliked her. In fact, if I could, I¡¯d love to have her as a girlfriend. However, I refuse to be with her until she learns to free herself from her clinging problem. When she can stand on her own two feet, I¡¯ll be there to give her my answer.

    That¡¯s why hearing she¡¯s joined a club was like music to my ears. That meant she was already taking steps towards being her own person.

    Although, I¡¯m not sure how to feel about her acting like the confession never happened. Over the last two weeks, she¡¯s been treating me just like anyone else. That doesn¡¯t make me sad per see...It doesn''t. I''m serious. It just makes me feel like she¡¯s trying too hard to be nice after everything that happened.

    I can¡¯t really blame her actions though. After all, I¡¯m doing something similar myself. I¡¯ve been avoiding bringing up the subject and I¡¯ve just tried acting like my old self. Basically, we were trying to pretend like everything was fine.

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    But now wasn¡¯t the time to think about all that. Right now I needed to focus on the issue behind me.

    Glancing at the girl, I saw she had her eyes on me. Why¡¯d she want to be my squire so badly? That was the question echoing in my head as we arrived back at my dorm room.

    Letting the girl inside my room, she walked through the door and started looking around the place.

    ¡°Whoa!¡±

    She seemed blown away.

    ¡°Why are you so surprised?¡±

    ¡°Hm? Oh! I¡¯m sorry!¡±

    ¡°Huh? For what?¡±

    That apology came out of nowhere.

    ¡°I don¡¯t want you to hate me, it¡¯s just I was so blown away by this room that I couldn¡¯t contain my amazement.¡±

    ¡°O...kay. But why did you apologize?¡±

    The girl looked at the ground.

    ¡°I¡¯ve been trained to listen and take what my superiors say seriously. Meaning needless dawdling is the definition of defiance.¡±

    ¡°Uh¡­Really?¡±

    What the hell were they teaching this girl? The way she worded it made it sound like squires weren¡¯t allowed to have any time of their own.

    With a sigh, I sat down and flipped open a book.

    ¡°Well don¡¯t worry about it then. I¡¯m not someone who needs your apologies anyway so doing your own thing is fine with me.¡±

    After saying that, I started reading the book.

    Bowing in understanding, the girl went back to looking around.

    Before I knew it, two hours had passed by and I closed my book at a good stopping point.

    Getting up from my seat, I glanced near me.

    ¡°Hm? You¡¯re still here?¡±

    The girl was standing there looking at me.

    ¡°Of course. Other than when I must attend my classes, I¡¯m required to stay at your side twenty-four seven.¡±

    ¡°Uh¡­Really?¡±

    Actually, now that I think about it, that¡¯s exactly what I said about her duties earlier when talking with Xara. But I didn¡¯t think it would actually be twenty-four-seven. That sounded like a pain.

    Scratching the back of my head, I tried to think of a way out of this rather awkward situation.

    ¡°Sooo¡­does that mean you don¡¯t have a place to sleep or something?¡±

    The girl glanced nervously at my bed.

    ¡°As I¡¯ve now officially become your squire, all my belongings will be moved here under your roof.¡±

    ¡°So in short, you have to live here now?¡±

    ¡°Yes, Sir Savoncho. I¡¯m required to stay by your side until I¡¯m of age to enter the school officially. That includes rooming with you.¡±

    ¡°I..see.¡±

    I shook my head. This was turning into a bigger pain by the second.

    ¡°Look. I don¡¯t know why you wanted to be my squire so badly, but is all this really necessary?¡±

    The girl looked down with a disappointed expression.

    ¡°Are you saying¡­you don¡¯t want me as a squire?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m saying I never wanted a squire in the first place.¡±

    Crossing my arms, I let out a sigh. The girl grasped her pants in frustration, but I didn¡¯t care. This was my personal space and I didn¡¯t want it taken away just to look after some kid.

    ¡°Why do you look so down about it? I¡¯m sure there are plenty of other people who are much more open to having you as a sq-¡±

    ¡°I only want to be your squire!¡±

    I nearly jumped out of my seat when she said that with such force.

    ¡°W-Why?¡±

    That was all I could ask. I¡¯d been wanting to know this whole time but she never bothered explaining.

    As her expression changed from upset to nervous, she looked at me, face to face.

    ¡°Tell me Sir Savoncho. Does my face look familiar to you?¡±

    ¡°...No. Not at all.¡±

    I have no idea who this girl is. While she didn¡¯t have any noticeable features about her other than her raven black hair, I was certain if I¡¯d seen her around at some point I would¡¯ve remembered her.

    ¡°...I see¡±

    She looked disappointed.

    ¡°About four years ago, you came to my rescue when I lost all hope. You protected me from some really messed up guys and returned me safely back to my family. Even if you don¡¯t remember, I don¡¯t think I¡¯ll ever forget it for the rest of my life.¡±

    ¡°Really?¡±

    Did I ever do something like that?

    I¡¯ve been on so many adventures since I came to this world that I couldn¡¯t exactly keep track of them all. Despite that, what she described did sound familiar. I just couldn''t put my finger on what she was talking about.

    Turning my head to look out the window, I scratched the back of my head.

    ¡°Sorry. What you¡¯re saying sounds familiar, but I can¡¯t seem to remember it.¡±

    The girl was silent for a moment before letting out a disappointed sigh.

    ¡°I understand. Even if you don¡¯t, I have you to thank for saving my life. So, I¡¯d like to continue serving as your squire for the time being. Even if you don¡¯t want me.¡±

    Man. This girl sure was persistent. If you asked me about this whole situation before, back when all I cared about was harems and video games, I would¡¯ve jumped at the chance to have a girl like her as my squire. But the me now is different. Even if I did take this girl in, I wouldn¡¯t necessarily be able to watch out for her. This just felt like babysitting to me.

    But despite my own personal thoughts on the matter, I didn¡¯t really have a say.

    And so, with a groan of exasperation, I pulled out my grimoire.

    ¡°Nia.¡±

    Suddenly, Nia, the spirit within my grimoire, appeared next to me.

    Surprised by Nia¡¯s sudden appearance, the girl couldn¡¯t help but take a step back.

    ¡°What is it, Master?¡±

    ¡°Do you have any transformation magic on you?¡±

    ¡°Hm¡­I do. But only enough to change the structure of a preexisting item. Meaning I can¡¯t alter it in terms of materials. Just change the way it¡¯s designed.¡±

    ¡°I see. In that case, could you turn the couch over there into a bed?¡±

    Nia looked in the direction I was pointing and nodded.

    ¡°I should be able to do that.¡±

    Without another word, Nia walked over to the couch and pushed her hand out towards it.

    As she did so, the couch began to glow a bright green, and sounds that could only be described as mechanical gears turning began echoing through the room.

    A few minutes later, Nia stepped away from her restructured creation.

    While it did look like it was made using the same materials as it did when it was a couch, it now had the appearance of a bed.

    Walking over to my closet, I pulled out a spare blanket and put it down on the bed.

    After that, I turned to the girl.

    ¡°If you¡¯re that insistent on staying here, I might as well show you some hospitality. Let me know if it feels uncomfortable at all. If there are any issues you have, I¡¯ll have Nia try to shape them to your liking.¡±

    The girl, who seemed to still be reeling from the shock of Nia¡¯s appearance, glanced over at the spirit of the grimoire. Unsure what to do.

    ¡°Oh. I probably should introduce you. This is Nia. She¡¯s¡­a friend of mine¡±

    I couldn¡¯t exactly tell this girl about Nia being a grimoire spirit. I still wasn¡¯t sure if I could trust her yet. Not that she¡¯ll just be fine with me describing Nia as a friend when she literally appeared out of thin air. I¡¯ll just have to come up with something later.

    While I was thinking about this, Nia walked up to the girl and bowed.

    ¡°A pleasure to meet you.¡±

    Snapping out of her shock, the girl immediately bowed as well.

    ¡°A¡­A pleasure to meet you, Miss Nia!¡±

    Grinning, Nia turned to me.

    ¡°Her reactions are funny.¡±

    Rolling my eyes, I suddenly remembered something important.

    ¡°Come to think of it, I don¡¯t think I ever got your name.¡±

    I don¡¯t know why, but it¡¯d completely slipped my mind,

    Hearing that, the girl straightened herself and turned to me.

    ¡°You¡¯re completely right! I apologize for not giving you my name sooner! I¡¯ll accept any punishment you deem necessary!¡±

    ¡°Er¡­How about just telling me your name.¡±

    ¡°V-Very well!¡±

    After saying that, the girl gave me a salute.

    ¡°My name is Vey Riyon! However, my friends normally just call me Vey!¡±

    Vey huh? I haven¡¯t heard a name like that before. It probably wasn¡¯t a common name where I came from.

    ¡°Well then Vey, here¡¯s to you hopefully not causing too many problems.¡±

    I held out my hand which she gripped nervously.

    With that, we were officially squire and¡­I guess caretaker? That was probably the best way to describe this relationship.

    Weirdly enough, I actually read a book about a demon caretaker at one point. I wouldn¡¯t call it an amazing read, but it wasn¡¯t terrible.

    But moving past that, I finally got my chance to go to bed and Vey went over to the couch-turned-bed and got under the covers.

    Without another thought, I closed my eyes and fell asleep almost immediately.

    As Axel closed his eyes, Vey glanced over at him. He really did look a lot different from when she first met him.

    She could still remember everything as clear as day. She was walking through a forest searching for some flowers to give to her crush in hopes of gaining his attention. But while she was out there, she was taken by some creepy men who dragged her to a cave deep into the woods where they chained her up and while she couldn¡¯t really understand what was happening, the strange men pulled their pants down and used something down there to stab her body from the inside over and over again.

    A few days passed and they continued doing these actions. All while treating her like garbage. At the age of ten, all she could do was scream for help. But by the third day, she had completely given up on the idea someone would come for her. That was when he came.

    When she heard his footsteps, she figured he was one of her captors who had returned to hurt her once more. But instead, she was met with a strange sensation on her hands.

    ¡°Fire.¡±

    Suddenly, her arms dropped to the ground as the chains holding her had been burned off by some kind of flame.

    ¡°Hey there. Can you move?¡±

    A voice she didn¡¯t recognize was speaking out to her. She tried speaking to him, but she found herself unable to move her lips.

    Seeing she couldn¡¯t give him a response. The one who appeared to be saving her pulled her up and brought her toward the exit of the cave.

    Just then, another voice entered her ear.

    ¡°Hey now. Where the hell do you think you¡¯re going with me and my bro¡¯s toy?¡±

    The girl knew that voice all too well. Knowing something might happen to the one trying to rescue her, she tried speaking out. But her body wouldn¡¯t respond to her wishes. All she could hope for was that the one saving her would just drop her and escape. There was no reason for him to lose his life for someone he didn¡¯t even know.

    ¡°I¡¯m bringing her back to the village. You got a problem with that?¡±

    Hearing that caused the girl''s eyes to widen for a moment before returning to her exhausted state.

    ¡°Yeah. I do actually. You see, my bro¡¯s here messed with her so much, all I get is the leftovers. But if you¡¯re gonna try to take her away, I wouldn¡¯t mind ending your life here and now.¡±

    She knew it. The one protecting her was in a bad situation. He should just run while he had the chance.

    Just then, however, she heard him make a sound that was similar to a laugh.

    ¡°What¡¯s so funny punk?¡±

    The man in front of her had begun to sound irritated.

    The one rescuing the girl responded.

    ¡°Just that I find your threat amusing. You really shouldn¡¯t try to make threats you can¡¯t back up.¡±

    The girl heard the man in front of her grit his teeth in frustration.

    ¡°Why you!¡±

    Oh no! The girl could hear the man''s footsteps drawing closer. The person holding her needed to let go and escape now! Or else they¡¯d be killed.

    To the girl''s surprise, however, the one saving her let out a bored sigh.

    ¡°Earth Guillotine!¡±

    Just as the girl felt like the man was in front of them, the sound of something squishing entered her ear.

    She couldn¡¯t see what was going on, but considering the one holding onto her still appeared to be keeping his grip, she¡¯d assumed he did something to the other man who¡¯d gone completely silent.

    ¡°Earth Absorption.¡±

    Not knowing what the man saving her was doing, the girl remained silent.

    ¡°Now tell me, are either of you as foolish as he was?¡±

    After hearing that, the sounds of men whimpering entered her ear.

    A moment later, those whimpers began fading away as the sound of footsteps slowly began getting farther and farther away.

    Once that was over with, the girl closed her eyes and let the one saving her carry her back to town.

    A few hours later, the girl opened her eyes and found herself surrounded by her friends and family who began asking her questions with looks of concern on their faces.

    Over the next few days, the girl struggled to return to her normal life.

    Curious about the one who saved her, she asked for information in hopes of meeting him again someday.

    She received a picture of what he looked like as well as his name from the adventurers guild and tried her best to figure out where he could possibly have gone after he saved her.

    But despite her efforts, she couldn¡¯t find anything. Realizing she might not ever see him again, the girl prepared to move on with her life.

    That was until one fateful day.

    As her father was searching through some mountains near town, he came upon a cave that contained a ton of rare treasures and materials that would make it easy to grow the town and turn it from a rundown mess to a moderately well-built city.

    Wanting his daughter to grow up to be someone great, the father, who had gained the title of a noble due to his work in expanding the town, sent his daughter out and enrolled her in the newly established commoners class at the High School of Magic and Swordsmanship.

    When the girl arrived, she scrolled through the many names of students at that school before one she recognized caught her eye. She didn¡¯t know if it was the same person, but considering how similar it sounded, she figured it¡¯d be worth a shot.

    But then, when she first met him, she found him to be rather cold and looked nothing like the photo she¡¯d seen. Despite that, she could still recognize him through his voice. She may have only heard a few words from his mouth at the time, but she was certain this was the man who saved her. The one who gave her a chance at life.

    Almost having a dreamy look on her face, Vey sighed before letting a smile slip onto her face.

    ¡°I¡¯m glad we finally got to meet again¡­Sir Savoncho.¡±

    With that, Vey closed her eyes as a shade of light pink spread across her cheeks.

 Chapter 20: The Princess and Her Butler

    A few days have passed since Vey was taken on as my squire. And in all honesty, I still don¡¯t have a read on her. I figured having this girl by my side for a couple days would help me grasp who she was, but I¡¯ve found myself still unable to figure out why she was so intent on being my squire.

    Besides that, I don¡¯t think she¡¯s been doing a bad job of what a squire is supposed to do. She¡¯s been cleaning up after me as well as helping me with staying on schedule. I don¡¯t even need Sirin to set alarms for me anymore since Vey wakes me up every morning.

    Although, I wouldn¡¯t exactly put her cooking skills very high. After tasting it for the first time, I think I¡¯ll stick to cafeteria food. Cause if I¡¯m being honest, I¡¯d rather not die from unintentional food poisoning.

    Also, there are times she¡¯s a little too much in my personal space.

    I still remember yesterday when I tried to take a shower and she came in buck-naked to wash my back.

    Once that whole ordeal was over, I made sure to set some boundaries between us in order to keep myself sane.

    Thankfully, I only had to deal with her before and after class. So I was able to give myself at least a little room to breathe.

    ¡°Sound¡¯s like you have it rough with that new squire of yours. I wish you the best of luck, my friend.¡±

    Roy¡¯s somewhat encouraging words caused me to let out a sigh.

    ¡°She definitely sounds enthusiastic. Still, I think I understand why you¡¯d be exhausted with her after only two days.¡±

    What Flynn said wasn¡¯t any better.

    Picking up one of the rice balls in front of me, I ate it without much thought.

    Right now I was talking about my issues with my two friends Roy and Flynn. While we didn¡¯t have the best of starts with each other, we grew a bond after a rather intense school trip a little while back. So far, these two were probably my closest friends at this school.

    ¡°Er¡­Is having a squire really that hard?¡± Dianne, a girl who¡¯s been attempting to be my friend since I came to this school, asked sitting in front of me eating her own lunch.

    ¡°Ask me that again when you¡¯ve taken care of someone who tries attending to your every need even when you don¡¯t want them to.¡±

    Flopping down on my back, I looked out at the sky.

    As much flack as I give Vey to my friends, she¡¯s not a bad person. At least I think. I mentioned this before, but I still don¡¯t have a full reading on her and can¡¯t really say if how she acts is genuine or not. It was all about the waiting game in this situation.

    ¡°Well moving past that, have you guys heard about the upcoming school event?¡± Roy asked.

    I sat back up.

    ¡°School event?¡±

    What was he talking about?

    Maybe it¡¯s because I¡¯ve been so busy with Vey, but I don¡¯t remember the school mentioning any events.

    ¡°Yeah. Apparently, a school-wide scavenger hunt is happening in a few weeks with a massive prize.¡±

    ¡°Really?¡±

    Something about that sounded familiar. Thinking back, I tried to remind myself of where I¡¯d heard of such an event before.

    ¡°That sounds like fun!¡± Dianne exclaimed with excitement in her voice.

    ¡°Uh¡­Does the school have a name for this event?¡± I asked. Hoping if it did, that could help me remember.

    Roy smirked in response before pointing his finger up in the air as if to make an announcement.

    ¡°They¡¯re calling it¡­The Hunter Games!¡±

    That''s when it hit me. This was an event in the game.

    The Hunter Games is a big competition where two students from the same class can team up to compete in a giant scavenger hunting competition. It was actually one of my favorite events in the game. However, since you could only team up with people in your class, the MC was only allowed to team up with Dianne during that competition which raised her affection for him.

    As she¡¯s one of the five heroines, this event, while not as important as a later one, still plays a part in creating what would become Dianne¡¯s interest in the MC.

    ¡°Sadly, the competition only lets you compete with fellow classmates. That¡¯s how it¡¯s been ever since the first one a few years ago. So it doesn¡¯t look like you can join up with any of us Flynn,¡± Roy said. Turning to his friend.

    In response, Flynn shrugged.

    ¡°That¡¯s fine. I wasn¡¯t planning to participate anyway. So it¡¯s no bother to me.¡±

    ¡°Really? Well okay then.¡±

    After saying that, Roy turned to me.

    ¡°Are you gonna participate Axel?¡±

    ¡°I dunno. With how much everyone at this school already hates me, I don¡¯t know how¡¯d they react to me competing.¡±

    ¡°You mean you don¡¯t want them to look at you in any more of a negative light?¡± Dianne asked.

    I grinned.

    ¡°Nah. I just don¡¯t know whether I should embarrass the other students by showing off my hunting skills or sitting on the side and taunting the people competing.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s¡­not very nice.¡±

    I laughed.

    ¡°I guess you''re right.¡±

    Still, if there¡¯s one thing I enjoyed, it was showing off to those royal assholes and seeing how pissed they got watching me succeed so easily where they failed.

    ¡°What about you Roy? Are you competing?¡±

    Roy gave me a thumbs up.

    ¡°You know it! I already have my classmate picked out! We¡¯ll make sure to crush the competition!¡±

    You mean in a scavenger hunt, right? I asked in my head. Not really wanting the answer.

    Still, considering how beefy Roy looked, I wouldn¡¯t be surprised if he actually punched someone if they got in his way.

    Buy anyways, I went back to eating for a moment before noticing Dianne looking at me.

    ¡°What is it?¡±

    ¡°Uh¡­Nothing.¡±

    Hm? Why did she look so unsure about something? Did she want to team up with me for the event?

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    If that¡¯s the case, I¡¯ll wait for her to ask. Why? Because I don¡¯t want to have to push her to hang out with me.

    You see, ever since the day I returned from what I considered hell, she¡¯s been demanding to be my friend over and over again and has tried to push herself into my friend group on multiple occasions. Like right now for example.

    If she was that insistent on being friends, then I didn¡¯t mind. I just don¡¯t want her to push herself to gain my friendship.

    But leaving that be for now, I finished my meal moments before the first bell signifying the start of second period went off.

    Since I was done, I got up and cleaned up my meal.

    ¡°Well, it¡¯s about time I get back to class. See ya guys later.¡±

    Without another word, I jumped off the roof and began plummeting downward.

    Just before reaching the ground, however, I activated some air magic below my feet and instantly stopped right before I hit the grassy landscape under me. Upon landing, a grin slipped onto my face and I began walking to class.

    My heart nearly jumped out of my chest when I saw Axel jump over the edge.

    Hurrying to my feet, I looked down to the ground and found Axel landing safely.

    With a sigh of relief, I took a few steps back.

    ¡°Axel sure acts dangerous at times,¡± the boy Axel called Roy stated.

    I found myself massaging my temples.

    ¡°Honestly. Why does he always do such dangerous things?¡±

    As those words left my mouth, I remembered how stressed I¡¯d felt when he was stuck back in that dungeon.

    I¡¯d wanted to help him, but I couldn¡¯t do anything. As a princess, I wasn¡¯t permitted to travel down there myself. And since no one here really liked him thanks to his commoner status, I wasn¡¯t able to gather a search party to go find him.

    Picking up my empty food tray,  I began making my way down to the ground using some stairs.

    Once I was there, I walked over to a nearby trashcan and put the empty tray inside.

    With that done, I made my way back to class. While doing so, I thought about how different Axel had become.

    When I met him on the first day of school, his hair was a simple blonde. But now, it was more of a grey-ish white. His eyes were a different color as well.

    They used to be pitch black. Now, they¡¯re more of a crimson red. I almost didn¡¯t even recognize him. If it wasn¡¯t for his voice, I probably would¡¯ve thought he was someone completely different.

    Thinking back to when I learned he was alive, the promise I made to myself weighed on my mind.

    I promised that if Axel had survived, I¡¯d worked my hardest to be his friend. But despite my efforts, he still keeps a certain distance from me.

    Even during the lunch break, he seemed a bit unsure around the people he called his friends.

    Arriving at my classroom, I walked inside. Sitting down at my seat, I glanced up at a spot near me to find Axel doing what he always did. He was relaxing with his feet on the desk in front of him while flipping through some strange book.

    I don¡¯t know what book it was, but it had a strange pattern on its front and back cover which were oddly mesmerizing to look at. Kinda like some of the designs you¡¯d see when someone casts something called first magic.

    A few minutes later, the teacher walked into the room and began talking about today¡¯s lesson.

    All the while, Axel continued reading through his book. Was it really good enough to skip lessons over?

    A couple of hours later, class was over and Axel began packing up to leave.

    Getting up from my seat, I walked over to him like I¡¯d done several times already.

    ¡°Uh...Axel?

    ¡°Hm?¡±

    ¡±Should you really be reading that book during class? You¡¯re missing out on a lot of important lessons.¡±

    Axel shrugged.

    ¡°Eh. It¡¯s fine. I already have it all memorized.¡±

    ¡°Huh?¡±

    What did he mean? Has he already studied all the topics the teacher went over?

    Picking up his bag, Axel got up and began to leave.

    ¡°Anyway, I gotta go and pick up my squire now. See ya later Dianne.¡±

    Thus, with the wave of his hand, he left me behind.

    Once he was gone, I let out a sigh. I didn¡¯t even get to ask him about the Hunter Games. Maybe I should¡¯ve started with that? Well, no use dwelling on it now.

    Leaving the classroom, I made my way back to the dorms.

    But when I arrived, someone was there to meet me.

    ¡°Greetings Princess Dianne.¡±

    ¡°Richie. How are you doing?¡±

    Standing in front of my door was my father''s trusted butler. He had long brown hair, deep blue eyes, and wore a set of fancy clothes fitting of a butler. I believe he was around the age of thirty. A little younger than my father. As my father''s personal butler, he does all kinds of things. Among them, he delivers messages to me in place of my parents since the king and queen can¡¯t just be wandering around a school campus.

    ¡°I am doing fine my princess. Now if you don¡¯t mind, would you join me inside so I could discuss what I¡¯m here for?¡±

    I nodded.

    ¡°Of course.¡±

    With a calm silence, we entered my room.

    A place that was considered one of the fanciest VIP suites in the school. I had wanted a lower class room so that I could be like the other students, but my parents, as well as Richie refused to let me live anywhere less than a place befitting of royalty.

    Sitting down on a cushioned chair, I faced my father''s butler.

    ¡°Now then, what is it you need to talk to me about?¡±

    Richie bowed apologetically.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry my princess, but what you¡¯re about to hear is something that pains me greatly.¡±

    Was it really something that serious?

    ¡°At the request of your father, he has wished for you to compete in the school''s upcoming competition. I believe they call it the¡­Hunter Games.¡±

    ¡°You mean the school-wide scavenger hunt?¡±

    Richie nodded.

    ¡°Despite how disgraceful it would be for royalty to soil themselves by working with the lower classes, your father wants you to experience the different activities this school has to offer. Even if it¡¯s against your will.¡±

    ¡°I see. That makes sense to me.¡±

    Unlike me, Richie looked up to royalty and despised commoners.

    I mean, considering he grew up in a house that trained butlers to see royalty as gods, I¡¯m not surprised by his outlook. Still, it pained me to hear him talk so low of others just because of their status.

    ¡°Well tell Father he doesn¡¯t have to worry. I had already planned to compete from the beginning.¡±

    Richie looked at me in shock.

    ¡°Princess! Are you not terrified by the aspect of having to work with people lower than you!?¡±

    I shook my head.

    ¡°Of course not. Here at this school, we¡¯re all meant to be seen as equal. Even if others don¡¯t see it that way, I stand by my viewpoint.¡±

    ¡°Princess¡­¡±

    Richie clearly didn¡¯t like my resolve.

    ¡°Well if you are going to compete, at least make sure it¡¯s with someone of higher class. I¡¯m sure you know someone who''s at least close to your title.¡±

    ¡°Actually, I already know who I wanna team with.¡±

    ¡°Really? Who is it?¡±

    Figuring it wouldn¡¯t hurt to tell him, I informed Richie of my choice.

    After Dianne told Richie who she wanted to compete with, he couldn¡¯t hide his disbelief.

    Excusing himself from the room, he began making his way down the hall and out of the building.

    Approaching a giant stone near the dorms, he glared at it for a moment before-

    ¡°RAAAH!¡±

    -he smashed his fist into the stone. Shattering it to pieces.

    ¡°I knew the princess was misguided, but I never knew it was to this degree!¡±

    Having been raised to see royalty as greater than everyone else, Richie hated anyone lower than a king. Anything below that was no worse than a commoner.

    Slamming his hand into the ground, Richie continued to let out his rage.

    ¡°I worked so hard to teach her the values of royals! How could she turn out to be such an idiot!? It doesn¡¯t make any sense!¡±

    Before he knew it, he¡¯d punch the dirt hard enough that a hole several inches deep was left stuck in the ground.

    Lifting up his fist, Richie cast some water magic to clean the gloves he was wearing before looking to the sky.

    ¡°I didn¡¯t want it to come to this, but appears I have no choice.¡±

    Digging his clean hand into his pocket, Richie pulled out a red ring. Something he received from a stranger in a cloak not long ago.

    ¡°On the day of the next red moon, a curse shall be placed on the one who wears this ring. It warps the wearer''s mind to the point it can¡¯t be reversed. With this, I can finally free the princess of those stupid ideals she tries to maintain. And with the red moon occurring the day this event ends, the timing couldn¡¯t be any better.¡±

    With that, a scheme began to form in Richie¡¯s mind. All the while, something that had been watching him throughout his monologue flew off into the sky. Leaving to report to its master.

 Chapter 21: Teams and Magic Circles

    ¡°So you want me to compete with you for the scavenger hunt event?¡±

    Dianne nodded.

    I¡¯d just arrived to class a few moments ago and this was the first thing Dianne asked when she walked up to me.

    ¡°Yeah. Would you be fine with that?¡±

    ¡°Eh. Sure.¡±

    ¡°I understand if you¡¯re a bit hesitant, but it¡¯ll be fu¡­Pardon me, did you just say you¡¯d do it?¡±

    Clearly not understanding my instant agreement, I shrugged.

    ¡°I¡¯m cool with it. Not like I got much better to do.¡±

    Dianne¡¯s eyes instantly lit up.

    ¡°Really!? Fantastic!¡±

    Seeing her so happy made me feel a bit awkward. I know I¡¯d said that I would wait for her to ask me, but I never would¡¯ve thought she¡¯d be so excited just from me saying yes. Girls are mysterious creatures.

    Then again, this might just be a plan she set up to show that commoners and royalty aren¡¯t so different. Who¡¯s to say? Well as I''ve said before, it didn¡¯t really matter. I¡¯m just here to live through my day-to-day life.

    But moving past that, I signed up with Dianne during our first break period and now we were set to compete.

    Once we got back to class, Roy, who was in my class, gave me a pat on the back.

    ¡°Lucky you Axel! Looks like you¡¯ll get to spend plenty of quality time with the class idol!¡±

    Class idol? Was Dianne really that popular? Well, she was a heroine so I guess it made sense. They wouldn¡¯t exactly be targets for the MC if they didn¡¯t stand out in some way.

    Shrugging, I made my way back to my desk with Roy in tow.

    ¡°Meh. I just figured it¡¯d be fun. After all, you already know how much Dianne¡¯s been pushing to be friends with me.¡±

    ¡°Hah! I guess you¡¯re right. Still, you never know what things might lead to. You might even find a little spark igniting between you two.¡±

    I rolled my eyes.

    ¡°Please. Considering my status as a commoner, I¡¯d be lucky to win over one girl at this school.¡±

    Though, I guess I did unintentionally manipulate Xara to like me.

    But I don¡¯t like thinking of her as a girl I won over. And since neither me nor Xara ever told anyone about the confession, no one knows how crazy our relationship currently was.

    ¡°Geez. Don¡¯t think so negatively. I¡¯m sure you¡¯ll find a girl one day.¡±

    I sighed.

    ¡°I hope you¡¯re right.¡±

    With the bell about to ring, I flipped open my grimoire and looked at what lesson we¡¯d be learning today. After that, I had Nia imprint the lessons into my brain while the teacher explained it to everyone else.

    Now for those of you wondering how I get away with reading my grimoire in class, I¡¯ll explain later. But for now, I¡¯m just gonna move on with the rest of my day.

    During the next break period, I pulled out a small booklet that I¡¯d received after applying for the scavenger hunt. I know it was called the ¡°Hunter Games¡± but it was basically a scavenger hunt.

    Dianne, who was sitting next to me, went over what we needed to do while competing.

    Basically, the game starts early on this world''s version of Monday where we have to hunt down a list of given items around the school provided by the teachers.

    Since this is a school-wide event, there are hundreds of different items that can be found in all kinds of places around campus.

    Also, each day you have to hunt down different things than before.

    For example, say you found everything on the list they gave you on Monday. On Tuesday, they¡¯d give you a whole new list of items to hunt for. If you still have items from your Monday list, you¡¯d have to search for those along with the Tuesday list. It¡¯s actually not a terrible idea for a game. It¡¯ll definitely keep me on my toes.

    Some of the rules made sense. Such as no trying to obtain the lists for the coming days ahead of time, and don¡¯t search for items anywhere off school grounds. But I found myself surprised when rules like ¡°no working with other teams¡± weren¡¯t on there.

    Then again, it¡¯d be pretty beneficial for the different teams if they could work together.

    I¡¯m no game expert, but I could see different teams working together to win.

    But moving past that, this game is a lot more detailed than it was when I played the visual novel¡­I think. With how long ago it was since I was brought here, everything besides the major plot points were a bit fuzzy. So even if I do remember this event, I don¡¯t remember how everything occurred. I just knew this was an event for the MC and Dianne. However, since I¡¯m teaming with Dianne, I guess the MC will have to team with someone else which means the story is already straying from its original path.

    Then again, at this point, it doesn¡¯t really matter if the path strays cause the entire story is already on its head thanks to my interactions with Xara and the MC.

    Leaving that there, though, I went over the booklet one more time to make sure I got everything only taking a moment to glance up at the clock to see it was almost time for third period.

    Thus, I put the booklet in my bag and Dianne followed suit.

    Once we were done packing up, we made our way toward two separate buildings that acted as locker rooms. The third and final period of the day was PE. And as someone who seems to be cursed with an inability to grow stronger during physical activity, this wasn¡¯t exactly my favorite subject.

    Nothing big really happened during PE. However, after I finished and had switched out of my PE clothes, I found Vey walking over.

    ¡°Hey, Vey. Did classes end early or something?¡±

    In response to my question, Vey nodded.

    ¡°Yeah. On the last day before the weekend, squires are allowed to leave early to serve the person they¡¯re assigned to.¡±

    ¡°I see.¡±

    Interesting. Guess that means I won¡¯t be able to slip away and leave her to her own devices during the weekend.

    Come to think of it, tomorrow is this world''s version of Saturday. So much has happened this week I almost forgot about it. I wonder what I should do with all my free time.

    Walking back to my dorm with Vey in tow, I heard Nia speak into my mind.

    ¡°Master. Could I speak to you for a moment?¡±

    ¡°Hm? Sure¡±

    Moving a bit away from Vey, I quietly spoke to Nia.

    ¡°What¡¯s up?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve been thinking. What are your plans for the future?¡±

    ¡°Plans for the future? Nothing big. Probably graduate from school, maybe go to college, or if I wanted, I could just chill put on my island for the rest of my days.¡±

    ¡°Really? Is that all you wanna do?¡±

    What was with the emphasis on ¡°all?¡±

    ¡°Pretty much. Now that my original plan¡¯s been thrown out the window, I don¡¯t really have any other ideas in mind. Why do you ask?¡±

    ¡°Er¡­No reason.¡±

    Nia seemed disappointed I had nothing else to say. Well, what was she expecting? It¡¯s not like I wanna risk my life to save the world or something like that. I¡¯m perfectly fine with just getting by without any major problems.

    Arriving back at the dorms, I immediately hopped in the shower¡­well almost immediately. I had to warn Vey not to come in first.

    After that, I changed into a set of pajamas and began preparing for bed while Vey got her bath. The room had both a shower and a bath, but I was just so used to showers before being brought to this world that baths just didn¡¯t really stick with me. Though maybe I should try giving them a shot again sometime.

    Anyways, walking over to the same chair I¡¯d sat in several times before, I opened up a book and began to read.

    A few hours later, I looked over to see Vey out cold on her bed. I couldn¡¯t help but smile seeing how calm and happy she looked while sleeping. She was like an innocent child who didn¡¯t know the dangers of the world.

    Sadly, I still can¡¯t seem to remember where I¡¯d met her before.

    It might come to me eventually, but I find myself still drawing a blank.

    Once I finished the chapter in the book I was reading, I slipped in a bookmark and got up.

    Getting into bed, I closed my eyes.

    Thinking over this week''s events, I realized just how crazy things have gotten since I first came to this world six years ago. Especially since when I started, I had nothing but my expanded thinking and my knowledge of the game.

    Funny enough, I don¡¯t really use either nowadays. Well, I use them from time to time, but I find myself using them less than before.

    But anyway, as my mind continued drifting, I remembered when Dianne and I signed up for the scavenger hunt event.

    Since the event was in just a few weeks, I knew I only had so much time to prepare.

    And as much as I hate to admit it, weeks can fly by in the blink of an eye.

    With that thought in mind, I closed my eyes and let my mind slip into the world of the unconscious.

    Since I didn¡¯t have any plans for the weekend, Vey and I went out to check out the town below the school.

    I¡¯ve actually been down here a few times. I once joined Roy down here to have crepes, as well as explored it myself simply cause it interested me. But probably the most awkward experience I¡¯ve had would have to be my date with Xara. With how much of a disaster that was once it was over, I¡¯d rather not think about it again.

    Anyway, I know what I said about us just checking out the town, but I actually had some things I needed to take care of down here as well.

    Stepping into a shop, I heard a little bell ding as I entered.

    ¡°Welcome to Dave¡¯s Diner!¡±

    Vey and I were instantly met by a voice I¡¯d recently grown to know.

    ¡°Oh. It¡¯s you Mister Savoncho. What can I get ya today?¡±

    Once inside, we were approached by a young man with short blonde hair. He was a bit taller than me and seemed to be around the age of twenty. While a bit chubby, he wasn¡¯t overweight and had a face that could almost pass for a student.

    He was grinning at me with a shine in his teeth.

    This man was Dave Yurugi. In the game, he was a kind diner owner who encouraged the MC.

    Around two weeks ago, I decided to give his food a taste since I knew he was here. After I was done, I found myself coming back here once or twice a week. The food was surprisingly some of the best food I¡¯ve ever had. Which kinda surprised me since it was such a small establishment. Guess that¡¯s what happens when you¡¯re a restaurant in a dating sim.

    Sitting down at a table, I turned to Dave.

    ¡°I¡¯ll have the usual. As for her¡­does a kid''s meal work?¡±

    Vey stared at me, shocked.

    ¡°What?¡±

    ¡°Um¡­I¡¯ll have the same thing he¡¯s having.¡±

    ¡°Coming right up.¡±

    Dave walked away and we waited for our food. In order to pass the time, I decided to chat with Vey.

    ¡°Why didn¡¯t you want the kid''s meal? I¡¯m sure you would¡¯ve liked it.¡±

    ¡°Please don¡¯t patronize me Sir Savoncho. I¡¯ll have you know I¡¯m officially turning fourteen in another month.¡±

    ¡°Okay. But fourteen is pretty young. You still look like a kid to me.¡±

    Hearing that, Vey glared at me angrily.

    Not sure what else to say in this situation, I let out a sigh and rested my hand on my chin while looking up at the ceiling.

    A few minutes later, our meals arrived.

    ¡°Er¡­What¡¯s this Sir Savoncho?¡±

    Not hearing Vey¡¯s question, I licked my lips as I stared at the food in front of me.

    ¡°Alright! Time to dig in!¡±

    Picking the food up, I immediately took a bite. It tasted heavenly.

    After swallowing, I glanced at Vey.

    ¡°What?¡±

    ¡°You didn¡¯t answer when I asked this, but what is the thing in front of me?¡±

    I gave her a look of confusion.

    ¡°It¡¯s a cheeseburger. Have you never had one before?¡±

    That¡¯s right. The thing I was eating was a delicious cheeseburger.

    While there were stalls for burgers around town, none of them tasted as good as the ones at this place.

    Now, I don¡¯t know how this fantasy world was able to make things like burgers, but I figured I¡¯d just leave it up to video game logic and moved on.

    Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit.

    In response to my question, Vey shook her head.

    I put down my burger.

    ¡°These things are delicious. Plus, there doesn¡¯t need to be any table etiquette while eating them, talk about a winning formula!¡±

    ¡°Er¡­I see.¡±

    I tried to convince Vey it was tasty, but she still looked hesitant.

    Sighing, I picked my burger back up and took another bite as Dave put some cups of water on our table.

    ¡°Thanks, Dave.¡±

    He smiled and walked away.

    I grabbed the cup and chugged down some water before returning to my burger. All the while, Vey just watched me awkwardly. Causing me to let out another sigh.

    ¡°Well don¡¯t just sit there. Eat up.¡±

    ¡°Uh¡­Right.¡±

    With slight hesitation, Vey picked up the burger with her hands and took a bite.

    It looked like stars immediately formed in her eyes as she chowed down the rest of the burger almost instantly before drinking her cup of water in one gulp.

    After that, she let out a burp and relaxed for a moment. However, once she saw I was watching her, she tensed up before blushing in embarrassment.

    ¡°Um¡­My apologies Sir Savoncho. I just¡­wasn¡¯t expecting it to taste that good.¡±

    I couldn¡¯t help but let out a laugh.

    ¡°It¡¯s cool. Just glad to see you enjoyed it.¡±

    Once I finished up my own burger, I said goodbye to Dave and handed him the money for a meal before leaving with Vey close behind.

    We wandered around a bit before stepping into another shop where I picked up some new equipment for class.

    As funny as it sounds, this school does require you to bring your own pencils and paper. And since my pencils were pretty much done, I figured it was about time to buy some new ones. Strangely enough, things like pencil sharpeners and erasers exist in this world. Even before coming to this school, I never saw anyone writing with the iconic medieval ink and quill like in most fantasy stories.

    Once I was done picking up everything, Vey and I left the store. However, we immediately stopped in our tracks when we saw some people in front of us.

    Standing three was none other than Dianne and Xara.

    They stared back at us in silence as an awkward mood settled over the four of us. At least, that¡¯s how I viewed it. But not really caring about that, I turned to Xara.

    ¡°Hey, Xara. I gotta say, I never expected to see you out here with Dianne.¡±

    Hearing that, Xara spoke up quietly.

    ¡°Er¡­Yeah. Since we were first introduced to each other a while back, we¡¯ve stayed in contact with one another.¡±

    ¡°Really? When did you two meet?¡±

    Dianne gave me a confused look.

    ¡°Do you not remember? You introduced us to each other back when our classes had to merge for a period.¡±

    ¡°I did?¡±

    Thinking back on it, I vaguely remember doing that. But I tend to forget about things I deem unimportant. Maybe I should work on that.

    While I thought about that, Dianne turned to Vey who was watching us nervously.

    ¡°Hm? Pardon my asking, but is that your squire Axel?¡±

    Snapping out of my thoughts, I nodded.

    ¡°Yeah. I guess you haven¡¯t met her yet.¡±

    Moving Dianne and Vey in front of each other, I introduced them.

    ¡°Vey, this is my classmate Dianne Riosha. She¡¯s actually quite a nice person so you don¡¯t have to be nervous around her.¡±

    Dianne gave me a pouting look.

    ¡°I¡¯m not just your classmate. I¡¯m your friend. Don¡¯t act like I¡¯m just some stranger you¡¯re acquainted with.¡±

    ¡°Er¡­Yeah. You¡¯re right.¡±

    I forgot how serious she was about this whole friend thing.

    ¡°Well moving past that, this is Vey. As you guessed, she¡¯s the squire assigned to me.¡±

    Vey quickly bowed to Dianne.

    ¡°Um¡­My name¡¯s Vey Riyon! It¡¯s a pleasure to make your acquaintance!¡±

    Dianne seemed taken aback for a moment by how loudly Vey introduced herself before chuckling lightly.

    ¡°The pleasures all mine Miss Riyon.¡±

    The two then proceeded to talk with one another while I moved off to the side and stood next to Xara.

    ¡°Uh¡­Soooo¡­How¡¯ve you been?¡±

    Not exactly sure how to speak with her, I just looked at the sky while using the best conversation starter I could think of.

    ¡°I¡¯ve been doing fine.¡±

    ¡°Really? Well, that¡¯s good to hear.¡±

    Having that conversation end so quickly, we found ourselves entering an uncomfortable silence.

    ¡°Geez. Would you two just talk already!? Seeing you two fumble is so boring!¡±

    Hearing Nia¡¯s voice in my ear, I really wanted to give her a chop to the head for saying that. I¡¯ll save it as a mental note for later.

    ¡°Y¡¯know, it¡¯s actually kind of funny.¡±

    ¡°Hm?¡±

    Hearing that, I turned to Xara with a look of confusion.

    ¡°It¡¯s just¡­I feel like we keep ending up in scenarios like this. Where despite not intending to, we keep meeting up with one another. It¡¯s like something keeps drawing us towards the other.¡±

    Knowing this was a world based off a game, I figured it was probably due to the luck of the game. Meaning that since she interacted with me so much, we somehow constantly ended up hanging around one another. Stuff like this happened all the time to the MC when I was playing through the game after all. But I''d rather not think of it like that.

    ¡°That is strange. Guess it''s best to just blame it on coincidence.¡±

    ¡°I guess.¡±

    The two of us went back to standing there awkwardly before Dianne turned to us.

    ¡°Say, since we¡¯re already together, why don¡¯t you and Miss Riyon tag along?¡±

    Xara glanced over at me with an uncertain look in her eye.

    She seemed unsure about the whole idea, but I figured it couldn¡¯t hurt, so I nodded my head.

    ¡°If you don''t mind. Sure.¡±

    Xara went wide-eyed at my response. Ignoring her surprise, I turned to Vey.

    ¡°That good with you?¡±

    Vey nodded.

    ¡°I¡¯ll follow you wherever you go Sir Savoncho.¡±

    Having her confirmation, we officially joined up as a group.

    While we were walking through town, Xara gave me an uncomfortable glare. Almost as if saying ¡°Why did you say yes!?¡±

    Personally, I didn¡¯t think it was that big of a deal. Especially since I knew that me and her needed to break the ice eventually. Besides, I was pretty much done with what I needed to do today so I had plenty of free time.

    Weirdly enough, Dianne seemed to be getting along with Vey quite well. The two were chatting ahead of us and didn¡¯t even take notice of the holes Xara was drilling into my head with her eyes.

    ¡°Would you stop staring at me like that? It¡¯s getting kind of annoying.¡±

    Hearing that, Xara quickly averted her eyes toward the ground.

    ¡°Why¡¯d you have to say that in such a mean way?¡±

    ¡°Because you wouldn¡¯t have done so otherwise. Even if we¡¯ve only known each other for a couple of months, I know how stubborn of a person you can be.¡±

    After hearing that, I saw Xara blush in embarrassment.

    We continued walking in silence until Dianne and Vey stopped in front of us.

    ¡°We¡¯re here,¡± Dianne said as she turned around and looked at us with a smile.

    Looking in front of us, I saw that we appeared to be standing in front of some sort of museum. It looked familiar for some reason.

    ¡°Say, isn¡¯t that the place you and me went during that da-?¡±

    ¡°Well if we¡¯re here, we might as well go inside!¡±

    Not letting me finish my question, Xara dashed past me.

    I¡¯d finally remembered why this place looked familiar. This was the museum, Xara and I went to during our date in town.

    She probably realized that too, which was why she wanted to move things along.

    If that was the case, I guess I should respect her choice.

    So, without much thought, the rest of us followed Xara inside.

    ¡°So why did you guys decide to go to the museum?¡± I asked Dianne.

    ¡°Well you see, I wanted to check something out. It actually has something to do with that book you¡¯re always reading.¡±

    ¡°Really?¡±

    I pulled out my grimoire.

    ¡°You¡¯re referring to this, right?¡±

    Dianne nodded.

    ¡°Whenever I look at it, the design reminds me of first magic. So I decided to look at some old pictures of circles used for first magic.

    ¡°First magic?¡±

    What was that? I¡¯d never heard of it before.

    Instead of responding to my look of confusion, Dianne guided me and the others towards a section of the museum labeled as ¡°The World of Magic''s Beginning¡± and dragged me over to a set of photos with strange patterns on them.

    ¡°Back when magic was first being developed, there were certain spells that even the first wizard struggled to fully control. Since these spells were so powerful, they were restricted from ever being taught to future generations. Instead, every generation after the first was taught a lesser version of the same spells. Ones with way less power to them.¡±

    ¡°Interesting.¡±

    ¡°Thanks to this, the spells of the past are labeled as ¡®first magic¡¯ and are only taught to those with enough magic power to wield them. In short, less than zero point five percent of the world''s population.¡±

    ¡°I see. But what do those spells have to do with my grimoire?¡±

    Dianne pointed to one of the pictures. There wasn¡¯t any color, but the pattern was clear as day.

    ¡°When I looked at your book, I noticed the patterns seemed kind of familiar. And this is why. It has patterns that are almost completely identical to this magic circle pattern.¡±

    I glanced at the photo and then at my grimoire. Repeating this action a few more times, I realized she was right.

    ¡°So what? Do you think they¡¯re connected in some way or something? Maybe the author just liked this pattern and copied it for their book.¡±

    Dianne shook her head.

    ¡°Not possible. These designs are so intricate, that the only way someone could possibly copy them is by making sure to put in every little detail. It¡¯s why museums aren''t blocked from showing these circles. Even if someone tried to replicate them and use first magic, it¡¯d be impossible without spending several months just trying to match it detail to detail. And even if they did, the spell would just blow up on them since these spells require an enormous amount of magic power.¡±

    ¡°Is that so?¡±

    I looked down at my grimoire before returning my attention to the picture.

    ¡°So what spell is that anyway?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s the spell of growth. Kind of like an evolutionary spell that can affect things such as plant life. Apparently, the spell had so much power, it could literally grow entire forests in a matter of seconds.¡±

    ¡°Holy crap.¡±

    That sounded insane. Did the game always have spells this crazy? I honestly don¡¯t remember.

    Finding this to be a rather interesting topic, I continued talking with Dianne about various other spells created using first magic.

    While Axel and Dianne were talking, Xara and Vey watched from nearby.

    Xara glared at the two of them.

    ¡°Those two get along too well.¡±

    ¡°Er¡­Yes. I suppose they do.¡±

    Not sure how to talk with Xara, Vey stood there awkwardly. She figured there would be a few people in Sir Savoncho¡¯s life, but so far she¡¯d only seen him meet with women. She almost began to question if he was a womanizer or something.

    As the two continued standing there and watching, Vey decided to start a conversation.

    ¡°I¡¯m curious Miss¡­um¡­¡±

    ¡°Oh. I guess we didn¡¯t introduce ourselves to each other. My name¡¯s Xara Femashito.¡±

    ¡°I see. Well Miss Femashito, I was somewhat curious about your relationship with Sir Savoncho. During my conversation with Miss Riosha, you two seemed to be rather uncomfortable around each other.¡±

    When asked about her and Axel¡¯s relationship, Xara couldn¡¯t help but scratch the back of her head.

    ¡°Er¡­Well, it¡¯s¡­a bit complicated.¡±

    Xara turned away awkwardly.

    ¡°Are you perhaps his ex-girlfriend?¡±

    ¡°I wish I¡¯d gotten far enough to at least be close to that...¡±

    ¡°Hm?¡±

    Giving her a look of confusion, Vey could swear she heard Xara mutter ¡°...then that¡¯d mean I¡¯d have at least been his girlfriend at one point.¡±

    ¡°Miss Femashito?¡±

    ¡°Hm? Oh! It¡¯s nothing!¡±

    Xara took a few awkward steps back.

    Clearing her throat, Xara took a moment to think.

    ¡°Well moving past that, how come you decided to choose Axel as the one you wanted to serve during your days as a squire? I¡¯m sure there were plenty of better options.¡±

    Vey shook her head.

    ¡°I wanted it to be him. After all, I owe him my life.¡±

    ¡°Owe him your life?¡±

    Vey nodded before beginning to talk about what happened to her when she was young.

    ¡°I see. That makes sense. So that¡¯s why you wanted to be Axel¡¯s squire.¡±

    Vey turned to look at Axel who was still talking with Dianne.

    ¡°I know it may sound weird. Especially since he doesn¡¯t even seem to remember saving me, but ever since then, I¡¯ve wanted to return the favor in some way. And since this opportunity was given to me, I figured it¡¯d be best to grab hold of it while I could. Before it slipped away.¡±

    ¡°Wow. That¡¯s quite a mature way to look at it.¡±

    Xara was amazed at Vey¡¯s determination when it came to repaying what she owed.

    ¡°Plus¡­¡±

    ¡°Hm?¡±

    Despite talking with Xara normally this whole time, the next words that left Vey¡¯s mouth made her sound like she was off in her own small little world.

    ¡°...If I could make him rely on me for everything for the rest of his life, I couldn¡¯t be happier.¡±

    ¡°Huh!?¡±

    Xara took a step back when she heard those words as goosebumps started forming on her skin.

    Moments later, however, Vey went back to normal.

    ¡°But let¡¯s save those thoughts for the future. For now, I¡¯ll just enjoy what I have.¡±

    ¡°I-I see¡­¡±

    Still not sure what that was, Xara continued chatting with Vey for a few more minutes before Axel called out to them and the group left the museum.

    ¡°Say, are you competing in the Hunter Games Miss Femashito?¡± Vey asked curiously.

    ¡°Hm? Yes. I am. I agreed to do it with one of my friends.¡±

    ¡°Really? Who?¡± I asked.

    ¡°I¡¯ll be teaming with Riko.¡±

    ¡°That so? Does that mean you''re finally up to talking with him again?¡±

    Xara hesitantly shook her head.

    ¡°I¡¯m not entirely ready to deal with him, but I figured since it¡¯s been almost a month since we last spoke properly, this would be a good chance for the two of us to be friends again.¡±

    Hearing that, I thought back to the school trip that happened a little over a month ago.

    During the trip, Xara was dealing with a curse that messed with her emotions. Since she was using Riko as a crutch, she wasn¡¯t able to think straight when she saw him hanging out so happily with another girl and she turned into a monster ready to kill. Thankfully, I was able to stop her before that happened.

    However, the whole thing created a gap between her and Riko. And if what she just said was true, then they still hadn¡¯t patched things up.

    ¡°What about you Dianne? Will you be participating?¡± Xara asks.

    ¡°Yes. Actually, I¡¯ve already signed up with my partner.¡±

    ¡°Really? Who is it?¡±

    Dianne pointed over to me.

    ¡°It¡¯s Savoncho.¡±

    ¡°...Huh?¡±

    Xara immediately froze on the spot.

    I rubbed my eyes. Crap. This was gonna be awkward.

    ¡°Axel¡­you never said you¡¯d be competing. Tell me, what did you do to make this woman team with you?¡±

    As Xara asked this, there was a dark aura emanating from her body.

    ¡°Great. She¡¯s acting like a jealous anime girl. I never would¡¯ve imagined finding myself in one of these situations.¡± I muttered. More frustrated than scared of the situation.

    ¡°Actually, I was the one who asked him to join me,¡± Dianne clarified.

    Maybe it was my imagination since I watched too many harem anime, but I swore I could see flames behind Xara¡¯s back when she heard that. She had quite an intimidating aura about her.

    ¡°Really? Is that it? Does that mean you¡¯ll accept requests from any pretty girl who asks? What do you have to say for yourself Ax-Ow!¡±

    I gave Xara a chop to the head.

    She took a few steps back with tears in her eyes.

    ¡°What¡¯d you do that for!?¡±

    I let out a sigh.

    ¡°Just stop it Xara. Acting jealous of someone is only going to hurt you in the long wrong.¡±

    ¡°That doesn¡¯t explain why you hit me!¡±

    ¡°Sometimes it¡¯s best to take in someone''s words and process them in a more positive way. Otherwise, you¡¯ll just get yourself hurt.¡±

    ¡°I understand that. But why¡¯d you hit!?¡±

    ¡°So instead, try to process what you heard and-¡±

    ¡°Why did you hit m-!?¡±

    ¡°Because you were being stupid you idiot!¡±

    I massaged my temples.

    ¡°You''re acting like her being my partner for the hunt means something more than it is. We¡¯re just teaming up. Simple as that. Nothing more and nothing less. Right, Dianne?¡±

    ¡°Um¡­Yes. That¡¯s correct.¡±

    ¡°See? So before you go all gorilla mode, try to understand those around you and think before jumping to conclusions.¡±

    With that, I figured it was about time to go.

    ¡°Thanks for inviting me and Vey to join you guys Dianne. Anyway, I¡¯ve gotta get back now so see you guys later.¡±

    ¡°Uh¡­Thank you for having us! Goodbye!¡±

    With a bow, Vey followed behind me and we left the other two behind. Dianne waved us goodbye with a smile, while Xara was staring at the ground muttering something to herself about her head hurting.

    We arrived back at the dorms right before it got dark.

    Once I was done getting a shower, I tucked myself into bed and closed my eyes. As weird as today¡¯s events were, they were the least of my focus. And that was because all my thoughts were being directed toward the upcoming scavenger hunt. After all, as far as it seemed, it would be here before I knew it.

 Chapter 22: The Hunter Games Begin

    As I thought, the weeks flew by in the blink of an eye and tomorrow marked the beginning the Hunter Games.

    Wanting to prepare beforehand, I was currently sitting in my room discussing things with Dianne. However...

    ¡°Sooo¡­Who¡¯s this guy?¡±

    Standing behind Dianne was some guy dressed in a butler outfit.

    ¡°This is my father''s personal butler. You may call him Richie. He¡¯s just here to watch so pay him no mind.¡±

    ¡°Riiiight.¡±

    For someone who''s just meant to be a butler, he sure likes glaring at me like a dog ready to pounce. Who put a booger in his drink?

    Not sure how else to approach this I awkwardly waved at the butler.

    ¡°Uh¡­Hey there Richie.¡±

    ¡°Do not address me so casually you filthy commoner. You should consider yourself lucky I don¡¯t kill you here and now.¡±

    But I was just calling you what Dianne told me to!

    That¡¯s it. I officially hate this guy.

    ¡°Stand down Richie! Otherwise, I¡¯ll have you removed from this room immediately!¡±

    ¡°Erk! U-Understood my lady.¡±

    Richie bowed to Dianne in apology before returning to simply glaring at me. How about you apologize to me instead you jerk!?

    Taking in a deep breath, I began talking.

    ¡°So Dianne...¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t just casually say her first name you filth!¡±

    I¡¯m literally this close to sending this guy flying!

    Trying to contain my anger, I took in another deep breath.

    ¡°Richie! Don¡¯t be so rude to my friend!¡± Dianne shouted.

    As soon as he heard Dianne call me a friend, I saw Richie¡¯s eyes flinch in frustration. Since no one said stuff like this to my face in a while, I almost forgot how annoying people like him could be.

    ¡°My apologies my lady. I just¡­I just don¡¯t feel safe seeing you speak with a commoner as if you¡¯re on the same level of status. It¡¯s just so¡­beneath you.¡±

    Dianne let out a sigh.

    ¡°You don¡¯t have to be so annoyed. I¡¯ve known Axel for quite a while now. With how long it¡¯s been, it makes sense we can call each other by our first names. Also, beneath me? Have I not stated that I¡¯ve been aiming to close the gap between royalty and commoners.¡±

    ¡°Well¡­that is true. But-¡±

    It was clear Richie wasn¡¯t interested in backing down in the current situation.

    Perhaps sensing this, Dianne spoke to him with a raised voice.

    ¡°Richie.¡±

    ¡°Er¡­Yes, my lady?¡±

    ¡°Please leave the room.¡±

    ¡°Wah!?¡±

    Richie went wide-eyed in shock.

    ¡°But my lady, if ¡®m not here, you¡¯re in danger of being attacked by this commoner!¡±

    Hmm¡­I wonder which side of his face is the most punchable. Aw who am kidding, it¡¯s all pretty punchable.

    ¡°Leave Richie! Now!¡±

    Dianne seemed a bit agitated. Guess this guy¡¯s really getting on her nerves.

    With a sad sigh, Richie began making his way out of the room.

    Before doing so, however, he glared at me one last time and muttered something under his breath ¡°Soon. Soon this will all be over.¡±

    After saying that, Richie left the room. Closing the door behind him.

    Rubbing her eyes, Dianne bowed in apology.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry about him. He was taught to look down on commoners from a young age so please don¡¯t mind his behavior.¡±

    I shrugged.

    ¡°It¡¯s cool. I¡¯m used to it at this point.¡±

    Hearing that, Dianne gave me a strained smile.

    Honestly, I still wanted to punch that guy so far that he went flying all the way to the moon. But he¡¯s not important right now.

    However, if he does try anything in the future, I¡¯m not against doing what I have to in order to shut him up. But it¡¯s best just to move past that for the time being.

    ¡°So anyway, what¡¯s the game plan? With the school only handing the students the lists at the start of the week, we can only plan so far ahead.¡±

    Dianne thought to herself for a moment.

    ¡°Well, I¡¯d like to know what items we¡¯ll be searching for beforehand if possible. However, the school apparently switches them up every year. That means getting a list from someone who has competed before would be meaningless.¡±

    ¡°Have people tried doing that before?¡±

    ¡°Yes. That¡¯s why the constant switching of items was created.¡±

    ¡°I see.¡±

    We continued brainstorming for almost two hours. But no matter what we came up with, there was always some flaw that would more than likely cause whatever we were planning to fail.

    In the end, we couldn¡¯t come up with anything. And as night came, Dianne waved me goodbye and closed the door as she left my room.

    A few minutes later, Vey showed up. Where had she been, you ask? She was out doing some special squire thing where she gave a report on how things have been working under me.

    I don¡¯t know too many of the details, but my best assumption was that it was a progress report of some kind.

    When Vey arrived she immediately went to bed, After she did so, Nia appeared next to me.

    ¡°Looks like things are gonna be tough for you two starting tomorrow.¡±

    I shrugged.

    ¡°Meh. I¡¯m sure we¡¯ll manage. Considering my history as an adventurer was filled with finding things, this should be a piece of cake.¡±

    ¡°If you say so.¡±

    Lying down in bed, I thought about tomorrow. Since we couldn¡¯t come up with anything, we agreed that the best possible solution was to get an early start by arriving at school exactly when the hunt officially began.

    Even if other teams are thinking the same thing, it shouldn¡¯t be a problem. After all, tomorrow is this world''s version of Sunday so only participants should be there.

    Nonetheless, I¡¯m positive that even if we don¡¯t win, we can still place pretty high. While vague, if some of the items on the list are things I had to hunt when I played the original game, I should be able to track them down with relative ease. The only issue is if I can remember what they are. If not, this¡¯ll be a lot tougher.

    ¡°Even if you''re confident, are you sure you can do this?¡±

    Nia seemed oddly skeptical.

    ¡°Of course I can! Do you honestly think I can¡¯t?¡±

    ¡°Well¡­¡±

    ¡°...Do I need to hit you in the head again?¡±

    ¡°You¡¯ll win! You¡¯ll win for sure!¡±

    Rolling my eyes at her obvious shift in attitude, I looked up to the ceiling.

    It all starts tomorrow. I don¡¯t know how it¡¯ll go, but if there¡¯s one thing I¡¯m certain of, I¡¯m gonna give it all I¡¯ve got. Even if it comes to violence¡­maybe. I¡¯m not against hurting people, but considering inflicting pain on other teams is against the rules, I don¡¯t think I could get away with it.

    But anyway, tomorrow was the day. With that thought, I closed my eyes and let sleep overtake me.

    As the moon still shined in sky, I stretched out my arms. It was around six in the morning right now. The hunt officially started in thirty minutes.

    While Vey continued to sleep, I grabbed my grimoire and slipped on my school uniform.

    After that, I snuck out of the room and began making my way towards the school.

    When I arrived, there were already a ton of students waiting there.

    Taking a look around, I spotted Dianne standing around and talking to some of the other participants.

    However, the minute I walked over, everyone immediately departed. All the while giving me disgusted looks. Geez. Tell me you really feel.

    Dianne gave me a smile when I reached her.

    ¡°Looks like a lot of people were thinking the same thing as us,¡± I stated.

    Dianne nodded.

    ¡°Yes. It appears so.¡±

    I glanced at the crowd of students to see if I recognized any of them. That was when I heard a voice call out to me.

    ¡°Hey, Axel!¡±

    I turned to find us being approached by Roy and¡­Ella?

    ¡°Roy. You¡¯re here for an early start too?¡±

    Roy grinned.

    ¡°Yep. Sure am.¡±

    I glanced at Ella who looked away awkwardly. I had almost forgotten that she was in my class. But I¡¯m surprised to see her here. Though I don¡¯t really think I can just ask her about it since the two of us weren¡¯t on the best of terms.

    I can¡¯t say I hated her, but we weren¡¯t best friends either.

    Like Roy and Flynn, I met her during the school trip and she was with us during the whole thing with Xara. But despite going through the same experience together, she still kept a fair bit of distance from me. Probably still not wanting to accept the fact that a commoner was permitted to attend this school.

    ¡°Uh¡­Hey there Ella. How ya doing?¡± I asked awkwardly.

    ¡°Fine. I suppose. And you seem to be full of energy as well. I always figured commoners slept in as long as they could and would slog out of bed when forced to get up early.¡±

    ¡°Is that so? Well sorry to disappoint.¡±

    Even if we don¡¯t hate each other, I can¡¯t say her words don¡¯t irritate me.

    Noticing the awkward looks the two of us were giving each other, Roy cut in.

    ¡°Say, what do you guys think we¡¯ll be hunting for during this competition?¡±

    I thought for a moment.

    ¡°Perhaps certain school items you can only find in specific places?¡± Dianne guessed.

    ¡°That¡¯s possible, but since so many students are competing, I highly doubt they¡¯ll go for anything super specific.¡±

    After I said that, Dianne went back to thinking.

    However, even after almost another ten minutes of brainstorming, we couldn¡¯t come up with anything specific. By the time we started tossing around wild guesses, an announcer began speaking out to the crowd of students.

    ¡°Attention! As of now, the Hunter Games have officially begun! If you wish to obtain today¡¯s list, please meet with the teacher of your designated class!¡±

    With those words, students began swarming into the building.

    ¡°Our teachers? Is that why we¡¯re only able to team up with our classmates?¡± Roy asked.

    I nodded.

    ¡°More than likely. Well, time to get moving. Let¡¯s go, Dianne.¡±

    ¡°Uh¡­Right!¡±

    Hearing my words, Dianne followed behind me and we entered the school building.

    As of now, the Hunter Games had officially begun.

    Dianne and I got the list from the teacher almost immediately after we entered.

    Dianne took a look at the list with a confused expression on her face before handing it to me. Trying not to waste time, I quickly read through the list.

    Most of it wasn¡¯t impossible, but it wouldn¡¯t be a cakewalk either.

    This is what is asked for:

    1: An Eight Legged Rabbit Foot

    2: A Trimphant

    3: A Lunch Tray

    4: And finally, A See Stone

    The rabbit foot and lunch tray would be easy. However, there were only a limited amount of trumphants at the school. Trimphants were basically this world''s equivalent to a trumpet. The music room only had about a hundred of them so the odds of grabbing one before the other two to three hundred students was slim unless you get there as soon as possible. As for the see stone, it was a special rock that worked kind of like a security camera. But as the studies about them were still underway, they have yet to be used by the public. Especially since you can¡¯t replay what you¡¯ve seen on a see stone more than once.

    And since see stones can only be found in the dungeon and are usually buried pretty deep in the ground. It¡¯s a pretty rough item to search for on the first day.

    Not wanting to waste any time, I grab hold of Dianne¡¯s hand.

    ¡°Let¡¯s get moving!¡±

    Not giving her a chance to answer, I dashed out the door right as Roy and Ella had arrived to pick up their own list.

    Noticing Dianne falling behind me, I picked her up into a princess carry. Leaving her a bit flustered.

    Picking up on her reaction, I spoke while continuing to move.

    ¡°I know this probably isn¡¯t comfortable, but you can berate me about that later! We need to hurry before all the trimphants are taken!¡±

    If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.

    Several other students who probably had this on their item on their list realized they needed to grab one as soon as possible so I was sure we¡¯d need to get there sooner rather than later.

    While I sprinted down the hall, Dianne clung to me. She seemed to focus her mind on the competition since she didn''t comment on this awkward position and instead thought about what we should do next after picking up the trimphant.

    A few minutes later, we arrived.

    Just as I suspected, several students were already grabbing a trimphant and making their way back to their classrooms.

    For a quick explanation, to prove you¡¯ve obtained the items on your list, you need to bring them back to your classroom where they¡¯ll remain for the rest of the day before being returned to their original location the next day in order for other teams to catch up. As you might guess, turning in stuff on your list late equals less points. That¡¯s why I can¡¯t be bothered to grab one tomorrow instead.

    Pushing open the doors, I saw almost all the trimphants were already gone. In fact, there was only one left. Not only that, but another team was already beelining for it.

    ¡°Dianne! Cover me!¡± I shouted. Putting her down.

    Pushing wind magic into my feet, I ran as fast as I could. Dianne''s voice echoed behind me. She seemed to be casting a spell.

    The other team took notice of me and one of the two tried getting in my way.

    ¡°Flames of the high heaven, wax this one in their tracks. Wax Stop!¡±

    In front of me, a cluster of melted wax appeared and was prepared to snag my feet. However, I was ready for issues like this and prepared the spell I¡¯ve come to rely on.

    ¡°You¡¯re not gonna get in my way!¡±

    Pushing the wind into my feet, I lept high in the air. Glancing below, I saw the enemy team about to grab the trimphant. Preparing to cast my spell, I reach out my hand. However-

    ¡°Slow Movement!¡±

    -Dianne had already finished casting her spell. As she did so, the one reaching for the trimphant began to slow down. They were almost moving in slow motion. Using this as my chance, I fell to the ground and snatched the trimphant and was about to turn back when the person who was trying to stop me before tried to jump on me. In the rules, it was stated that as long as you don¡¯t hurt a fellow competitor, you¡¯re able to take their item from them. Using this to their advantage, the guy was clearly trying to take this thing from me before I had the chance to escape. However, I wasn¡¯t about to let that happen.

    ¡°Too slow!¡±

    Not giving them a chance to react, I ducked out of the way with the trimphant in hand and sprinted towards Dianne.

    ¡°Let¡¯s get moving!¡±

    ¡°Right!¡±

    Picking her up once more, Dianne and I were out of the room just as the slow spell she had cast wore off.

    Knowing they¡¯d be unable to catch up at this point, our opponents slumped to the ground. Frustrated at how badly things were already going.

    Dianne and I let out sighs of relief as we brought our trimphant to the classroom.

    ¡°There. That¡¯s the most difficult item out of the way. Now then, we should get back out there before we fall behind.¡±

    Dianne agreed to my statement with a nod.

    I pulled out the list and crossed the trimphant off the list before stuffing the list into my pocket.

    After that, we made our way to the cafeteria. There, probably close to around a hundred people were begging for a lunch tray.

    There were so many in fact, that even the lunch lady who was running the cafeteria seemed a bit overwhelmed.

    ¡°I thought the school split our items apart. Why does it seem like so many students have the same thing?¡± I wondered.

    ¡°Maybe to influence people to compete more seriously?¡± Dianne suggested.

    ¡°If that¡¯s the case, this is a pretty poor way to do it. How many Hunter Games have there been?¡±

    ¡°Um¡­thirty five I believe.¡±

    ¡°So this is the thirty sixth time they¡¯ve done this and they still haven¡¯t found a way to get people excited about competing without forcing them to walk over each other. Wow.¡±

    Deciding to come back for a tray later, Dianne followed behind me as I made my way out to the school¡¯s main garden.

    ¡°Um¡­Why are we here Axel?¡±

    I answered while looking around.

    ¡°According to the list, we need a eight legged rabbits foot. To get one, we need to trade it in for a specific item.¡±

    ¡°Really?¡±

    ¡°Yeah.¡±

    Out of all the items on that list, it was the only one I recognized. Normally, obtaining one would be as simple as going to one of the teachers who had one since they normally act as a good luck charm for teaching. However, I¡¯m already aware that our teacher keeps his at home. Thus, it¡¯d be pointless to ask.

    That¡¯s why I wanted to trade for one the same way you can in the game. But in order to do that, I first needed to find an item hidden in this garden.

    ¡°Come on. Where is it?¡± I found myself muttering.

    I kept searching for a few more minutes. That is, until I saw something out of the corner of my eye.

    Walking over, I picked up the item in my hand.

    ¡°Jackpot!¡±

    Dianne walked over to see what I was so excited about.

    ¡°Um¡­What is that?¡±

    In my hands was exactly what I¡¯d been searching for. I couldn¡¯t help but grin as I looked at it.

    ¡°Exactly what I needed. A pack of chewing gum!¡±

    ¡°...Huh?¡±

    That¡¯s right. Someone accidentally left it here at some point in the game. And the MC finds it later and takes it with him for seemingly no reason. Only for it to help him out later on.

    It wasn¡¯t the best setup for a plot development, but it¡¯d help us here.

    Turning to look her direction, Dianne seemed lost on why I looked so thrilled with finding this thing.

    Makes sense. She hasn¡¯t had to play through this world at least six times and had to go through this event every time.

    But moving past that, as weird as it sounds, the person we have to trade with really wants chewing gum. So this would help us out.

    Slipping the gum into my bag, I gestured for Dianne to follow me.

    ¡°Let¡¯s get moving!¡±

    ¡°Wait! You still haven¡¯t told me why you grabbed that thing!¡±

    Knowing it¡¯d just waste of time to explain, I kept moving with Dianne following close behind.

    Ten minutes later, I arrived at my destination. Dianne was a little behind me. Somewhat out of breath from trying to chase after me.

    Pulling the gum out of my bag, I walked into a dark alleyway near the dungeon behind the school. It looked almost exactly the same as the spot where I trapped a bunch of guys who wanted to beat me to a pulp a little while back.

    Dianne nervously followed behind me as we continued making our way to the end of the alleyway before being approached by some strange person wearing a cloak. Despite that disguise, I already knew the one behind the cloak was Ethan Furgirio. The president of the school¡¯s magic assistance club. A club that specialized in helping out people around school using magic they were taught growing up. As most royalty were selfish dimwits, the club was quite small. Despite that, Ethan was one who took pride in his deeds.

    ¡°Greetings. I am the vendor of unknown goods. You got a trade? Or perhaps you¡¯re here to purchase something?¡±

    I held out the bag of gum.

    ¡°I¡¯m curious if you¡¯d be willing to let me borrow an eight-legged rabbit foot in exchange for this. Would that be doable?¡±

    Ethan¡¯s eyes went wide as he stared at the bag. A few moments later, he cleared his throat.

    ¡°That could be arranged. One moment.¡±

    Ethan stepped into the shadows for a bit before coming back with the exact thing we were looking for.

    Watching each other carefully to make sure neither of us got one up on the other, I slowly handed Ethan the bag of gum as he did the same with the rabbit foot.

    Once we were certain the other had the item they desired, I thanked him and I left the ally with Dianne following close behind. Seeing the look of confusion on her face nearly made me laugh.

    ¡°Um¡­What just happened?¡±

    ¡°You don¡¯t have to worry about it.¡±

    ¡°Really?¡±

    ¡°Yeah. It¡¯s just one of the many things you can only find at the school if look around hard enough.¡±

    ¡°I see.¡±

    ¡°Anyway, we should get back with this thing. You never know when another team might pop out to steal i-¡±

    Right as I was about to finish my sentence, I noticed someone trying to hit me with some kind of slow motion attack from under my feet.

    ¡°Nia!¡±

    ¡°On it!¡±

    I instantly shot in the air right before the spell hit me.

    ¡°I knew it.¡±

    Sighing, I saw a team below that popped out and tried to charge at me and Dianne only to find I¡¯d completely disappeared.

    Not giving them a chance to react, I opened up my grimoire and pointed my hand at them.

    As I did so, a gust of wind I created sent them flying back. They lost their balance and fell with a loud thud.

    Landing on the ground, I grabbed hold of Dianne and made a dash to get out of there.

    Blowing some wind magic on my face to cool me down, I let out a tired groan.

    ¡°Why do these guys have to be so competitive?¡± I said as I slowly regained my energy.

    Dianne giggled.

    ¡°That¡¯s somewhat funny coming from you.¡±

    ¡°Is it now?¡±

    I rubbed my eyes. This was getting harder by the second. Especially for someone of my body type. As I¡¯ve mentioned before, I¡¯m not exactly physically strong. My body doesn''t grow muscles either so I can¡¯t really work on building a workout plan.

    Sadly, my mental strain was only going to get worse thanks to the next task at hand.

    Since we finished dropping off the rabbit leg, we were now stuck in line waiting for a lunch tray. The line had gone down a little, but there were still a lot of people waiting. In fact, I think I saw a few people who were still here from before. Despite the struggle, however, we needed to push through. And after another agonizing four hours of waiting, we finally got our hands on a lunch tray.

    After taking care of that, we figured it was time for lunch.

    Thankfully, while I was grabbing the tray, Dianne got me and her some lunch. I¡¯m glad she did because it completely slipped my mind.

    Eating our food, we decided to chat for a bit since we still had some time before we had to go look for our last item.

    ¡°I must say, Axel, you¡¯re incredible when it comes to these games.¡±

    ¡°Really? How so?¡±

    ¡°Well when you checked our list, you immediately knew what our top priority had to be, as well as how to obtain it. Then there was the thing with the rabbit foot that I was certain we wouldn¡¯t be able to obtain unless there was a teacher willing to lend us one. In truth, I¡¯m grateful to have invited you to be my partner for this competition.¡±

    ¡°Heh. Thanks. That means a lot.¡±

    It¡¯s strange, the way she complimented me felt oddly good. Was I actually starting to warm up to this girl?

    Then again, she could still be trying to pull something. So for now, I should try my best to ignore these nice feelings.

    We continued chatting for a few more minutes before finishing our meals and setting out for the dungeon. Thankfully, Dianne already knew what a see stone looked like since we went over it during class which meant I didn¡¯t need to explain anything to her.

    Once we arrived at the front of the dungeon, I took in a deep breath to collect myself and then the two of us walked in. The search had officially begun.

    Grabbing some pickaxes the school offered for the hunt, Dianne and I got to work searching for a see stone.

    ¡°Huff¡­I can¡¯t believe¡­huff¡­some commoners do stuff like this every day.¡±

    Somehow exhausted after only ten swings, Dianne weakly smashed her pickax into the rocks on the dungeon walls.

    ¡°Yeah well get a grip. Because with the way things are going, we¡¯re gonna be here for a while.¡±

    Saying that, I swung my pickax with ease as I dug into the rocks in front of me.

    About ten minutes later, Dianne took a break and left me to continue searching.

    Digging for another forty minutes, I felt my body getting a little cramped so I stretched out my arms.

    ¡°Say, can I ask you something, Axel?¡±

    ¡°Hm?¡±

    Turning to find Dianne picking her pickax back up, she walked up next to me and began hitting the spot I had been chopping away at moments ago.

    ¡°I¡¯ve noticed this for a while now, but how come you can cast spells without chanting?¡±

    So someone is finally asking about that huh?

    I shrugged.

    ¡°Would you believe me if I said I just learned it out of nowhere?¡±

    ¡°That¡­doesn¡¯t sound feasible.¡±

    Well, it wasn¡¯t entirely a lie. Once you obtain a grimoire, it kinda just happens. Even I don¡¯t know when or how I learned to do it.

    ¡°Sorry. I can¡¯t really explain it.¡±

    ¡°Does it have something to do with that name you called out before?¡±

    ¡°Huh? Name?¡±

    ¡°Yes. Back when you dodged that spell after obtaining the rabbit''s foot. I think it was¡­Nia?¡±

    Really? Did I say that aloud? How come Nia didn¡¯t tell me?

    ¡°Because you didn¡¯t ask.¡±

    As if Nia understood what I was thinking by the look on my face, she answered my question from within my mind.

    Well anyway, I probably shouldn''t talk about it right now, so I tried my best to blow off the topic.

    ¡°Did I now? Interesting.¡±

    After saying that, I was about to return to digging when Dianne''s next words caused me to stop.

    ¡°Is it thanks to that book you¡¯re always reading?¡±

    I let out a frustrated sigh.

    ¡°You¡¯re being oddly curious right now. You know that?¡±

    As if surprised by my words, Dianne began frantically apologizing.

    ¡°My apologies Axel! I was being too forward! I hope you don¡¯t think less of me for my actions!¡±

    Man. If Xara was the most clingy heroine, Dianne was the frantic. She was someone who was consistently apologizing and trying her best to be nice to those around her. Basically, a generic nice girl who could do no wrong. At least that¡¯s how she was in the game.

    For me, it was quite infuriating how little determination she had in pursuing things. Even during her storyline. When she was confronted with making a decision, she ended up just letting the MC make the choice for her and she never grew as a character. And honestly, seeing how little she stood up for herself pissed me off a bit.

    That¡¯s why despite not being sure if this was just an act trying to get my guard down, or her real self, I¡¯ve still been giving her chances to make her own decisions. From joining in as a member of my friend group, to inviting me out for this scavenger hunt. But despite all my work trying to improve her, she still struggles to stand up for herself. Seeing her like this almost made me want to give her a good chop to the head.

    Frustrated, I let out a sigh.

    ¡°Geez. Stand up for yourself once in a while,¡± I muttered.

    Dianne stopped mumbling to herself and looked up at me.

    ¡°What?¡±

    Did she hear that?

    Taking in a deep breath, Dianne cleared her throat.

    ¡°Sorry. I shouldn¡¯t have been so quick to apologize. But moving on, would you be fine with sharing who this Nia person is at the very least?¡±

    Figuring she just worked out things in her head, I thought to myself for a moment.

    ¡°For now, let¡¯s just say she¡¯s someone I know.¡±

    ¡°Is that so? Very well then. I¡¯ll accept that answer for now.¡±

    After saying that, Dianne went back to mining.

    Huh? Does that mean the conversation is over? I¡¯m not complaining, just a little surprised. I figured she would¡¯ve either started apologizing or asked for more.

    Well, no use getting surprised by something as simple as acceptance. I thought. Using that as an excuse to put my mind at ease as I went over to another wall and started mining.

    As the sun began to set, we finally found what we were looking for.

    ¡°Wow. It¡¯s so beautiful.¡±

    Dianne gazed at the stone in her hand.

    We¡¯d been here for almost three hours now. Honestly, I was about to give up. But after her eighty-fifth break, Dianne had finally stumbled upon a see stone.

    She held it gently while gazing into it. The stone shined a dark purple with a small ball of light shooting out several small lasers that decorated the inside of the stone. It honestly was an incredible sight to see.

    Putting it in her pocket, Dianne and I made our way back to our classroom where we dropped off the stone and completed our checklists for the day.

    After that, we both ended up walking back to my room to relax.

    I flopped down on my bed and let out a sigh of relief.

    ¡°Thank goodness we found that stone when we did. I was worried we¡¯d almost have to pull an all-nighter,¡± I said as I stretched out my arms and legs while my body loosened up.

    Dianne smiled.

    ¡°Indeed. I¡¯m also relieved we won¡¯t have to worry about checking that off our list tomorrow.¡±

    Getting off my bed, I turned to find Vey entering the room.

    ¡°Hey Vey. How were things here?¡±

    While I was out, I instructed Vey to take care of a few things. She smiled and gave me a salute.

    ¡°Mission accomplished Sir Savoncho!¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s good to hear. Thanks.¡±

    ¡°No problem Sir!¡±

    She seemed quite ecstatic.

    ¡°Well then, you go on and head to bed. I¡¯ll be done talking with Dianne in a bit.¡±

    Vey gave me a bow and walked over to her bed.

    Dianne and I chatted for a few more minutes before we decided it was time to call it a night.

    ¡°Well then, see you tomorrow Savoncho.¡±

    ¡°Yeah. See ya.¡±

    I gave her a wave goodbye. However, just as she was about to open the door, the sound of someone knocking entered the room.

    Confused, I made my way over to the door and opened it up to find my teacher standing there.

    ¡°Uh¡­What¡¯s up teach?¡±

    Not sure what to say, that was all I could come up with. Not gonna lie, it sounded really stupid.

    ¡°I¡­huff¡­have to inform you¡­puff¡­of something.¡±

    He seemed completely out of breath. Either this really was urgent and he had just run all the way here, or everyone at this school was completely unathletic¡­actually, it could be both. I have seen my class participate in PE after all.

    ¡°What¡¯s up?¡±

    Taking a moment to recompose himself, my teacher cleared his throat.

    ¡°I regret to inform you that as I was checking over your things with the officials, other than the eight legged rabbit, all the items you procured appear to have vanished. As such, every item other than the rabbit''s foot will not be counted among your day''s items and instead be moved to tomorrow''s items as extras.¡±

    ¡°...Huh?¡±

    As those words left his mouth, I felt a sense of frustration rise up inside me.

    As much as I hate to admit it, this looks like it¡¯ll be much harder than I¡¯d hoped.

    Once the teacher left with a bow, I turned to Dianne whose face had gone pale.

    ¡°Who¡­Who would do such a thing?¡±

    Apparently, she¡¯d heard the entire conversation. Well, it was kinda hard not to since she was literally only a few feet behind me.

    ¡°I dunno. It¡¯s weird.¡±

    In truth, I already had a good idea of who. Well¡­in a broad term. I knew the minute some of the royal assholes here at the school learned I was competing they¡¯d try to pull something. Probably setting it up to make others think things like ¡°This commoner can¡¯t even accomplish a simple scavenger hunt?¡± or ¡°What kind of pathetic weakling can¡¯t find such simple items?¡±

    Honestly, this was a real pain. I knew these guys didn¡¯t like me, but did they really have to go this far?

    After a few minutes, Dianne left.

    And since I was certain Vey was asleep, I simply sat down on my bed.

    ¡°Sirin?¡±

    ¡°Yes? What is it, Master?¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s something I need you to do.¡±

    Once I gave Sirin her orders, she flew off to complete them and I curled up under the covers of my bed.

    Letting out one last sigh, I closed my eyes.

    As of now, things were gonna get a lot more complicated.

 Chapter 23: An Unexpected Collaboration

    The next day, Dianne and I met up and began making our way to class.

    Now, before you ask, yes we still have classes. They just have a few alterations to them. For one, if you''re competing in the Hunter Games, you don¡¯t have to go to third period. This gives competitors a chance to fill out the day''s list. However, if you feel like you should be fine, you can still go to third period if you want.

    As for Dianne and I, we didn¡¯t really have much of a choice but to skip.

    Since there wouldn¡¯t be much spare time to look for things like a see stone, we decided to focus solely on items that would be easy to collect.

    First, we went and grabbed a trimphant to cover for the one that vanished, then continued going down the list.

    By the time night came, we ended up recovering almost the entire list from yesterday as well as the entirety of today¡¯s list which only contained items that were simple to get.

    Still, this whole ordeal would make things quite difficult. And it wasn¡¯t helped when we were visited by the teacher who once again reported that several items from our list on the second day had gone missing. Dammit. This was really starting to grind on my gears.

    The rest of the week went a similar way. First, Dianne and I would skip class to try and track down items to replace the missing ones, then struggle to collect the other items on the list. Then, they find out they were stolen before anything could be counted. We had tried to ask the teachers about looking into it, but they just didn¡¯t seem interested in doing so. Meaning we were stuck. And before we knew it, Saturday had finally arrived. As crazy and rushed as it sounds, this was the last day of the event. And with such a long list on our hands, we knew it¡¯d be impossible to collect everything we needed. Thankfully, the teachers allowed us to camp out on Friday which kept the day''s items safe and guaranteed us enough points to at least make it into the top fifty. But as I mentioned before, we have a pretty low chance of collecting the rest of the items on our list. The odds of us getting first were also pretty slim. The only way we¡¯d even be able to pull it off was if we managed to collect every single item on our list. In short, there wasn¡¯t any way we could win. And as I got up on Saturday morning, I let out a yawn as Sirin appeared next to me.

    ¡°Master. The preparations are complete.¡±

    ¡°That so? Good to hear.¡±

    Getting up, I slipped on my school uniform and looked in the mirror¡­then let out a sigh.

    ¡°This outfit really doesn''t look good on me.¡±

    The school uniform I was wearing contained a dark blue coat and grey pants, a belt, as well as a long-sleeved white shirt and a red tie. And while I had looked at myself wearing it multiple times before, I personally thought it didn¡¯t look very good on me. But as it was the school dress code, I didn¡¯t really have a choice. They got pretty angry the last time I tried loosening it up. And getting kicked out of school because of my uniform really didn¡¯t sound like a cool way to go.

    ¡°On the contrary, Master, I think it fits you quite well.¡±

    ¡°Really?¡±

    ¡°Nah. She just doesn¡¯t have a sense of taste.¡±

    I rolled my eyes at Nia¡¯s comment. I¡¯ll be sure to knock some sense into her later.

    ¡°Moving past that, I should get going.¡±

    Leaving Vey to sleep, I left my room with the grimoire on my belt.

    Arriving on school grounds, I found Dianne talking with Ella and Roy.

    I walked over to them and Roy scratched the back of his head.

    ¡°Hey. I heard what¡¯s going on with you guys. Sorry to hear that dude. I¡¯d offer some help if I could, but¡­¡±

    Roy stared at the ground looking quite frustrated. It''s still kinda crazy how literally a few weeks ago this guy didn¡¯t even give me the time of day.

    In an attempt to ease his concern, I shrugged and patted him on the shoulder.

    ¡°It¡¯s fine. You have your own list of things to take care of. We¡¯ll be fine.¡±

    Still a little concerned, Roy sighed.

    ¡°If you¡¯re sure.¡±

    I wasn¡¯t. But since I didn¡¯t want to worry him, I gave him a smile before turning to Dianne.

    ¡°You ready to do this?¡±

    Dianne nodded. She looked like she was filled with determination.

    ¡°Even if the odds are against us, I¡¯m sure we can win!¡±

    She seemed quite confident in those words.

    Scratching the back of my head, a person''s voice rang over the crowd of people standing at the school gate.

    ¡°Hello everyone! As you all know, today is the last day of the event! That being the case, we hope you all still do your best and aim for the top spot! With that said, let the final day of the Hunter Games commence!¡±

    As those words were uttered, students began swarming into the school one after the other to make it to their classrooms and grab the last list before the event was over.

    ¡°Guess we should get in there,¡± I muttered.

    Slipping my hands into my pockets, I began walking towards the school building.

    As Axel began to leave, Dianne followed close behind him.

    ¡°Please wait for me, Axel!¡±

    She quickly ran after him as Roy and Ella watched them depart.

    Ella glanced at Axel.

    ¡°Say¡­doesn¡¯t he seem a bit calm for the type of situation he and his teammate are in?¡±

    Roy looked over at Axel and noticed his rather calm attitude.

    ¡°Actually, now that you mention it, you¡¯re right.¡±

    Roy thought about it for a moment before shrugging.

    ¡°Well, that¡¯s not important right now. After all, we have our own list to take care of. Come on.¡±

    Roy grabbed hold of Ella¡¯s hand.

    She seemed flustered for a moment before collecting herself and letting Roy guide her towards the school building.

    Receiving the list, I scrolled through it before handing it over to Dianne.

    As it was the last day, it appeared we were getting fewer items than usual. However, while there weren¡¯t as many, the items we were giving were a lot harder to obtain than what we¡¯d been collecting up to this point. Here¡¯s the list:

    1: A School Flag

    2: A Ruby Garden Staff

    3: A Set of Twin Rocks

    Geez. This wasn¡¯t going to be easy. Now before you think some of these sound simple enough, let me confirm these aren''t even close to simple. Since the school rarely makes any school flags, getting one required you to either borrow one from one of the few teachers who had a flag or use some kind of picture-taking spell to show to the officials running the event. And since photo magic is a pretty hard spell to master for so little payoff, most royalty don¡¯t bother to learn it.

    As for the ruby garden staff, that one isn¡¯t much easier. Out of all the items on this list, it¡¯s the only item I¡¯ve never even heard of. So unless Dianne knows where to find one, we¡¯re screwed. As for the set of twin rocks, that one is probably the easiest. At least in terms of difficulty. They¡¯re still pretty hard to find. The only reason they¡¯re the easiest is because they were one of the items you find as the player during this event in the game. Using this to my advantage, I already knew where to find them. However, it wasn¡¯t going to be easy to get there.

    Moving past that for now, I turned to Dianne.

    ¡°Alright. Let¡¯s focus on collecting these items for now. We can worry about gathering the items from previous days later.¡±

    When Dianne heard me say that, she gave me a look of confusion. Not understanding why I¡¯d take this approach.

    ¡°Just trust me on this one. Let¡¯s cover today¡¯s stuff for now.¡±

    Dianne still didn¡¯t get what I was doing, but she let out a sigh of resignation.

    ¡°Alright. I¡¯ll trust you. Let¡¯s get started.¡±

    With that, she handed the list to me and we began preparing our plan to seek out the day''s items.

    Once we were done planning, we stepped out of the classroom and began searching for our first item.

    ¡°So first, we need to make our way to Mrs. Firuni. She¡¯s the only teacher at school who has a large collection of staff''s and other magic-related items,¡± said Dianne

    I¡¯d never heard of this Mrs. Firuni before, but in all fairness, the game never really went into detail on the education system and its teachers.

    I mean, even though my teacher has a name, I still just call him my teacher so I guess I¡¯m just not really thinking too hard about this world and its people.

    Before long, we arrived at Mrs. Firuni''s classroom and we opened the door.

    ¡°Ah¡­¡±

    And standing inside was none other than Xara and the MC.

    I stared at the two of them in silence for a moment and they did the same. Not a single word was uttered between the three of us. In the end, it was Dianne who broke the ice by clearing her throat and walking into the room.

    ¡°Mrs. Firuni? Do you have a moment?¡±

    Calling out into the classroom, Dianne waited for a moment when a voice filled our ears.

    ¡°Just a moment Dianne. I¡¯m just taking care of something. I¡¯ll be right with you.¡±

    A moment later, a door on the other side of the room opened and a woman with long curly orange hair stepped out to approach us.

    Dianne went off to explain things to the woman I assumed was Mrs. Firuni as I stood there awkwardly with Xara and Riko.

    ¡°Um¡­Hey there Xara. I didn¡¯t think we¡¯d find you and the M-I mean Riko here.¡±

    ¡°Oh¡­Yeah.¡±

    Not sure what to say next, I just turned to Riko.

    ¡°Hey there Riko. How¡¯ve you been?¡±

    Riko, who didn¡¯t really know anything about the drama between me and Xara, shrugged with an annoyed look on his face.

    ¡°I would like to say I¡¯ve been doing well, but after whatever you did to me during our duel, I¡¯ve found myself being picked on quite a bit.¡±

    ¡°Oh yeah? I completely forgot about that.¡±

    After Riko saw me unintentionally do something that looked like I was putting the moves on Xara, he challenged me to a duel and lost miserably.

    ¡°Is that so? Glad to see the whole duel meant so little to you.¡±

    Wait¡­was that sarcasm? From Riko?

    I gave him an awkward chuckle before walking over to Dianne who was still talking with Mrs. Firuni.

    A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

    As I did so, I glanced back at Xara and Riko once more. The two of them seemed to be whispering something to each other.

    Y¡¯know, now that I think about it, I don¡¯t believe either of our teams had run into each other before today. In fact, I don¡¯t remember seeing them all week even during school hours. Either that or we just never crossed paths, or maybe¡­

    ¡°Axel. Mrs. Firuni says she is okay with us borrowing one of her ruby garden staff''s for our checklist.¡±

    ¡°That so? Glad to hear it.¡±

    Mrs. Firuni vanished back into the room she¡¯d walked out of earlier before coming back with a sparkling ruby-colored staff and handed it over to Dianne who held it tightly.

    Having obtained what we needed, we were about to depart when a voice called out to us.

    ¡°Um¡­Dianne?¡±

    Dianne turned around to see Xara walking up to her.

    ¡°This might sound a bit out of nowhere, but what would you say about teaming up?¡±

    ¡°Hm?¡±

    I gave Xara a confused look before bringing my attention over to Riko who was staring at the ground with a look of resignation on his face.

    In response to Xara¡¯s question, Dianne decided to ask one of her own.

    ¡°If I may, why is it you want to team up with us?¡±

    Not even hesitating for a second, Xara pulled out her team''s list. There were a lot of extra things on the list which meant she and Riko had apparently struggled to collect a lot of the items they were looking for.

    ¡°On our first day of hunting, we were given an item that was incredibly hard to locate.  And because we''ve been looking for so long, we still have a lot of things on our list. And since we haven¡¯t found that item yet, we figured it¡¯d be best to just track down the rest of the items instead. But we don¡¯t know where even half this stuff is so it¡¯ll be hard to make much progress. That¡¯s why I was hoping you could help us.¡±

    Hearing Xara out, Dianne thought about her words.

    Noticing the look on her face, I could tell what Dianne''s response would be. But before she could answer, I stepped forward.

    ¡°So we help you find your items. What do we get in exchange?¡±

    ¡°Huh?¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re requesting a partnership. In a partnership, both parties have to benefit. If we help you, what do we get in return?¡±

    Hearing that, Xara thought about it for a moment.

    ¡°Could we see you¡¯re list?¡±

    ¡°No.¡±

    Riko glared at me.

    ¡°How dare you refuse her! We already showed you our list!¡±

    ¡°So? That doesn¡¯t mean I¡¯m obligated to show you ours.¡±

    Considering we didn¡¯t know who the poachers of our items were, it wasn¡¯t safe to give an enemy team any sort of edge. Even if we formed a partnership.

    Clenching his fists, Riko looked like he was about to burst as he started moving toward me.

    Just then, Xara used her hand to block Riko.

    ¡°Riko it¡¯s fine!¡±

    ¡°But¡­¡±

    Riko looked like he was about to say something else, but after seeing Xara¡¯s face, he backed down.

    I wonder. Was he ever this easily angered in the game? I remember him being really calm and collected. Guess this is what they mean when they say reality can differ from fiction.

    Xara turned back to me.

    ¡°If you won¡¯t show us your list, does that mean you have another idea of how you can benefit from working with us?¡±

    I smiled.

    ¡°Of course.¡±

    I explained what I wanted to Xara who listened to me the entire time while Riko and Dianne listened without saying a word.

    Once I was done, Xara considered my offer and then nodded.

    ¡°That seems like a reasonable agreement. Alright then. You have a deal.¡±

    ¡°Perfect.¡±

    We shook hands before Xara realized what she was doing and pulled her hand back with her cheeks shining a light pink.

    ¡°Ahem. Well then, shall we get to work?¡± Xara asked.

    I shrugged.

    ¡°Lead the way.¡±

    With that, the four of us had officially teamed up.

    Looking over their list, I recognized some of the items since they were part of our lists earlier in the event.

    ¡°Okay. So you guys still haven¡¯t found a trimphant. That should be easy enough to get.¡±

    With it being the last day, more than likely a majority of the students had already taken care of this item if it was on their list.

    Because of that, there should be plenty of trimphants left to grab.

    After about twenty minutes of walking, we arrived at the room we were looking for.

    Sure enough, there were plenty just lying around.

    Riko grabbed one and left to go drop it off at his and Xara¡¯s classroom while we went off to search for the next item.

    ¡°Um¡­Axel?¡±

    ¡°Hm?¡±

    ¡°Are you sure I shouldn¡¯t bring the staff back to our classroom? What if someone tries to steal it from me?¡±

    In order to keep whoever¡¯s been stealing our stuff from striking, I asked Dianne to hold onto the staff rather than bring it back to the classroom.

    It may be risky, but it¡¯s safer than the alternative.

    I explained as much to Dianne who nodded her head in understanding.

    ¡°Right. Then I¡¯ll protect this staff to the best of my abilities!¡±

    It was nice seeing how determined she was.

    But moving past that, we started walking toward our next destination. And as I walked next to Xara, I glanced at the list in her hand.

    Apparently, the next thing we needed to get was a sports ball. However, it was some kind of ball that was used for a sport the school didn¡¯t have as a program for anymore. Meaning it was a rare thing to find. The exact opposite of what I¡¯d want to be searching for.

    I scratched the back of my head while trying to think of what to do when I noticed Xara in the corner of my eye.

    Without realizing it, my face had gotten quite close to hers. So close in fact, that I could hear her breathing in my ear.

    Not sure what else to do, I lifted up my head and continued walking. Trying to hide my burning ears.

    Without much in the way of guidance, we started looking through some of the school¡¯s storage sheds. There weren¡¯t many. However, with how big they were, it wouldn¡¯t be easy to search through them for the ball we were looking for.

    We ended up taking so long, that Riko had enough time to catch up and the four of us continued the search.

    Two hours later, we finally found one. It looked similar to a baseball, but only in shape and design. The part of the ball that would normally be pure white was instead a dark purple with green stripes replacing where the red stripes would be.

    ¡°It kinda looks like a baseball,¡± Riko stated.

    Apparently, he agreed with me on the way it looked¡­wait a minute.

    Before I had time to think about something that dawned on me, Xara, who had found the ball, tossed it up in the air before catching it back in her palm.

    ¡°What an interesting ball. What do you suppose they used it to play?¡±

    Riko thought for a moment.

    ¡°If I recall, they called it Speedball. Though I can¡¯t remember how it was played.¡±

    Dianne looked at the ball in fascination.

    ¡°Well, we¡¯ve got it. Come on guys. We don¡¯t want to waste more time than needed,¡± I said.

    My words seemed to bring everyone back to reality and we left to drop off the item right in time for lunch.

    Since we were already together, the four of us decided to eat as a group.

    Stopping by the cafeteria, we all ordered our meals before sitting down at a table and eating our food.

    While doing so, we went over the list once more.

    ¡°Okay. So with those two things out of the way, how much does that leave?¡± I asked.

    ¡°A lot. Not including today¡¯s stuff, we still need at least six more items. Even if we somehow came back and got everything on our list by some miracle, we still wouldn¡¯t have enough points. Not with how poorly things went yesterday,¡± Xara said.

    ¡°I see.¡±

    Trying to think of a plan, I pulled out our own list from my pocket and looked it over.

    Nothing they had was similar to what we were hunting for. The lists really were completely different from one another. There were almost none of the same things. How did this school have so much stuff?

    Finishing off the rest of my meal, I was the first to get up.

    ¡°I¡¯ve got to go to the bathroom. I¡¯ll be back in a bit.¡±

    Throwing my empty tray in the trash, I left the others to their own devices.

    As Axel left the room, me, Xara, and this boy called Riko ate in silence.

    However, since I didn¡¯t want things to be awkward between us, I decided to start a conversation.

    ¡°So you¡¯re Riko, correct? I¡¯ve heard about you from Xara.¡±

    ¡°Really!? What did she say about me!?¡±

    Riko instantly rose from his seat with excitement in his voice.

    ¡°Relax. I just told her about how you¡¯re a good friend. Nothing more.¡±

    Riko slumped down into his seat after hearing that.

    ¡°Um¡­It seems like you two have some¡­interesting chemistry.¡±

    ¡°Really? I don¡¯t think it¡¯s any different from how other friends treat each other.¡±

    Hearing Xara say that, Riko¡¯s face made it look like he was just punched in the gut by those words.

    ¡°Hm¡­If you say so.¡±

    It didn¡¯t take a genius to see how this boy felt. Honestly, it kind of hurt seeing how poorly Xara was treating him. Were they really friends?

    I may not be a connoisseur of friendship, but even I could tell there was some tension between these two. It wasn¡¯t anything romantic, but I had a feeling that the two of them had things they needed to say to one another.

    With that being said, would it be good for me to intervene in their affairs? After all, I¡¯m not familiar enough with both of them to make a judgment on their behalf.

    I may have gotten to know Xara recently, but I still know nothing about Riko. So it might be best for me to stay out of it. Otherwise, I might end up making things worse between the two of them. Still, I wish I could help in some way.

    We continued eating for a few more minutes. But for some reason, Axel wasn¡¯t back yet.

    ¡°I wonder what¡¯s taking Axel so long?¡± I said aloud.

    Xara, who had already finished her food and thrown away her tray, got up.

    ¡°I¡¯ll go check. Be right back.¡±

    Without another word, Xara left the table to follow after Axel.

    This left just me and Riko¡­ completely alone.

    ¡°Um¡­May I ask you something?¡±

    ¡°Hm? Go ahead.¡±

    ¡°This may be out of my boundaries, but is it safe to assume you¡¯re in love with Miss Xara?¡±

    Riko nearly spit out his food and his face went as red as a tomato.

    ¡°Wha-! N..No! What could possibly make you think that!?¡±

    ¡°Is that so? But to me it looked like you were quite bothered when she called you just a friend.¡±

    Hearing that, Riko looked down to the floor. As if he had just been caught in a lie.

    ¡°...In truth, yes. I do like her.¡±

    My eyes went wide in surprise for a moment. I hadn¡¯t expected him to actually admit it.

    ¡°What¡¯s with that look of surprise!?¡±

    ¡°I just¡­wasn¡¯t expecting you to actually say it.¡±

    Hearing that appeared to only make him more embarrassed as he immediately hid his head in his hands.

    ¡°Er¡­I¡¯m sorry. That was rude of me. Please pretend I didn¡¯t say anything," I said.

    With his face still red, Riko lifted his head up and looked at me.

    ¡°So you do like her?¡±

    Riko nodded.

    ¡°Yes. For a while now.¡±

    ¡°Is that so?¡±

    He nodded again.

    ¡°It all started after the two of us met that commoner.¡±

    I didn¡¯t like him referring to Axel as that Commoner but since this was all pretty hard for him to say, I decided to let it slide just this once.

    ¡°After we met him, he kept trying to tease Xara over and over again. When he did, I felt a strange sense of frustration. I didn¡¯t understand at the time, but I think those were when my feelings for her started to grow.¡±

    Riko clasped his hands together.

    ¡°At first I just tried to blow his teasing off and simply separate him from Xara. But then I stumbled upon him making a move on her. When he did that, I couldn¡¯t think of anything else but wanting to hit him.¡±

    That¡­escalated quickly.

    ¡°That was when the duel happened. After that, I continued treating Xara the same way I always did. But then, the school trip came along. We ended up finishing around the same time as Xara¡¯s group and when I saw her, she was being weirdly close with that commoner.¡±

    I noticed his hands starting to shake. Like he was trying to contain his anger.

    ¡°I tried separating them, but instead, she got mad at me and began keeping her distance.¡±

    With a sigh, Riko scratched the back of his head.

    ¡°After she began ignoring me, I felt a strange pain in my chest. And the longer she ignored me, the more my chest hurt. That was when I finally realized it. That I¡¯d fallen for Xara.¡±

    Having finished his story, the two of us sat in silence for a bit before he went back to eating his lunch.

    As I processed what he said, I thought about it all for a moment.

    ¡°This may not seem right for someone like me who¡¯s a complete outsider to say, but what if you tried confessing to her? Maybe then you can at least get your feelings out to her.¡±

    Finishing the last of his food, Riko looked at his feet.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know. With how things are now, I¡¯m worried she¡¯ll reject me. If I did it before all this crazy stuff, I wouldn¡¯t be scared of something like that happening. But with the way things are now, I don¡¯t think it¡¯ll go that well.¡±

    That was quite a negative way to look at it.

    Knowing my words didn¡¯t carry much weight, all I could do was encourage him.

    ¡°Well my words may not mean much, but I was always taught that taking risks is far better than not. So even if you risk rejection, it¡¯s still better to at least give it a shot rather than never trying at all.¡±

    Riko looked me in the eyes before returning his gaze to the floor.

    ¡°I¡¯ll think about it.¡±

    I smiled.

    ¡°I wish you the best of luck.¡±

    With that, I brought my tray over to the trash bin before returning to Riko.

    ¡°I must say, those two are taking a really long time to come back. Do you think they¡¯re okay?¡±

    Riko walked over to the trash and dumped in his own tray.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know. Maybe we should go take a look.¡±

    Having made our decision, the two of us walked out of the cafeteria and went to find our friends.

    I just hope the two of them were okay.

 Chapter 24: Traps and Talks

    Things are not okay right now¡­at least that¡¯s what I would say. Especially considering the situation Xara and I found ourselves in.

    We were currently locked up in what appears to be an empty black void. It almost reminded me of Xara¡¯s mind when I went inside to calm her down after she was taken over by that curse.

    Now before you ask how we got here, I have no idea.

    I was going to the restroom like I said, when I suddenly found myself trapped here.

    Xara popped up a few minutes later and now the two of us were stuck.

    In all honesty, this whole thing was quite a pain. But I didn''t know if there was anything we could do.

    Xara was sitting on the ground near me trying to wrap her head around what was going on. Meanwhile, I just let out a yawn and pulled out my grimoire.

    ¡°Hey, Nia?¡±

    ¡°What is it, Master?¡±

    ¡°Do you know what spell this is?¡±

    ¡°Yes. It appears to be some form of encapsulation spell. One designed to keep things sealed away in an enclosed space without taking up any room due to it being made of a person''s own magic.¡±

    ¡°That so? It actually sounds kind of useful. Can you teach me it?¡±

    ¡°No can do. I may be able to teach you a lot of spells, but there are some even I can¡¯t use. That¡¯s what the other grimoires are for.¡±

    Huh. So that meant if I wanted to learn a spell Nia didn¡¯t know, I¡¯d have to collect one of the other two grimoires that exist in this world. Dang. Guess I¡¯ll have to put learning that spell on hold.

    ¡°I see. Well, are there any spells you can teach me to destroy this place so we can get out?¡±

    ¡°Yessir! However, as you are right now, they are beyond what your body can handle. The same goes for the transformation you¡¯d need in order to gain such power.¡±

    So in short, there¡¯s nothing I can do.

    Letting out a frustrated sigh, I sat down and looked out into the endless black void.

    Talk about a bump in the road. And my plan was going so smoothly until now.

    Rubbing my eyes, I wondered what was gonna happen next.

    ¡°Looks like we''re in another pickle together,¡± Xara joked awkwardly.

    I chuckled.

    ¡°Yeah. Looks like it.¡±

    After that little exchange, the two of us sat in silence for what felt like ages before Xara spoke up again.

    ¡°Um¡­Axel?¡±

    ¡°Hm?

    Keeping ourselves faced away from each other, I glanced behind me to show Xara I was listening.

    ¡°Do you¡­hate me?¡±

    ¡°Huh?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s just, ever since I confessed, you¡¯ve been acting completely different towards me.¡±

    ¡°Really? How so?¡±

    ¡°Well, just today for example. When we ran into each other, you had this look of disinterest on your face. The same one you¡¯ve been making pretty much every time we¡¯ve run into each other since the day I confessed.¡±

    ¡°A look of disinterest?¡±

    I normally can¡¯t see my face, so I didn¡¯t understand what she was getting at. I figured I was acting the same as I always did. Is she saying I¡¯ve been different?

    I let her continue talking.

    ¡°You may not notice it yourself, but when we face each other, you never seem to have any life in your eyes. Like the very sight of me turns off all your emotions making you look completely lifeless.¡±

    I couldn¡¯t believe what I was hearing.

    ¡°That so? But what about the time you, me, Dianne, and Vey all walked around town? I remember us having a good time.¡±

    That¡¯s right. Things were pretty energetic that day. In fact, I remember it being quite fun.

    ¡°Is that so? If that¡¯s the case, please think back to that day, do you remember any time you weren¡¯t rude, cruel, or distant to me?¡±

    ¡°Of course I...I...¡±

    I stopped myself.

    When my thoughts drifted back to that day, she was right. In fact, every time we saw each other after I rejected her, I had a sense of sadness overwhelm me. I figured it wasn¡¯t anything to worry about and let it be. But no matter how many times I tried to ignore it, whenever I saw Xara again, I immediately felt a heavy sense of guilt and sadness wash over me. Like being around her wasn¡¯t something I was allowed to do.

    Curling up my legs, I rested my head on my knees. Was what she was saying really true?

    While I thought about it, I recalled a line I once read from a book.

    A subjective viewpoint isn¡¯t the same as a factual statement.

    As I thought about that line in my head, I finally felt myself beginning to understand.

    Even if I thought things were fine, that wasn¡¯t always the same for everyone else.

    For example, if I went to an amusement park with someone and decided to hop on a rollercoaster. I may say that the ride was fun once it was over. But just one look at my face would make it obvious I didn¡¯t have enjoy it.

    That¡¯s what was going on here. Even if I thought things were fine, that wasn¡¯t how others saw it.

    Having made this realization, I rubbed my eyes and let out a groan of frustration.

    ¡°Axel?¡±

    I could tell in her voice that Xara was concerned. Dammit. Why did I have to ruin the thing she had going with Riko? If I just hadn¡¯t interfered with them because of my grudge against this game''s flaws, maybe the two of them would¡¯ve become a happy couple and I never would¡¯ve had to involve her with me. At least then, she¡¯d have some form of happiness. Even if it was just an excuse for her own lack of self-worth.

    Feeling myself growing frustrated, I lifted up my hand and-

    SMACK!

    -hit myself as hard as I could.

    ¡°Axel!?¡±

    Surprised by my actions, Xara turned around and tried to ask me something. But I held my hand out to stop her and started slapping myself over and over.

    ¡°Axel!? What are you doing!? Stop that!¡±

    Xara grabbed my hands to stop me. But I didn¡¯t feel satisfied, so I pulled my hands away and got on my knees before slamming my head into the ground over and over.

    "RAAAH!" I screamed as my head throbbed loudly.

    It hurt like hell, but that was nothing compared to everything I¡¯ve done.

    Even if it wasn¡¯t intentional, I manipulated Xara into liking me, made her worry for me, and made her blow off the one person she always cared so much about just because I shared my stupid opinion! What kind of monster ruins the happiness of others simply cause he doesn¡¯t like a character trait!? It just wasn''t right!

    After smashing my head into the ground a few more times, I finally stopped right before I would¡¯ve lost consciousness.

    Xara looked at me with both concern and terror. And when I turned to face her, I could tell she was probably shocked by how battered and bruised my face more than likely looked.

    ¡°Xara¡­I¡¯m so sorry.¡±

    Xara¡¯s eyes widened in surprise.

    ¡°Sorry? What for?¡±

    Trying to keep herself calm, Xara walked over to me and looked me in the eyes.

    ¡°Because of my big fat mouth, I ruined the happiness you had before and turned you away from the great life you would¡¯ve had.¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s all this about!?¡±

    Xara¡¯s confusion was obvious. So I did my best to explain.

    ¡°If I had just left you and Riko alone, you wouldn¡¯t have to go through all the struggles you went through. The curse wouldn¡¯t activate from you questioning how you felt, you wouldn¡¯t have felt the need to distance yourself from Riko, and you wouldn¡¯t have fallen for a loser who uses his opinion to destroy other''s lives!¡±

    I felt tears roll down my cheeks.

    It was all my fault. I kept telling myself everything was fine. That if she still felt the way she did after she learned to think for herself then I¡¯d give her my answer.

    But in reality, I was just making excuses to hold off on my own mistakes. And now, I was causing the one girl whose life I ruined feel concern for me. All because of this stupid mouth of mine.

    Xara watched me cry in silence for several minutes¡­and then...

    Bonk!

    I felt a light chop on top of my head. It wasn¡¯t painful, but it was tough enough to be noticeable.

    While it was hard to see, I noticed at some point my vision had turned towards the ground.

    I lifted my head up to find Xara looking at me with her arms crossed.

    ¡°What the heck are you saying!? If it weren¡¯t for you, my life would¡¯ve been terrible!¡±

    After she said that, Xara wiped the tears away from my eyes and I got a good look of her face. She looked like she was on the verge of crying herself.

    ¡°Huh?¡±

    Despite what she said, I found myself questioning her words. What was she saying? Her life would¡¯ve been great without me. And that''s the truth!

    "Y-You''re wrong! You''re life would''ve been-!"

    Suddenly, without warning, Xara pulled me into a hug.

    ¡°Don¡¯t you dare say me meeting you was a bad thing! Ever since I met you, you¡¯ve helped me more then I could ever repay! You not only helped me learn about my own problems, but you also taught me all kinds of things about myself. You even saved me from a curse I might¡¯ve never escaped from otherwise.¡±

    ¡°But the only reason you succumbed to the curse in the first place was because¡­¡±

    Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

    ¡°What? Because of you? Don¡¯t blame yourself for that. I was the one who let the curse take over. You didn¡¯t do anything.¡±

    ¡°But¡­¡±

    ¡°No more buts!¡±

    Xara released me from the hug and moved her face close to mine.

    ¡°Listen to me here and now, I love you Axel Savoncho. Even if you think everything that¡¯s happened is your fault, even if you regret putting yourself into my life, I¡¯m happy you did. If you didn¡¯t, I¡¯m positive that my life would become nothing but lies and pain. So no matter what you say, I will continue to be thankful that you came into my life. Now and forevermore.¡±

    After hearing those words, a strange feeling of happiness welled up inside me. What was this? She¡¯d have a much better life without me¡­right?

    I started to question such thoughts as my emotions felt like a mixed mess.

    Ignoring a strange warmth on my cheeks, I stood up and turned away from Xara.

    ¡°That so? Well I¡¯m¡­I¡¯m glad to hear it.¡±

    My heart was beating like crazy. What was going on!?

    Not sure what else to do in this awkward silence, I decided to pull my grimiore out once more.

    ¡°Nia¡­are you sure there isn¡¯t a way for us to get out of here?¡±

    ¡°Hm? Yeah. Just teleport out.¡±

    ¡°...Huh?¡±

    We instantly appeared right in front of the entrance ot the cafeteria. Successfully escaping that weird empty void we had been trapped in just moments ago. The two of us remained silent for several seconds before Xara decided to speak up.

    ¡°Sooo¡­you know teleportation magic huh?¡±

    ¡°Erm¡­Yeah. Guess I forgot.¡±

    That was what I was saying on the outside. But internally, I was screaming at Nia.

    You stupid grimiore spirit! You said there wasn¡¯t a way out of there!

    Like she could read my thoughts, Nia replied.

    ¡°You only asked me if there was a way to destroy the encapsulation spell so you could escape. Not if there was a way to leave without destroying it.¡±

    Why you little!

    Taking in a deep breath, I rubbed my eyes. Just then, I heard Xara¡¯s voice behind me.

    ¡°Um¡­About before...¡±

    ¡°Hm? Oh! Um¡­¡±

    I was speechless. I didn¡¯t know what to say about the whole thing. All I had planned to do today was win the competition and then leave.

    ¡°This¡¯ll probably sound stupid to ask, but I¡¯d like to repeat myself.¡±

    Xara cleared her throat.

    ¡°Do you¡­hate me?¡±

    ¡­What?

    Oh yeah. Come to think of it, that was how our conversation started, wasn¡¯t it? I completely forgot thanks to everything else that was said while we were trapped.

    Going silent for a moment, I took in a deep breath.

    ¡°Could you give me some time to think before I answer? With everything that¡¯s been going on recently, I¡¯d like to get my thoughts together first.¡±

    Nervous at the idea that I needed to think about it, Xara nodded.

    ¡°Yeah. That¡¯s fine.¡±

    ¡°Thanks. How does meeting up here around eight on the first day of next week sound?¡±

    ¡°That sounds good¡­yeah¡­that works.¡±

    ¡°Good. Well then, how¡¯s about we get moving?¡±

    ¡°Huh?¡±

    ¡°Take a look at the sky.¡±

    Xara turned her head to a nearby window and her eyes went wide. It had gotten significantly darker outside.

    ¡°That¡¯s right. We were trapped in there for quite a long time. If we don¡¯t hurry and meet up with our teammates, we won¡¯t be able to finish our lists on time.¡±

    With that, I grabbed hold of Xara¡¯s hand and we rushed down towards the school building where we found Dianne and the MC searching for us. We explained what happened, but ended up leaving out what occured while we were trapped.

    And so with the team back together, we continued hunting for as many items as we could.

    ¡°What kind of cruel person would do such a thing?¡± Dianne muttered to herself. Looks like she¡¯s still frustrated about Xara and I getting trapped. As nice as it is that she cares, we couldn¡¯t focus on that right now. With one hour left, we waved goodbye to Xara and Riko and went back to focusing on our own list.

    Thankfully, we were able to acquire another item. The twin rocks.

    They were a set of rocks that made it so whatever happened to one rock, would also happen to the other rock. They were actually kind of cool¡­at least to me.

    After having gathered two out of the three items, the last thing to do was grab hold of a school flag.

    Deciding it¡¯d be safer to return the other items while we could, I had Dianne make her way back to the classroom as I went off to get the flag.

    Having made that decision, I glanced out at the sky to make sure the sun was in the sky before starting to make my move. While there had been a few bumps in the road, it was finally time to start the plan I had carefully laid out.

    With that in mind, I began walking down the hallways. Ready for what was to come next.

    As Axel went off to get the school flag, I made my way back to the classroom to drop off the staff and stones. I didn¡¯t know what he was thinking when he decided we should just focus on collecting today¡¯s items, but for now, I had to trust him.

    Walking for about ten minutes, I began to draw near the classroom when I stopped myself right before bumping into someone.

    ¡°Whoa!¡±

    Taking a few steps back, I look up to find a girl with long black hair looking at me.

    ¡°Oh. Sorry. I didn¡¯t see you there,¡± I said in apology.

    The girl let out a chuckle.

    ¡°No. No. The faults all mine.¡±

    The girl apologized in response before looking at the stuff in my hand.

    ¡°Say, are those your items for the Hunter Games?¡±

    Not feeling any hostility from her, I nodded.

    ¡°Yes. I was actually about to return them to the classroom. Why do you ask?¡±

    ¡°Hm? Oh. No reason. Say, why don¡¯t I help you carry them back? The staff looks like it¡¯s a bit heavy.

    I shook my head.

    ¡°Thank you for the offer, but I¡¯m good. The classroom isn¡¯t that far anyway, so I best be on my way.¡±

    I began to walk past the girl when she grabbed hold of my arm.

    ¡°No no. I insist. It¡¯s the least I can do after running into you like that.¡±

    Huh? But I was the one who ran into her.

    Sensing something was off, an eerie feeling crept up my back and I tried to shake the girl off.

    ¡°Really. I¡¯m fine on my own. Please excuse me.¡±

    Shaking away her grip, I began to pick up speed in order to escape.

    ¡°Vine Wrap!¡±

    Suddenly, I felt myself lose my footing and I collapsed to the ground.

    Letting out a groan, I turned to find my legs tied up in a set of vines that had burst from the ground.

    Hearing footsteps behind me, I looked behind me to see the girl walk past and grab hold of the day''s items.

    ¡°Honestly. Even after we worked so hard to steal all your other items, even after all we¡¯ve done to ensure you don¡¯t even make it into the top hundred, here you are still trying to get a foot in this little race.¡±

    ¡°Huh?¡±

    What was this girl saying?

    Noticing my confusion, the girl grinned and walked in front of me, and crouched down to look me right in the eyes.

    ¡°You still haven¡¯t figured it out? Talk about being oblivious. And here I thought you were one of the smarter students in your class.¡±

    The girl flicked me in the forehead which caused me to flinch. Then she stood up and looked down at me like I was an insect.

    ¡°There¡¯s no way in hell we¡¯re gonna let a filthy commoner like that boy win. If he did, it would make the royalty at this school look bad. And we can¡¯t have that.¡±

    Beginning to step away, the girl turned back to me.

    ¡°Oh. There¡¯s one more thing I forgot to do.¡±

    She walked up in front of me again.

    ¡°Fireball.¡±

    A ball of fire instantly appeared in her hand and she began moving it towards my hair.

    ¡°For trying to interact with commoners like they''re on the same level as us. I think you need a little punishment. How does going bald sound for a brat like you?¡±

    The girl chuckled to herself and continued lowering the fire down toward the top of my head.

    How foolish could she be!? A flame that hot wouldn¡¯t just burn my hair, it would leave permanent burns all over my skin!

    Time felt like it was moving in slow motion.

    As the girl continued moving closer and closer, I could feel my heart quickening. But right as it was about to hit my head-

    ¡°Water Shot!¡±

    -a ball of water shot out from nowhere and instantly extinguished the flame.

    ¡°What the-!?¡±

    The girl didn¡¯t have time to respond as someone appeared in front of her.

    ¡°Haaaah!¡±

    With a fist slamming into her face, the girl was immediately sent falling into the ground before being pinned in a position where she couldn¡¯t move.

    "Don''t you dare touch her!" shouted what sounded like a boys voice.

    It sounded familiar, but it took me a second to realize who it was.

    ¡°Sir Roy!¡±

    Roy turned his head to smile at me.

    ¡°Hey, Miss Dianne.¡±

    Someone walked up behind me.

    ¡°Light Flame.¡±

    The vines tying my feet to the ground instantly burned away and I turned to find another familiar face standing there.

    ¡°Miss Ella.¡±

    Ella held out a hand for me and I instantly took it.

    ¡°You¡¯re not hurt are you?¡±

    ¡°Um...No. But thank you for your concern.¡±

    After I managed to recollect myself, I turned to Roy who had gotten the girl onto her feet while still keeping her hands pinned behind her back.

    ¡°Alright. So what should we do with her?¡±

    While he asked that, the girl tried to squirm out of his grip.

    ¡°Unhand me! I¡¯ll have you know I am under the house of none other than Gravenport! One of the most influential trading companies in the entire world! If you think you can try anything for even a second, I¡¯ll have my father make you pay!¡±

    When he heard that, Roy frowned.

    ¡°Geez. Were royalty always this annoying?¡± he wondered aloud.

    ¡°Wah-!?¡±

    Finding Roy''s words unbelievable, the girl gawked in surprise while he guided her down the hall towards the main office where we reported what happened. After that, the three of us made our way back to the classroom.

    ¡°Um¡­Thank you for that you two, I don¡¯t know what I would¡¯ve done if you hadn¡¯t been there.¡±

    Roy laughed.

    ¡°It¡¯s no problem. We just saw a friend in need and decided to help.¡±

    That statement caught me by surprise.

    ¡°Friend?¡±

    ¡°Hm? Yeah. We are aren''t we?¡±

    Hearing that caused a smile to spread across my face.

    ¡°Of course.¡±

    It was then that it hit me. When I decided to become friends with Axel, I made several other friends as well. Axel¡¯s friends saw me as one of their own. Realizing that, a warm feeling stirred in my chest and a smile refused to leave my face.

    Roy, Ella, and Dianne walked into the room to drop off their things only to gawk in surprise at the sight in front of them.

    ¡°Sup guys. How¡¯s it going?¡± I said in a chill, confident tone.

    No doubt they were looking behind me and had completely drowned my voice out. A bit rude, but understandable.

    ¡°Axel¡­is this¡­?¡± Dianne tried asking.

    I chuckled.

    ¡°Yep. Every single item we need for our list. I would¡¯ve found it all sooner, but I ran into a few road bumps.¡±

    Those road bumps being several students trying to get in my way of collecting the flag. Everything else was all Sirin and Vey''s doing.

    And if you wondering, yes, those two were the reason all this stuff was here. But I didn¡¯t want to show them off to everyone since it might cause both an uproar about using technology in an era where it didn¡¯t appear to exist and also making my squire collect items for me.

    Now how did those two do it? Simple. Since I figured the people stealing our items were probably keeping them stored somewhere, I had Sirin track that area down and then guide Vey toward it. After doing so, Vey pushed everything into one giant pile that once I came by, I could simply use my teleportation spell to bring all the items back to the classroom in an instant. In all honesty, though, we cut it pretty close. I never would¡¯ve guessed it would take so long for Sirin to locate it all. Still, I¡¯m glad it worked out.

    Roy and Ella were still looking in shock, but Dianne instantly ran over to me.

    Was she angry? Maybe. I did kind of go behind her back to get all this. And considering this was meant to be a team effort, I didn¡¯t exactly show much teamwork. So if she wanted to hit me for it, I suppose I could accept that.

    ¡°Axel! I¡¯m so happy!¡±

    ¡°Huh!?¡±

    Without warning, Dianne jumped on me and wrapped me in a hug so tight that it was a bit hard to breathe.

    She held onto me tightly for almost two minutes before letting go when Ella cleared her throat.

    ¡°Well then, it looks like the two of you have everything covered. However, we still have some things to gather so we¡¯ll be on our way,¡± said Ella as she gestured for Roy to follow her and the two of them left the room.

    Once they were gone, Dianne turned to me and gave me a smile with tears in her eyes.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know how you pulled it off, but thank you, Axel. This means so much to me.¡±

    Huh. Was it really that big of a deal? I get these competitions were intense, but I never thought she¡¯d look so relieved over something like this. I mean, I was just doing what I felt like doing. Is that really worth getting so worked up about?

    Letting out a sigh, I shrugged.

    ¡°It¡¯s no big deal. Just showing I have your back.¡±

    Hearing me say that caused Dianne to let out a small chuckle.

    ¡°Thank you. That means a lot.¡±

    Not sure what else to do, I shrugged again and watched over the stuff while waiting for the committee running the event to show up and score what we collected.

 Chapter 25: Transformation and Confrontation

    ¡°Look, Axel! Look!¡±

    Hearing Dianne¡¯s excited voice, I looked up at the scoreboard for the Hunter Games event to find ours standing at the top of the list. Beating second place by a mere twelve points.

    ¡°Huh. Closer than I expected.¡± I muttered to myself.

    I mean, considering close to almost a hundred and fifty teams were competing, I figured it¡¯d be close, but I figured it¡¯d be at least forty points. So twelve is cutting it pretty close.

    If I had to take a guess, we probably lost some points for turning in items late. And if I think about it in that sense, everything started to fall into place.

    ¡°Look! Xara and Riko are third!¡± shouted Dianne

    ¡°Really?¡±

    I glanced a little bit below us and sure enough, Xara and Riko were sitting in third. Strange considering how much they had to collect when I last saw them. Perhaps I wonder if something happened to help them catch up.

    Sadly, Roy and Ella ended up in eighty-fourth place. Not bad, but not good either. It''s somewhat of a middle ground where you can¡¯t feel happy or disappointed. But at least they tried their best.

    Now in case you¡¯re wondering, we had to wake up early in order to see what the scores were before things got too crowded. Because the event ended yesterday and I found myself feeling a bit tired after the whole ordeal, I figured it¡¯d be best to sleep and come back and see the final results the next day. Though that was probably the case for most people so it was important to get here sooner rather than later.

    But moving past that, according to what the pamphlet for the event said, all competitors if they were within the top fifty had to gather on one of the school¡¯s smaller PE fields to be given medals and other trophy-like items on the day after the event is over. And while the medals are nice, they¡¯re basically something akin to participation awards. And the only ones who get any real trophies are the top five teams.

    But as the ceremony wasn¡¯t supposed to happen until later tonight, I figured I¡¯d get a bit more sleep beforehand.

    Waving goodbye to Dianne, I made my way back to the dorm and thought about what was to come. Little did I realize though, how messy things were about to get.

    Seeing Dianne¡¯s name up there at the top filled Richie¡¯s heart with pride. But spotting the commoner''s name next to it irritated him. He had met the boy the week prior, but just the sight of him caused Richie to go on the defensive. Commoners really were repulsive.

    Worst of all, the princess defended him. That frustrated Richie to no end. He just wanted to wipe that commoner off the face of the earth.

    So, as he glanced at the ring in his hand, he looked out at the slowly darkening sky. It was almost time. As much as he hated to do this to Princess Dianne, he knew this was the only way to fix her thinking once and for all.

    With that in mind, he made his way towards the spot where the awards were to be handed out and prepared to make his move.

    As the ceremony was about to begin, I spotted Dianne in the crowd of people and sat down in the chair next to hers.

    She gave me an excited smile and I tried my best to return the favor before turning my attention toward the front where there were several teachers standing around and watching over the students. Making it clear they would watch over everything and make sure thing''s went smoothly.

    A few minutes later, Haiko Ariyama, one of the main heroines as well as the student council president, walked up on stage as her long snow white hair shined in the fading sun.

    ¡°Greetings my fellow students. Today were gathered to celebrate your achievements during this year''s Hunter Games. And as your student council president, I couldn¡¯t be happier to be here with you all.¡±

    She said that, but there was an empty stare on Haiko¡¯s face. Her voice also lacked any emotion. She was almost robotic. I knew why, and even grew adjusted to hearing it while playing. But now that I¡¯ve heard it in real life, I realize just how empty and lifeless it truly sounded. Making me wonder if there¡¯s more to her than the game let on.

    Haiko went on to talk about a few more things before starting to hand rewards out to the top teams.

    ¡°In fiftyth place, Fiona Dashervon and Donna Guruno of class 1-C.¡±

    Fiona and Donna made their way on stage and were given what appeared to be golden ribbons before making their way off stage.

    The list continued onward past Roy and Ella, all the way to Xara and Riko. Before long, it was finally our turn.

    ¡°And in first place, Axel Savoncho and Dianne Riosha of class 1-S.¡±

    The two of us got out of our seats and made our way up on stage. All the while, I kept glancing around at the students giving me angry glares. But knowing that I managed to beat all of them, I couldn¡¯t help but let an arrogant smirk slip onto my face.

    Once we were on stage, Haiko stepped back.

    ¡°At the request of a close associate of the principal, someone else will be passing your rewards to the two of you.¡±

    That was¡­weird. Who would have the power to do something like that?

    At that moment, none other than Richie walked up towards us.

    He gave me a disgusted glare before smiling at Dianne. She seemed quite surprised by Richie¡¯s appearance meaning she didn¡¯t know any more than I did about this situation.

    Ignoring her confusion, Richie began to speak.

    ¡°Dianne Riosha. In order to commemorate your victory, I would like to present you with something made at the request of the king himself. Please accept this reward.¡±

    Dianne¡¯s eyes widened at the mention of her dad. But before she could respond, Richie presented her with a ruby-colored ring.

    ¡°I don¡¯t¡­think I¡­could¡­¡±

    Dianne tried to say something only for her eyes to glaze over as she stared at the ring.

    ¡°I¡¯m¡­happy to accept it.¡±

    As she said that, I glanced up at the moon. It was a bright red. Different from the normal blue I¡¯ve come to know since coming here. Something I¡¯ve been ignoring for a bit now. But now that we¡¯re here, there¡¯s something off about this whole thing. And I just couldn¡¯t ignore the feeling nagging at me. That¡¯s why I knew what I had to do next.

    After hearing what Dianne said, Richie smiled and held the ring out for her and she began to reach for it.

    ¡°Hold it.¡±

    I instantly grabbed Dianne¡¯s hand and Richie gave me a furious glare

    ¡°What do you think you¡¯re doing!? I¡¯m just trying to give the winner her reward!¡±

    ¡°And I suppose a raja ring, a magic ring used only to alter a being''s mind is supposed to be a suitable reward?¡±

    Richie''s eyes went wide.

    ¡°How do you-!?¡±

    Before he had time to react, I kicked the ring into the air.

    ¡°No! The ring!¡±

    Richie acted immediately as he jumped up into the air and the glaze around Dianne¡¯s eyes vanished.

    ¡°What¡­was I¡­?¡±

    She was completely lost on what was happening.

    As Richie continued to reach out for the ring, he didn¡¯t think for a second how to catch it and spread his fingers out wide.

    ¡°Wait! Don¡¯t let it slip onto your fing-!¡± I tried to warn him. But it was too late.

    The ring fell onto his finger and he landed with a thud.

    The students in their seats all let out loud gasps at what just unfolded.

    And then, out of nowhere...

    "AWOOOO!"

    Richie let out a loud howl as the ring glowed on his finger.

    ¡°What the-!?¡±

    As Dianne tried to take a step back, I snatched her up and jumped off the stage.

    ¡°P-Princess Dianne!¡± Richie shouted as his body began to change.

    First, hair started growing over his body, followed by his teeth sharpening up as well as his voice growing deeper and deeper with each second.

    ¡°Dammit. That wasn¡¯t a raja ring. It was a wolfbane ring,¡± I said in frustration.

    Allow me to explain, raja rings are a rare form of red ring that can alter someone''s mind enough to a point they think completely differently from how they would before. Despite their rarity, many people in this world have used them to turn criminals into normal citizens, as well as turn normal everyday people into slaves or servants. Sexual or otherwise. They really are disgusting things and I honestly wish they weren¡¯t in the game.

    This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

    Then comes a very similar-looking ring known as a wolfbane ring. These rings, as you might have guessed from what just happened, can cause someone to transform into a werewolf-like creature that has an astronomical amount of magic power. The one catch is that the only time a wolfbane ring can be used is during a red moon which only happens once every ten years.

    And I think it¡¯s safe to assume Richie didn¡¯t know about that since he tried to get Dianne to wear that thing.

    While he transformed, students ran from the field as fast as they could. The teachers were trying to hold him using magic, but when claws appeared on his hands, he instantly sliced their attacks away. While letting out an inhumane roar.

    Somehow in the span of a single minute, things went from zero to a hundred incredibly quickly.

    After another moment, Richie¡¯s transformation was complete and he let out a howl loud enough to shake the field around us.

    He smashed his claws into the teachers and instantly sent them flying, leaving only Haiko who looked up to his face with a blank stare.

    Ignoring her, Richie turned his head towards the sky and let out a sniff.

    After he appeared to have found what he was searching for, he turned his head in my direction and looked at Dianne who was staring at him in terror behind me.

    ¡°Princess Dianne¡­Princess Dianne!¡±

    Now twice his original size, Richie burst off the stage and ran at Dianne.

    ¡°R¡­Richie? What have you done to yourself!?¡±

    Dianne, obviously lost on what was going on, watched as Richie got closer.

    She was about to step forward, but I held out my arm to stop her.

    ¡°Axel?¡±

    ¡°That man isn¡¯t in his right mind anymore. As he is now, I think it¡¯s impossible to change him back.¡±

    Dianne turned her head to the ground.

    ¡°No¡­¡±

    As much as I hate to admit it, even I didn¡¯t know a way to change him back. As this item never came up in the game other than as a simple mention, I never had the chance to learn anything about it.

    With that said, I wasn¡¯t about to let him take Dianne. After all, it was clear he wasn¡¯t in his right mind anymore.

    Now, if what I remember is correct, his mind¡¯s been dumbed down to a point even I couldn¡¯t guess what he was thinking. This means his moves could be incredibly unpredictable. So I made sure to keep Dianne as far as I could as I acted like a human shield.

    Noticing how I was standing between him and Dianne, Richie growled at me.

    ¡°YOU DAMN COMMONER!¡±

    As he screamed that, he tried driving his claw toward my chest.

    ¡°Nia!¡±

    ¡°On it!¡±

    In an instant, Dianne and I vanished and appeared in front of the school building.

    Dianne looked around confused. But now wasn¡¯t the time to explain anything to her.

    ¡°Sorry about this Dianne, but I¡¯m afraid I¡¯m gonna have to take down that butler of yours.¡±

    ¡°Ah¡­Wait!¡±

    Not listening, I instantly teleported back to the field where I¡¯d been moments ago.

    Confused as to how I vanished, it took Richie a second to notice me. And once he did, the first thing he realized was the lack of Dianne behind me.

    ¡°What the-!? Where¡¯s Princess Dianne!?¡±

    Instead of responding, I got into a fighting pose.

    ¡°If you want her so bad, you¡¯re gonna have to go through me first!¡±

    Hearing that, Richie let out probably what was the loudest roar he had given since he¡¯d transformed and jumped into the air in an attempt to slam his fist down and crush me like a pancake.

    ¡°Too slow!¡±

    Instantly dodging his attack, I ducked in order to avoid some flying debris before pushing some wind magic into my feet.

    ¡°Let¡¯s do this Nia!¡±

    ¡°Right!¡±

    Pushing some wind magic into my feet once more, I ran across the field at an incredible speed before jumping into the air.

    Balls of fire formed in my hands and I shot them at Richie who immediately blocked them with his arms. The hairs on his arm didn¡¯t burn in the slightest.

    ¡°What!? Fireproof fur is a thing in this world!?¡± I screamed in annoyance.

    Well, that¡¯s a pain.

    Landing on the ground, I ran around the field once more as Richie threw handfuls of chairs my way.

    ¡°What the hell man!? You could¡¯ve just asked me to take a seat!¡±

    As I said that, I used blades of wind to chop up the chairs and they fell to pieces next to me.

    Richie let out a loud howl of anger in response to my teasing. That¡¯s good. After all, if there¡¯s one thing I¡¯ve learned from superhero movies, taunting is a great to throw off enemi-Whoa!

    Barley managing to dodge an even larger onslaught of chairs, something dawned on me. Instead of getting thrown off, Richie seems even more focused than ever to take me out.

    ¡°What person decided heroes taunting villains was a good idea!? Now this is getting even harder than before!¡±

    Finally running out of chairs, Richie dug his hands into the ground and pulled out giant chunks of dirt, and began flinging them at me.

    ¡°Okay. Now that¡¯s just annoying!¡±

    As small chunks of dirt hit me, giant chunks barely grazed me and caused me to suck in my gut.

    The things in the dungeon were tough, but this takes it to another level. Just how strong did the wolfbane ring make this guy!?

    Seeing a ball of dirt flying right at me, I held out a hand as the dirt crashed into a wall of air in front of me and clouded the area in dust.

    Bursting through the cloud of dust, Richie jumped at me and pushed his fist forward only for me to barely dodge as his attack caused a scratch to appear on my cheek.

    ¡°Crap.¡±

    Feeling myself growing tired, I tried to slow my breathing. Damn this stupid body! Why is it so freakishly weak when it came to physical activities!?

    Steading my breathing, I moved out of the way just in time to avoid another attack.

    ¡°This isn¡¯t looking great. Any ideas Nia?¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    ¡°Nia?¡±

    ¡­Silence.

    What!? Come on!

    ¡°Uh¡­Nia? You in there?¡±

    ¡°Give me a minute!¡±

    Oh. Guess she was thinking about an answer. I should probably buy her some ti- CRAP!

    Ducking under Richie¡¯s fist, I watched it fly over me as I tried my best to not pass out from the intense wind making it hard to breathe from under here.

    As the attack finally finished passing over me, I pushed some wind into my feet and jumped away right before he got another attack in.

    ¡°All I¡¯m doing is dodging right now! Got anything yet Nia!?¡±

    ¡°Give me more time!¡±

    How much time did she freaking need!?

    Trying to hold him off, I created a wall of fire only for him to instantly run through it without any issue.

    ¡°NIA!¡±

    ¡°A FEW MORE SECONDS!¡±

    ¡°Wait¡­a few more seconds for what!?¡±

    Instead of responding, my grimoire grew a bright blue, and an unimaginable pain shot through my body.

    ¡°AAAHHHH!¡±

    Screaming out in agony, I tried my best to stay on my feet. But with how much it hurt, that was almost impossible. I think this was the feeling I always had whenever Nia unlocked a new spell. However, it never hurt this much before!

    Sensing I was defenseless, Richie tried to attack me only to be blown away by a wall of wind Nia no doubt set up.

    After another moment, the pain started to subside.

    ¡°What the hell¡­did you do?¡± I growled.

    ¡°I don¡¯t have much time to explain, so here¡¯s the basic rundown.¡±

    Quickly giving me a summary of what she had set up, I began to understand and clenched my fists tightly.

    ¡°Alright. I got it.¡±

    Turning my attention to Richie, he was continuing to run into the wall of wind. No doubt wanting to kill me.

    ¡°Okay. Time to put my expanded thinking to work!¡±

    Focusing my mind, I pushed my expanded thinking forth and had it scan the beast.

    In terms of the spell Nia prepared, the following plan would be the best course of action.

    ¡°I see! Then let¡¯s do this!¡±

    Having decided on my course of action, I began pushing the wind magic into my feet as I charged at Richie. Responding in kind, Richie rushed forward ready to kill me where I stood. I couldn¡¯t help but smirk.

    ¡°I¡¯ve been looking forward to doing this for a long time!¡± I shouted.

    Right as the two of us reached one another, I instantly ducked under him and jumped on his back.

    ¡°What the-!?¡±

    Confused, Richie tried to grab me but struggled due to how small I was in comparison to him.

    Frustrated he couldn¡¯t grab me, he let out another roar.

    ¡°Now!¡± Nia screamed

    Jumping over his head, I landed on the ground where Richie left himself open and my fist began to turn a steel grey

    ¡°Take this, you bastard!¡±

    Putting all the force I could muster into my fist, I smashed it into Richie¡¯s jaw causing his broken teeth to fly everywhere

    The underjaw was the weakest point on his now transformed body. That was what my expanded thinking told me. Meaning a clean hit would no doubt put an end to this.

    And as my fist hit his jaw, I heard the sounds of his other bones cracking apart.

    ¡°Go to hell asshole!¡±

    With one last push, I sent Richie flying into the air. Higher and higher. And before I knew it, he had completely vanished from sight.

    ¡°Nia¡­hah¡­how far¡­hah...did he go?¡±

    ¡°From what I could see, he¡¯s already passed Earth¡¯s highest point.¡±

    ¡°That so? Damn, that spell is powerful.¡±

    For those of you wondering, the spell Nia taught me was a spell known as reinforced steel. It apparently reinforces the body beyond its limit by tenfold. A good spell, but it seems to come with quite a toll. After all¡­

    ¡°Even if it is powerful¡­it still hurts like hell!¡±

    Grabbing my hand, I tried blowing on it as much as I could. It looked like it was about to burst from how much force I put into that punch. No wonder learning this hurt so much. Something like this would rarely be useful against anything unless I was willing to give up my only working hand. So, note to self, if you ever do that again, use the robotic hand instead.

    With that in mind, I sat down on the ground. Finally able to catch my breath.

    A few minutes later, several other teachers arrived to take care of the monster only to find it gone. Knowing it¡¯d be a pain to explain what happened, I teleported away before they noticed me. Moments later, I arrived in my room and collapsed onto my bed.

    With that, the Hunter Games event was finally over. And now that everything is said and done, I can finally get a moment to relax.

    As Axel teleported away, Haiko watched from the stage. She had seen the entire event transpire right before her eyes. She almost couldn¡¯t believe it. A first-year student taking down a monster like that. It almost sounded like some kind of story you¡¯d tell your kids to inspire them to go out into the world.

    And as some teachers made their way over to her Haiko started explaining what happened. And as usual, with an almost completely blank expression on her face.

 Chapter 26: Surprise Visitors

    School was canceled for the week after the Hunter Games. Since no one knew what happened to the monster, they wanted to ensure student''s safety so everyone was sent home until they were certain there wouldn¡¯t be any more danger.

    Naturally, that meant I stayed out on my floating island with Sirin and Nia.

    While I was happy for the break, as it gave my hand time to heal, I still felt bad for Xara. I had told her I would give her a response to her question at the start of next week, but then this happened. Honestly, thinking I wouldn¡¯t talk to her for a whole week made me feel kinda sa-

    ¡°Sir Savoncho! You¡¯re bath is ready!¡±

    I turned to see Vey approaching me. Oh yeah. I forgot she had come with me. Kinda weird considering how her shout of surprise when we arrived was almost as loud as that monster''s annoying roar was. It was even worse than that when you add on the fact that she screamed right next to me so I got an earful of her voice. But whatever. She was here now and there wasn¡¯t anything I could do about it.

    Hopping into the bath, I quickly washed myself down in under ten minutes before drying off and putting on a fresh set of clothes.

    And as I walked out onto the island, I looked out at the clear blue sky.

    Come to think of it, I never had a chance to speak with Dianne after everything happened. I wouldn¡¯t be surprised if she hated me after killing her family¡¯s butler like that.

    Letting out a yawn, I stretched my arms into the sky when Sirin in cube form appeared next to me.

    ¡°I¡¯m curious. Was the information I gave you useful?¡±

    ¡°Definitely. If you hadn¡¯t brought up seeing Richie with that ring, I never would¡¯ve known about it. Thanks a lot.¡±

    ¡°You are most welcome Master.¡±

    I really do owe Sirin for bringing that up. Richie wasn¡¯t even there during the original event. He was just a jackass who popped up out of nowhere.

    Honestly, if Sirin hadn¡¯t seen what she did, I never would¡¯ve known his plan. Heck. I didn¡¯t even know anything about a raja ring before she told me about it. I had to give credit to Nia for giving me information on that one. But in the end, it didn¡¯t matter since it ended up being a wolfbane ring which apparently had a similar design to a raja ring.

    In fact, it looks like Richie believed that was the case too. That meant someone else gave him the ring and claimed it was a raja ring. That meant whoever that was is still out there somewhere. Meaning more trouble could be down the road at some point.

    However, that wasn¡¯t really my business. At least not at the moment. Whether it is or isn¡¯t depends on the person''s next move. But now wasn''t the time to think about that.

    Letting out a sigh, I was about to walk back inside when alarms blew into my ears.

    ¡°Intruder!  Intruder! Intruder!¡±

    ¡°Geez. Is the alarm always that loud?¡±

    Covering my ears, I had Sirin open up some footage to show who the intruder was.

    ¡°What the-!?¡±

    Surprised, I charged toward the direction Sirin said the intruder was in and pushed some wind magic into my feet to help me run faster.

    Minutes later, I looked down from a hill at the intruders.

    ¡°I didn¡¯t expect to find you two here,¡± I said aloud.

    Two people immediately looked up at me. One with uncertainty, the other with either frustration or nervousness.

    Stepping down from the hill and landing in front of the two, I looked at them face to face.

    ¡°Welcome to my island¡­Xara and Dianne.¡±

    Meanwhile, someone who looked like a gentleman around the age of fifty looked down at a set of papers and rubbed his eyes.

    ¡°You¡¯ve got to be kidding me.¡±

    Holding up the papers in front of him, he read them aloud to himself.

    ¡°After the student, Kurina Frendaya was found assaulting Dianne Riosha in an attempt to steal her items and compromise her team''s chances of winning. Upon further questioning, she informed the school several other students were involved in this plan which was proven as such from the mysterious disappearance of Dianne and her teammate Axel Savoncho¡¯s items throughout the event.¡±

    Putting the papers down, the man turned around to look out the window behind him

    ¡°Man. Even after being here for as long as he has, these people still have it out for him. And it¡¯s not even just students.¡±

    The man glanced at a paper he had received only minutes before.

    Apparently, some of the teachers wanted to take credit for defeating the monster. However, an interesting report proved otherwise.

    ¡°According to a report from student council president Haiko Ariyama, she watched Axel Savoncho single-handedly defeat the monster. While there weren¡¯t any other reports to confirm this, the student council president has shown she doesn¡¯t lie. So if she said that¡¯s what happened, then I guess that¡¯s what happened.¡±

    With everything coming at him at once, the man had no idea what to do.

    Bringing his attention to the giant window behind his desk, he watched the stars shine in the sky above.

    ¡°He really is something else. From surviving in a place most would die in, to defeating a threat even some of the teachers would struggle with. The more I hear, the more I want to meet him¡­still, seeing how he¡¯s being treated isn¡¯t exactly ideal.¡±

    Turning back to his desk, the man began writing things down.

    ¡°There. That should be a fitting punishment for the people trying to sabotage him during the event.¡±

    Leaning back in his chair, the man chuckled and pondered what the future had in store.

    After letting them inside my mansion, I guided Xara and Dianne towards the dining room where the two of them awkwardly sipped some tea Vey offered them.

    ¡°Dammit. What the hell are these two doing here?¡± I muttered to myself in frustration just barely out of view.

    The two people I was the least sure about talking to just happened to stop by my island. This wasn¡¯t exactly the ideal situation.

    Watching them continue to sit there, I figured now was the time to walk in and so I let out a sigh. This really wasn¡¯t how I wanted to spend one of my days off.

    Stepping out of the shadows, I made my way over to the two of them.

    ¡°Hey there you two. What are you guys doing here? I didn¡¯t even know you knew where I lived.¡±

    Dianne turned towards me and cleared her throat.

    ¡°My apologies. It was my idea to come here. I heard from a¡­person close to the crown where to find you and decided to invite Miss Xara along with me. I hope it¡¯s not a problem.¡±

    I scratched the back of my head. In short, she probably asked her dad about my location since he¡¯s one of the few people who knows where I keep this thing. Anyone else who finds it either is some royal asshole with connections or the occasional wandering adventurer or bandit.

    Sitting down at the table with them, Vey offered me some tea which I accepted with a nod before looking at the two girls in front of me.

    ¡°It¡¯s not really a problem. I just wish you told me you wanted to visit. I mean, if I hadn¡¯t been here, you probably would¡¯ve gotten kicked right off the island without me even knowing.¡±

    This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.

    Xara and Dianne nodded in understanding. Probably remembering the alarms that rang throughout the island not too long ago.

    Taking a sip from my tea, I found my body relaxing a little bit.

    ¡°Again, we¡¯re very sorry. And we¡¯ll remember to ask you for permission if we ever come here in the future.¡±

    Taking another sip from my tea, I put down my cup.

    ¡°Anyway, you still haven¡¯t told me why you were here. Would you mind telling me?¡±

    They may have explained how they got here, but they didn¡¯t explain why which still confused me.

    ¡°Ah. I suppose we should get this started then.¡±

    Dianne stood up and gave me a rather serious look. Then, a moment later, she bowed deeply.¡±

    ¡°Axel Savoncho! Thank you for protecting me during the events of the closing ceremony during the Hunter Games! From both me as well as my parents, you have my eternal gratitude.¡±

    ¡°...Huh?¡±

    Dianne continued to bow deeply. All the while, Xara sat there awkwardly as I tried to wrap my head around what was going on.

    ¡°Erm¡­It¡¯s really not a big deal. Besides, shouldn¡¯t you be mad at me? I killed that butler of yours. Why aren¡¯t you shouting at me?¡±

    I was completely lost. This wasn¡¯t how I was expecting things to play out. Just how unpredictable was this girl? Was she always like this?

    Continuing to bow, Dianne answered my questions.

    ¡°I can¡¯t possibly be mad at the one who saved my life! Not to mention, you stopped Richie from turning me into a monster. If you hadn¡¯t stepped in, I wouldn¡¯t even be here to thank you!¡±

    ¡°Er¡­¡±

    She had a point there. Though, I guess she hasn¡¯t realized I¡¯m merely doing all this cause I feel like it. It¡¯s not like I want attention¡­although if it helped people shut up about me, I wouldn¡¯t be opposed to her thanks.

    Scratching the back of my head, I tried to come up with what to say.

    ¡°Well, I appreciate your thanks so¡­please lift your head. I¡¯m starting to feel bad now.¡±

    Dianne finally stopped bowing and smiled at me.

    ¡°I¡¯m glad to hear you appreciate it.¡±

    Sitting back down, Dianne took a sip of tea.

    ¡°Well then, I¡¯ve finished what I¡¯ve come here to do, so I¡¯ll pass things on to Miss Xara.¡±

    Hearing that, I turned to Xara who began mumbling to herself.

    ¡°Well¡­you see¡­I just¡­¡±

    She seemed to be struggling with getting the words out. Her face also seemed to be a light pink. Seeing that, I could feel a smile spread on my face. She was really cute.

    Fidgeting with her fingers, Xara took in a deep breath.

    ¡°I know you wanted it to¡­be held off until school, but I was really curious to hear your answer to my question. Would it be a bad time to ask for an answer?¡±

    Knowing exactly what she was talking about, I let out a sigh.

    ¡°Vey?¡±

    ¡°Yes Sir Savoncho?¡±

    ¡°Please keep Dianne entertained. I need to talk to Xara for a bit.¡±

    Vey smiled.

    ¡°Of course Sir Savoncho.¡±

    Sitting down next to Dianne, Vey began talking with her. Meanwhile, I grabbed Xara¡¯s hand.

    ¡°Follow me. I¡¯d like to speak with you for a bit.¡±

    ¡°Oh¡­I¡­uh¡­¡±

    Xara looked completely flustered.

    Slowly lifting her to her feet, I guided her out of the dining room towards a location I wanted to show her.

    Around ten minutes of walking later, we left the house and arrived at what looked to be a giant garden.

    ¡°Wow. What an incredible garden.¡±

    ¡°Thanks. I have someone quite skilled taking care of it.¡±

    That someone being Sirin, but that wasn¡¯t important right now.

    ¡°So¡­Why did you bring me out here?¡±

    Arriving at a fountain in the middle of the garden, I looked to the sky.

    ¡°Let me ask you something. If you found out what the future had in store for someone, what would you do?¡±

    ¡°Huh?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s a hypothetical question. Say you knew somebody and cared about them more than yourself. But then, you see where the future leads them and find out you¡¯re not meant to be part of it. What would you do in a situation like that?¡±

    Xara thought about it for a moment.

    ¡°It¡¯d be smarter to just let that person continue down that path.¡±

    ¡°That so? An understandable way of thi-¡±

    ¡°However, if it were me, I¡¯d try to change it.¡±

    ¡°Huh!?¡±

    Having sat down on the edge of the fountain, I stared at Xara with a look of surprise.

    ¡°Seriously? Even if you know things might not go as great as before?¡±

    Xara nodded.

    ¡°If letting them be happy required me to lose them, I¡¯d rather try to push myself into that future and become a part of it. Even if that¡¯s not how it¡¯s meant to be.¡±

    That answer¡­ surprised me.

    It surprised me so much, that I couldn¡¯t help but let out a loud laugh.

    ¡°Hahahah!¡±

    ¡°Wha-!? What¡¯s so funny!?¡±

    Xara looked completely lost at my sudden burst of laughter.

    I tried recollecting myself.

    ¡°Sorry. Sorry. I just wasn¡¯t expecting you to say something like that.¡±

    Hearing that answer, I was finally certain what I had to do.

    Standing up, I held out a hand to Xara.

    ¡°Come on Xara. Let¡¯s get back to the others.¡±

    ¡°Oh¡­Okay. But what about my question?¡±

    I grinned.

    ¡°Sorry. You¡¯re gonna have to wait a little while longer for that.¡±

    ¡°What!?¡±

    Chuckling, I continued guiding her through the main house back to the dining area where Dianne and Vey were still having a nice conversation.

    They hung out for a few more hours after that until the sun was getting close to setting.

    Returning to what appeared to be a boat enchanted with flight magic, the two of them waved goodbye. But not before confirming to Xara that I¡¯d give her the answer to that question at the start of next week.

    Once they were out of sight, I made my way back to the mansion I¡¯d been staying in for a little while now and went to my room before collapsing onto my bed.

    ¡°What a day,¡± I found myself muttering.

    This really was a rough day to get through. I not only had to talk with the two people I was afraid of talking to the most, but I also had to deal with teasing from Nia once it was all said and done.

    Lying on my back, I looked up at the ceiling as Nia appeared in her physical form next to me.

    ¡°Don¡¯t say another word. I¡¯ve had enough as it is.¡±

    Nia chuckled.

    ¡°You seemed to have had a lot of fun.¡±

    ¡°I said stop.¡±

    ¡°Maybe next time I should join in and introduce mysel-!? Ow!¡±

    I gave her a light chop to the head before getting under the covers and closing my eyes.

    ¡°Just leave it. We already have enough on our plate with preparing a few more things for the island, so let¡¯s get back to that.¡±

    Nia was silent for a moment before letting out a small giggle.

    ¡°Okaaay.¡±

    She then hugged me tightly and I let out a sigh before closing my eyes. All while she snuggled up and feel asleep next to me.

    Now before any of you ask, no, Nia and I aren''t close in that regard. I don¡¯t see her like that and probably never will. She just started doing this and continued to do it to the point I don¡¯t even care anymore. With that cleared up, it was time to get some shut-eye.

    A few minutes after closing my eyes, I finally fell unconscious.

    Having not spoken to Xara since the Hunter Games conclusion, Riko stepped back and forth within his room inside the castle his family owned. They may not be some big fancy royal family, but his family was still royalty which meant he lived as such.

    ¡°What do I do? If I let that weirdo continue to interact with Xara like he has, I¡¯ll lose her. Who does that guy think he is anyway? We just decided to talk to him once and suddenly he¡¯s completely destroyed my and Xara¡¯s friendship!¡±

    Riko¡¯s hands curled into fists before slamming one of them into the wall with an angry growl.

    He heard one of the maids shout in surprise from the other side of the wall and quickly opened his door to ask if she was okay.

    She reassured him she was alright and he returned to his room.

    Flopping himself onto his bed, he almost felt like crying.

    He had met Xara on the first day of school. Out of all the people he¡¯d seen that day, she was the only one who talked to him. Now, even she had left him behind to go hang with some commoner he knew nothing about.

    Lying on his back, he stared up at the ceiling.

    ¡°I don¡¯t want to lose her¡­not after everything we¡¯ve been through.¡±

    Sitting up, a thought came to his mind.

    ¡°But what if¡­¡±

    As soon as this idea crossed his mind, he considered it for a few more minutes.

    ¡°Yeah. That¡¯s exactly what I should do.¡±

    Getting out of his bed, he glanced at himself in the mirror for a moment before taking in a deep breath.

    After that, he began practicing his plan out loud. Hoping and praying it would work.

 Chapter 27: Confession Confrontation

    Before Xara knew it, the week had flown by and it was time to return to school.

    Opening her wings, she flew off into the air and began making her way towards school.

    While she was flying, she spotted a few other students in the sky as well.

    One looked like a bird demi-human, another was a mix between a slime and bird whose wings gave off a slimy hue, and there was even a succubus or two like Xara.

    Seeing stuff like this reminded her that the school wasn¡¯t just for humans like Axel, Dianne, and Riko.

    About twenty minutes of flying later, Xara arrived at the school¡¯s front entrance.

    Glancing at the clock above said entrance, she saw classes wouldn¡¯t begin for another two hours. But that was fine. She wasn¡¯t here because of an urge to arrive early, she had a reason to be here.

    Making her way into the building, she zig-zagged through the halls before arriving at a set of doors.

    Opening one of them up, she stepped through and was greeted by the sounds of people''s voices.

    ¡°Hey Xara!¡±

    ¡°Glad ya made it!¡±

    ¡°How¡¯s it going?¡±

    The greetings filled her ears and she smiled in response.

    ¡°Hi, guys. It¡¯s going great. How are all of you?¡±

    She immediately immersed herself in conversation.

    Making sure the door closed behind her, Xara glanced up at a sign that read ¡°Welcome to the Interspecies Cooking Club. We hope you enjoy your time here.¡±

    That¡¯s right. This was the club Xara had joined after deciding to think more about herself. She hadn¡¯t thought much about cooking before, but ever since she joined this club, she became infatuated with it.

    And it wasn¡¯t just her who felt welcome there since there weren¡¯t just other succubi like herself attending, but many other creatures as well. From minatours, centaurs, and even slime creatures like the girl who she flew by earlier. Showing that there were a lot of different royalty in the world. Not just humans.

    Now, that wasn¡¯t to say there weren¡¯t a lot of humans at this school, but there was a decent amount of different types of creatures besides humans that learned stuff here as well. However, there were still problems when it came to mixed species learning together.

    Since while humanity may have learned to accept other creatures, adapting to them was still difficult. That¡¯s why, until magic¡¯s advanced far enough for this not to be an issue, creatures with different things such as body proportions like centaurs, or different physical forms like slime creatures, have their own classes separated from the rest of the school. However, students who had designs similar to those of humans were allowed to learn in the same classrooms as humans. And Xara was one of them.

    But for most species, they didn¡¯t get much of a chance to interact with many others except their own kind. That¡¯s why clubs like this one were so important to them.

    Not only were other species allowed in here, but humans were as well. That made it possible for people of all kinds to interact and create friendships normally never possible.

    Xara, who joined a little while ago, found this whole scene refreshing and immediately was able to make friends fairly quickly since her arrival.

    People in the club even refer to her as the second most well-known member only being beaten out by the club president.

    Sitting down in her seat, Xara began pulling out her cooking equipment when someone else burst into the room.

    ¡°Hiya guys, gals, and creature pals! Who¡¯s ready to get cooking!?¡±

    Moving to the front of the clubroom, a girl with orange hair tied up into pigtails smiled at everyone in the class.

    Her body was covered with a mix of skin and scales that, while not easy to see, were noticeable on the parts of her skin that weren¡¯t covered up by her school uniform.

    Her energy brought excitement to the room and she made sure to show as much enthusiasm as possible. This girl¡¯s name was Valentina Dragorth. A princess of a royal dragon clan. She was currently in a human form she had been taught to transform into from back when she was young.

    As one of the few princesses left in her family tree within the dragon clan, she had been sent to this school so she could learn to fend for herself and prove that she could one day leave her family behind and go off to create a kingdom of her own. The same way her forefathers did. Using this goal as motivation, Valentina seemed like she was constantly filled with energy and was known to consistently have a go-to attitude and helped out people on several occasions. In fact, she even acted as an announcer for each day of the Hunter Games event and did it simply because she wanted to help the school.

    Now as I¡¯m sure you¡¯re aware, she¡¯s the previously mentioned club president.

    With her chirpy attitude, she easily won over the hearts of all the people in the clubroom. Not a single person in the room hated her. And Xara was no different.

    ¡°Alrighty! To begin, what do you guys think about us making some melon bread?¡±

    A loud cheer filled the clubroom after she asked that and before Xara knew it, she was already getting started.

    Putting her ingredients in order, Xara got to work taking care of the dough as Valentina walked by and offered her some advice on how to make it.

    Before long, Xara was ready to cook. Grabbing a small fork enchanted with fire magic, she placed it on top of the uncooked melon bread and it slowly began to heat up.

    If this were the world Axel came from, a process like this would take quite a while. But thanks to the magic of this world, cooking anything wouldn¡¯t take long at all.

    Less than thirty minutes later, Xara¡¯s melon bread was done. It looked somewhat yellow, with an exterior that appeared like you could play tic-tac-toe on it.

    Putting the melon bread in a bag for later, Xara decided to cook up something else for herself and whipped together a small creampuff-like treat.

    She ate it and a smile spread across her face. Valentina glanced over at her before giving a thumbs up and moving off to take a look at the other students.

    Looking around the room, Xara noticed a majority of the club members had already finished making their melon bread and were doing what she¡¯d been doing, making random treats to eat for fun.

    Seeing this helped Xara get a major dose of reality and how easy it could be to actually make melon bread. Showing she was just another person cooking at this club and not some secret chef or genius cook.

    But despite this saddening fact, she wasn¡¯t gonna give up on making incredible treats. Focusing back on her cooking, she baked a few more treats before it was time to leave for class.

    Lifting her bag over her shoulder, she was about to leave the classroom when a voice rang out from behind her.

    ¡°Hey, Xara! Got a minute? There¡¯s something I wanna ask you!¡±

    Xara turned around to find Valentina approaching her with a smile.

    ¡°Miss Valentina. What do you need?¡±

    Valentina waggled her finger in front of Xara.

    ¡°Nope! Like I told you before, just call me Valentina. I don¡¯t like when people add the Miss to it. It just makes me sound old.¡±

    ¡°Um...Okay. So what did you need from me?

    Valentina pretended to think for a moment as if she¡¯d forgotten what she had to ask before smiling brightly.

    ¡°I was curious if you¡¯ve liked it here. You¡¯ve only been with us for a few weeks, so I don¡¯t know how you feel being around so many different types of people. Would you say this club is to your liking?¡±

    Xara nodded.

    ¡°Of course! I¡¯ve never been in a club so welcoming before. I¡¯m truly grateful to have joined.¡±

    Not that she had been in any clubs before this, but Xara wasn¡¯t lying when she said she was glad to be there.

    Valentina giggled.

    ¡°Glad to hear it. Anyway, that¡¯s all I had to ask. See ya!¡±

    With that, Valentina walked out the door and Xara followed close behind.

    After Valentina made sure the door to the clubroom was locked, she waved Xara goodbye and the two went their separate ways.

    While she was walking, Xara thought about what was to come after school. Axel had promised to answer her question there. She found it a bit odd how long he¡¯d been holding out on a question with such a simple answer. She just wanted to know if he hated her.

    Finally reaching her classroom, she walked inside to be greeted by a few people waving to her.

    She didn¡¯t know a lot of people in her class, but ever since the school trip, she¡¯d been trying to reach out and managed to meet a few other students she got along with.

    And then, of course, there was the boy who always walked up to her.

    ¡°Hey there Xara. How¡¯re you doing?¡±

    Standing in front of her was Riko. A boy she¡¯d tried distancing herself from in order to cure her clingy nature.

    ¡°Good. Thanks for asking.¡±

    She smiled at him which caused him to look away with a faint blush.

    ¡°Hm? Something wrong?¡±

    ¡°Er¡­No. I just¡­thought I felt something on my face. It should be gone now.¡±

    He smiled to himself and the two of them talked for a few minutes before having to take their seats.

    Class started not too long after and things went on as normal.

    Having picked up where they left off on the last lesson, Xara flipped through her notebook while making sure to take all the notes she could. Before she knew it, first period was over.

    As she needed lunch, she went to the cafeteria and ordered something for herself.

    While there, she talked with the people from class she had befriended.

    Riko tried to squeeze in next to her, but he couldn¡¯t find an opening so he ended up eating by himself.

    Second period was similar to the first where they just picked up right where they left off from their last lesson the day prior.

    Xara¡¯s grades were fairly good, so she didn¡¯t have to take things as seriously as she did, but since she sought out a chance at a good future, she took her studies seriously and made sure to take as many notes as possible.

    Second period ended as quick as it had begun and Xara was about to get up for her second break period when Riko walked over.

    ¡°Hey¡­um¡­Xara?¡±

    ¡°Hm?¡±

    Xara turned to Riko.

    ¡°There¡¯s¡­There¡¯s¡­¡±

    With his cheeks a bright pink, Riko seemed to struggle getting the words out. This drew the attention of some of their peers who gave them curious looks.

    ¡°Um¡­There¡¯s something I wanna ask you. So do you think you could¡­um¡­meet me after school out in the garden near the classroom?¡±

    Not sure what he wanted, Xara thought to herself for a moment.

    ¡°Will it take long? I have something I need to attend to after school.¡±

    ¡°Of course! It¡¯ll only take a minute or so!¡±

    Thinking it over, Xara nodded.

    ¡°Sure. As long as it doesn¡¯t take too long, I¡¯ll be there.¡±

    Riko let out a sigh of relief.

    ¡°Thank you. Well then, I¡¯ll be taking my leave now. See you in third period.¡±

    Xara waved him goodbye and went back to packing up.

    All the while, the other royalty whispered among themselves.

    ¡°Is this what I think it is?¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s no doubt.¡±

    ¡°But really? Does that lesser noble really think he has a chance?¡±

    ¡°No way. With where he¡¯s at right now, he has less of a chance than that commoner.¡±

    Xara didn¡¯t understand what they were all whispering about, so she just slid her bag onto her back and left the classroom.

    During the break period, she met up with a few of her friends from the cooking club and they talked about some dishes they wanted to make during the next club meeting.

    Once the break period was over, Xara waved her friends goodbye with a smile and began making her way toward third period. That being PE.

    Trying not to get lost while moving around the many different fields the school had, she found the one her class was using and began making her way over when she spotted another field a little ways away with the students already having gotten started. She noticed a familiar face among them and smiled.

    The one she saw was none other than Axel. Using wind magic, he was easily speeding ahead of the competition. Some might consider that cheating, but this school supported people using magic to help improve themselves. Not to the point of cheating, but if you''re using it to simply do stuff like boost your speed or strength, then it¡¯s fine as long as it¡¯s only used during class. If you¡¯re caught using magic that could be harmful to others, it would usually result in some kind of detention whether it¡¯s community work or suspension.

    As Axel was just using the magic to boost his own body, it was deemed okay by the school. So that was that.

    Making her way over to the field her class was taking place on, she felt more energized than ever to put her all into this lesson.

    While she was doing so, however, Riko kept glancing at her. His palms sweating as he thought about what was to come.

    After third period came to a close, Xara took off her PE uniform in the girl''s locker area and began taking a shower to wash off the sweat covering her body.

    While she was doing so, she glanced around at the locker room.

    It was huge. Not only that, but it was also fancy. Just what you¡¯d expect from a place used by royalty. Despite its fanciness, however, there were still several girls in the locker room who complained about how disgusting the room looked to their friends. Proving just how spoiled they could be.

    With a sigh, Xara finished up in the shower and wrapped herself in a towel.

    If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

    Walking over to her locker, she held out a hand and grabbed onto the handle on the front of the locker, and began pulling on it.

    As she did so, a small tingle shot through her fingers. Signaling it had scanned her hand and confirmed she was the one opening up the locker. Had it been anyone else''s hand, a shock would¡¯ve been instantly sent through their arm. Not too hard, but just enough to warn whoever else tried to open up her locker.

    Taking off her towel, Xara cleaned off her shoulders, breasts, and legs until she was certain she was dry and then grabbed her clothes out of her locker and put them on.

    Once she was certain she was set, she walked out of the locker room right as a bell rang out to confirm school was officially over for the day.

    Having agreed to meet with Riko first, Xara made her way toward the garden near the classroom she normally attended.

    She couldn¡¯t explain why, but something felt oddly tense. Like what was about to happen would change her future depending on what she did.

    Trying to ignore this strangely ominous feeling, Xara walked towards the garden. Ready to hear what Riko wanted to say.

    Arriving about ten minutes later, Xara found Riko sitting on a bench in the garden. He looked down at the flowers below his feet with a smile. He appeared so innocent from where she stood.

    Stepping into the garden, Xara called out to him.

    ¡°Riko! I¡¯m here!¡±

    She gave him a wave and he waved back. After doing so, he took in a deep breath and muttered something that sounded like ¡°Here we go.¡± under his breath.

    He then got up from his seat and walked over to Xara. They met each other in the middle of the garden and found themselves looking into each other''s eyes.

    ¡°So what was it you needed to ask me?¡±

    Ignoring the nervous expression on Riko¡¯s face, Xara gave him a smile which caused his cheeks to turn red.

    ¡°Well¡­I¡­Um¡­¡±

    He couldn¡¯t seem to say the words. Taking in a deep breath, he looked up at the sky.

    ¡°Could you answer one more thing for me? Before I ask what I want to.¡±

    ¡°Hm? Sure.¡±

    Glancing at the sky herself, Xara wondered how long she was allowed to stay here. Especially since Axel was probably waiting for her in the spot they agreed to meet at.

    ¡°What¡­am I to you?¡±

    ¡°Hm? What do you mean by that?¡±

    Xara didn¡¯t seem to understand the question.

    ¡°I mean like¡­what do you see when you look at me?¡±

    Xara thought to herself for a moment as she looked him up and down.

    ¡°Hmm¡­a good friend?¡±

    ¡°A good friend? Heh.¡±

    Riko brought his attention to the ground.

    ¡°To be honest, I¡¯m kind of relieved to hear that. After everything that¡¯s been happening lately, from how you acted towards me after the school trip, to how things went for us during the Hunter Games event, I was sure you hated me.¡±

    Xara understood why he thought that. Since she¡¯d been trying to distance herself, she¡¯d unintentionally started acting distant with Riko and refused to interact with him. It made sense he¡¯d think she hated him.

    ¡°I don¡¯t hate you. You were the first person I ever became friends with at this school. It¡¯d be impossible to hate you.¡±

    ¡°That so? Heh. That¡¯ll make it easier to say what I have to then.¡±

    Taking in a deep breath, Riko looked Xara in the eyes.

    ¡°Xara Femashito!¡±

    ¡°Huh!?¡±

    Surprised he¡¯d shouted her name so loudly, Xara almost instinctively took a step back.

    ¡°I love you! I¡¯ve loved you since the day we met! Would you please go out with me!?¡±

    Xara¡¯s heart jumped in surprise hearing those words coming out of Riko¡¯s mouth.

    Bowing his head, Riko waited for her response. While he waited, however, Xara¡¯s head was starting to spin.

    Go out with you!? Where did this come from!? Are you sure about this!?

    These thoughts swirled around in her head, but she didn¡¯t dare say them aloud. Riko had just confessed to her. Much to her own surprise.

    Retreating into her own thoughts, she tried to think of her answer.

    Weirdly enough, a part of her felt happy to hear his words. So much so, that she wanted to respond ¡°Yes! I would love to!¡± right there on the spot. However, another part of her mind had other thoughts. Like they were shouting out ¡°No! This isn¡¯t who I¡¯m interested in!¡±

    These two sides conflicted with each other and she struggled to come out with the right response.

    Riko continued to stand there and wait for her answer. While he was wondering what was taking her so long to answer, he held onto this as hope she was thinking it over and actually considering dating him. And if she said yes, it would make all this waiting worth it.

    A few minutes passed, and finally, Xara let out a deep breath and looked at Riko.

    ¡°I¡¯d be delighted to go out with you-¡±

    Riko immediately lifted his head with a look of excitement.

    ¡°Really!? Then...¡±

    ¡°-but I can¡¯t.¡±

    ¡°...Huh?¡±

    Xara took in another deep breath.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry Riko. Had this been no that long ago, I would''ve accepted your confession without hesitation. But now, I¡¯ve fallen for another person. Because of this, I can¡¯t possibly consider dating you.¡±

    Riko stared at her in shock for a moment before tears started welling up in his eyes.

    ¡°But¡­but¡­¡±

    He collapsed to his knees.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry about this, but I must be going now. There¡¯s someone else I¡¯ve promised my time to.¡±

    With that, Xara left Riko behind.

    ¡°No¡­Nooooooo!¡±

    Riko¡¯s voice echoed behind her as Xara left. As much as her heart hurt to have said that, she knew she could never have a relationship with him if her feelings belonged to another man. In the end, Riko cried there for the rest of the day. His screams only silenced by a teacher who used a sleep spell to knock him out and send him back to his dorm room.

    Reaching the spot Axel had told her about, Xara opened up the door to the roof Axel and his friends normally ate lunch at.

    When she looked in front of her, Axel stood there with a serious expression on his face.

    ¡°You took your time,¡± he stated.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry. I had some business I needed to attend to.¡±

    Axel shrugged.

    ¡°Meh. It¡¯s no big deal to me. As long as I can give you my answer, that¡¯s all that matters.¡±

    Xara¡¯s heart was beating in her chest. This was the man she¡¯d fallen for instead of Riko.

    The man who showed her how to be more than just a clingy girl who refused to let someone else go.

    He had a weird way of speaking, he often ignored others and just did things his way, he never tried to treat others like they mattered more or less. Someone you¡¯d never see if you only ever lived around loyalty.

    A commoner who had stolen her heart simply by talking with her and helping guide her down a better path.

    Clearing her throat, Xara began to speak.

    ¡°Are you ready to finally answer my question?¡±

    ¡°Hm? May I ask what that question is?¡± He asked as he gave her a smirk.

    Hearing that both irritated Xara, but also made her heart beat faster.

    ¡°I want to know if¡­.if you hate me.¡±

    ¡°Hate you?¡±

    ¡°Yes¡­Please be honest. That¡¯s all I want. Just tell me, do you hate me?¡±

    Axel pondered to himself for a moment.

    ¡°Before I answer, may I ask a question?¡±

    Hm? Was he still trying to hide his answer? Did he actually hate her and was just trying to avoid saying it?

    Nervous, Xara nodded.

    ¡°Very well. What is it?¡±

    Returning to the serious look from before, Axel looked to the sky.

    ¡°How are you now? Do you still have a problem thinking for yourself? Do you still cling to others?¡±

    That was multiple questions, but Xara shook her head.

    ¡°No. Thanks to you, I¡¯ve managed to improve myself more than I ever thought possible. As of now, I¡¯m positive I can think for myself.¡±

    Hearing that answer caused Axel to smile.

    ¡°I see. In that case, you wanted to know if I hate you right?¡±

    ¡°Um¡­That¡¯s ri-Mphf!¡±

    Before Xara had a chance to finish her sentence, Axel appeared in front of her and pressed her lips against his. Her eyes widened in shock. Their lips rested on one another for a few more seconds before his lips parted from hers. Much to her own surprise, Axel had just kissed her.

    He took a few steps back and smiled. All while his cheeks shined a light pink.

    ¡°T-That¡¯s how I feel about you. I hope that makes sense.

    Xara¡¯s cheeks immediately flushed red.

    ¡°I¡­uh¡­I¡­¡±

    Axel chuckled.

    ¡°I told you, didn¡¯t I? Once you could say with certainty that you weren''t clingy anymore, I wouldn¡¯t hesitate to return your feelings.¡±

    Xara was caught completely off guard.

    Seeing how surprised she was, Axel scratched the back of his head.

    ¡°That is¡­if your feeling haven¡¯t changed.¡±

    While I looked at Xara, I could feel my heart beating faster than ever before.

    My mind flashed back to when I finally realized something I¡¯d been ignoring. It was back when Xara and I were sealed away in that void thing during the scavenger hunt.

    When she confessed to me again after going through all these changes in her life, I was certain her feelings were genuine. As much as I wanted to think I¡¯d manipulated her to think like that. It wasn¡¯t because I wanted myself to look like the bad guy, but because I was actually hiding away from my own feelings.

    Without even knowing it, I¡¯d fallen for this succubus of my own accord. Not from some harem plan, or an act of fate. I just genuinely fell in love with her.

    Because of that, I¡¯d run from my own feelings and hid behind lies of my own making in order to cover my fear of these feelings.

    It wasn¡¯t until that day when she confessed a second time, I realized just how hard I¡¯d fallen for her. That was why I started beating myself up. I did it to punish myself for how stupid I was being to think I was the cause of anything. Sure I played a part, but I only played as much of a part as anyone else.

    So that''s why when she asked me if I hated her, I wanted to say "No way!" right on the spot. But because I was afraid that my feelings would slip out in my words, I remained quiet. And that might''ve been stupid to do since it''s such a basic question. But I was afraid that my feelings would be too obvious at that point. Which is why I needed time to think it over. And now, I was finally ready.

    Now I know to some people, kissing someone out of nowhere sounded kind of messed up or weird, but it was the only way I felt like I could get my feelings across. Thus, I went for it. My first kiss in this world.

    And now, all I could do was wait for Xara¡¯s answer. Had she changed her mind? Had something happened without me knowing? I dunno. The only thing I was positive about was my own feelings and I wasn¡¯t going to hide them anymore.

    Noticing how nervous she seemed to be in this situation, I decided to take the lead once more.

    ¡°Seeing how surprised you are, I imagine you might also be a little confused. Therefore, I¡¯ll say it to you straight.¡±

    Taking in a deep breath, I bowed in front of Xara.

    ¡°Xara! I¡¯m in love with you! Please go out with me!¡±

    There. I said it. I finally said it. My heart was beating so fast I didn¡¯t know what to do with myself. This was such a big moment for me, even Nia remained quiet as she hung inside the grimoire on my belt.

    A moment passed¡­then another¡­then another.

    As awkward as I felt in this position, this was all I could do now. Just then, I noticed drops of water fall in front of my face.

    Looking up, I saw it was Xara. Tears formed in her eyes and dropped to the ground. All the while, a smile formed on her face.

    ¡°Yes! Gladly!¡±

    My heart immediately jumped for joy upon hearing those words.

    But then, I was startled as Xara jumped onto me and wrapped me up in another kiss.

    ¡°Hmph!¡±

    I didn¡¯t have any time to react as she began swirling her tongue around in my mouth. Wait a minute¡­isn¡¯t this a French kiss!?

    Unable to hold her back, she continued kissing me over and over again for longer than I could remember.

    Before we knew it, it was nightfall.

    The two of us gazed up at the stars. Both with bright red faces.

    ¡°S-Sorry. I got a bit carried away back there,¡± admitted Xara.

    I chuckled awkwardly.

    ¡°It¡¯s fine.¡±

    For some reason, I felt like the stars shined even brighter tonight than usual.

    ¡°Just to let you know, that was my first kiss when you did that before,¡± said Xara.

    ¡°That so? Should I apologize?¡±

    Xara giggled.

    ¡°No. I¡¯m glad you took it.¡±

    Honestly, a succubus having a first kiss sounded exactly like something out of a game. Reminding me once again that this world was the same as the one I played through.

    Now I¡¯m wondering where things¡¯ll go from here. Having taken Xara for myself, what will become of Riko?

    During my playthrough of the game, she acted as his emotional support as well as closest friend. Since she¡¯s together with me, does that mean the path will change from how it was originally intended?

    Well, I suppose that doesn¡¯t matter at this point. After all, I¡¯ve already come way too far to turn back now. So as of this moment, all I can do is roll with the punches. Even if said punches are painful, as long as Xara¡¯s by my side, I¡¯m sure I can push through all of it.

    Thus, we continued staring off into the sky until we were shooed off campus.

    The news spread before I knew it. Maybe it had something to do with Xara clinging to my arm this morning after she came to pick me up from the dorm, but people had already learned the two of us had gotten together.

    However, them liking it was another story. A lot of people started to distance themselves from Xara, including a few people she considered friends. It honestly irritated me. Thankfully, she says that when she went to her club earlier that morning, the people in her club still accepted her and even congratulated her. So I guess it¡¯s okay. Still, what jerks would treat someone like a stranger just because of the person they were dating?

    We actually ran into Riko while making our way to class, but he immediately ran away after he saw the two of us linking arms.

    Once we reached my classroom, I said goodbye to Xara and she responded with a smile before waving me goodbye and being on her way.

    Upon entering class, I was immediately met with Dianne who walked up to me with a smile of her own.

    ¡°I heard about you and Xara getting together. Congratulations.¡±

    I chuckled.

    ¡°Thanks.¡±

    I tried to hide it, but my thrilled smile was painfully obvious to the others in class.

    Roy walked over with a grin.

    ¡°I¡¯ll be honest, I never thought you¡¯d find someone with how things were for you here at school. It¡¯s great seeing you so happy.¡±

    ¡°Thanks, Roy.¡±

    Man. So this is what having supportive friends is like. I¡¯m not too familiar with how real people react, but usually in the games I played, the MC¡¯s friends were normally quite salty when the MC scored the girl. So having people support me honestly feels amazing.

    Roy, Dianne, and I chatted for a few more minutes until the first bell rang and we made our way to our seats.

    At lunchtime, Xara joined me and my friends at our normal lunch spot and sat down next to me with a giggle. With how she was acting, you¡¯d think she was on cloud nine right now.

    We all happily ate our food and chatted amongst ourselves.

    ¡°Interesting. I never would¡¯ve guessed the two of you would get together,¡± stated Flynn as he looked at the two of us.

    ¡°Heh heh. Well, some stuff happened. That¡¯s all I can really say,¡± I said.

    ¡°I see.¡±

    I could tell Flynn was trying to ignore my hearty grin as Xara and I ate our food next to one another.

    We all talked for a little while longer until it was time to return to class.

    I waved goodbye to Xara and Flynn before making my way back with both Dianne and Roy following behind me.

    The rest of the day was just as much fun as it was in the morning. Xara managed to hang out with me a bit before going off to hang with some of her club friends and I walked around school without much else on my mind.

    Once school was over, I walked Xara back to her dorm before returning to my own to find Vey giving me a deadly glare as she puffed her cheeks out in a rather cute fashion.

    ¡°Where were you Sir Savoncho? I came to your classroom earlier only for you to be nowhere in sight.¡±

    I chuckled.

    ¡°Sorry. I was just escorting Xara back to her dorm.¡±

    Vey rubbed her eyes.

    ¡°Is it just me Sir Savoncho, or do you seem strangely lax today? Your normal poise and calm nature seem to have completely vanished.¡±

    ¡°Hm? You think?¡±

    I remember smiling more than usual today, but that was about it.

    To be fair, I couldn¡¯t help but feel happy.

    For the first time ever, a girl actually accepted my confession. I was so used to being rejected time and time again that the idea of a girl actually accepting my feelings felt impossible. Who wouldn¡¯t be happy about that?

    ¡°Well anyways, it¡¯s already gotten dark out, so if you don¡¯t mind, I¡¯m heading to bed,¡± said Vey.

    She was right. I didn¡¯t notice till now, but the moon had already made its way into the sky.

    Thus, Vey made her way over to her bed and pulled up the sheet before closing her eyes.

    Was it just me or did she seem irritated about something?

    After giving that thought a shrug, I turned off the light and made my way over to my bed.

    Pulling up the covers, I looked up at the ceiling.

    Reflecting on everything that¡¯s happened to get to this point, I truly felt blessed to find myself where I am. And as of now, there¡¯s nothing that can ruin it.

    While this thought crossed Axel¡¯s mind, somewhere not far off, a woman was looking at a photo of his island in her castle.

    ¡°So this is that commoners island?¡±

    A man who looked to be in his seventies nodded with a bow.

    ¡°Yes, Milady.¡±

    The woman looked at the photo once more before frowning.

    ¡°If that¡¯s the case, how come you haven¡¯t retrieved it yet?¡±

    The old man shook his head.

    ¡°I¡¯m afraid it isn¡¯t possible at this time.¡±

    ¡°Hm? Why not?¡±

    ¡°Because the island is protected by some sort of security system. No matter how many people we send to retrieve it, they all get captured and turned in to the king.¡±

    The woman rubbed her eyes.

    ¡°I see. Fine then. It¡¯s about time we do that plan. Get me a ship enchanted with wind magic. We set out at dawn.¡±

    ¡°Of course Milady.¡±

    The old man left the woman to herself as she crossed her arms.

    ¡°You took everything from me, you filthy commoner. Now, I think it¡¯s about time I take everything from you,¡± the woman murmured before getting up from her seat and grabbing hold of a picture of Axel before throwing it into the fire. As it burned, she left the room with a grin on her face.

    All the while, Axel had no idea what was about to happen. Nor did he know he was about to change his worldview forever.

 Chapter 28: The Princess Who Fell in Love

    It was a normal day of school like any other. The only difference was that rain was pouring down from the sky.

    Having finished class for the day, I was returning to the girl''s dorm with an umbrella over my head before taking notice of a sight that piqued my curiosity.

    Stopping in place, I noticed a small kitten sprawled up on the ground. Its fur was soaked and it looked like it was having trouble moving around with all the rain.

    However, that wasn¡¯t all I saw. I also noticed a boy standing there looking at it.

    His hair was a brownish orange, and it nearly covered his entire head to the point I had a hard time making out his face.

    Had I not seen him multiple times before, I wouldn¡¯t have recognized him.

    The boy watched the kitten for a few moments as it meowed quietly.

    Then, he bent down on his knees and picked up the kitten.

    ¡°Hey, little guy. Want to come with me? I¡¯ll get you warmed right up.¡±

    The boy gently held the kitten in his arms before turning to leave. All the while, I watched the sight in silence.

    Suddenly, I felt my heart begin to beat faster and faster and my cheeks started to warm up.

    I couldn¡¯t explain why, but something about what just happened struck a chord with me.

    Holding my hand close to my chest, I took in a deep breath and continued walking back to the girl''s dorms. All the while, my heart continued to beat rapidly. Once I had gotten back to my room, I laid in bed and looked up at the ceiling. Even after getting back to my room, my heart was still beating like crazy. Thinking it over, I began to slowly put things together in my mind.

    And as I once again brought my hand to my chest, I finally realized what this strange feeling was. When I came to this realization, I couldn¡¯t help but smile as my cheeks grew warm once more.

    But even so, if these feelings are what I think they are, then I know exactly what I must do. As a plan began to form in my head, my smile continued to widen more and more. And before I knew it, I had fallen asleep with a stupidly large grin stuck on my face.

    Letting out a yawn, I got up the next morning to find Nia lying in bed with me. Clinging to my chest.

    ¡°Do you really have to do this?¡±

    ¡°Of course! You replenish yourself by sleeping, and I replenish myself by sleeping with you. Simple as that.¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s simple about it? That doesn¡¯t even make any sense.¡±

    Getting up from bed, I walked over to the bathroom in hopes of cleaning myself off before class. As I was doing so, I glanced around the room.

    ¡°Hey, where¡¯s Vey? Did she already leave or something?¡±

    Taking one more look around the room, I couldn¡¯t see her anywhere. Guess she really did leave early.

    ¡°Oh. About that...¡±

    ¡°Meh. Not a big deal. I¡¯m gonna go get a shower.¡±

    Throwing a towel over my shoulder, I pulled the knob to the bathroom.

    ¡°Um¡­Master. Maybe you shouldn¡¯t open that do-¡±

    Before Nia finished her sentence, I pushed the door open and walked into the bathroom only to be met with a load of steam.

    ¡°Huh?¡±

    As my eyes adjusted, I was met with the surprised face of no one other than Vey who stood there completely naked washing herself down with the showerhead.

    I looked at her for a moment before shrugging.

    ¡°Sorry. My bad.¡±

    Then walked out of the bathroom and closed the door behind me. After doing so, a scream came from the other side of the door.

    ¡°Geez. If she¡¯s that embarrassed about it, why would she try to join me so many times when she first became my squire?¡±

    Sitting down, I saw there was still another hour before I had to leave, so I plopped down in a chair and opened my grimoire.

    Nia¡¯s physical form vanished from sight and she returned to said grimiore.

    ¡°We have some time to spare, so how about teaching me some random information?¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s nothing you want specifically?¡±

    ¡°Nah. There¡¯s nothing I really want to know so choose whatever you want.¡±

    ¡°Really? Cool. Then here¡¯s some stuff about the uses of spells and magic circles.¡±

    Giving me a bunch of random information, Nia happily showed me a bunch of things that explained the intricacies of spell casting. Honestly, it kinda opened up my eyes and helped me realize just how detailed the magic of this world could be if you decided to learn it. Including things such as magic circles which have long since become obsolete for magic casters.

    About five minutes later, Vey came out with her face bright red. Glaring daggers at me.

    ¡°Just lock the door next time,¡± I said trying to offer some advice.

    Why she didn¡¯t lock it wasn¡¯t something I understood. But more than likely she just forgot about it.

    Vey continued to glare at me before turning around.

    ¡°At least act a little more flustered. Geez,¡± she muttered so quietly I barely heard it. Or maybe she hadn¡¯t intended for me to hear it. Either way, sorry kid. But I¡¯m a little too old to get flustered from someone of your stature

    That being said, she technically wasn¡¯t that much younger than me in this world. Only two years apart in fact. I think maybe it''s just because of my personal feelings on the matter. Maybe it¡¯ll change when she¡¯s a bit older, but as of now, I still think of her as a child.

    Continuing to read for another twenty-five to thirty minutes, I finally closed the grimoire as a bunch of new and mostly useless information had entered my mind.

    I grabbed my towel, got a shower, then came out, slipped on a uniform, and left with Vey traveling a little ways behind me.

    Walking out of the dorm, I glance up at the sun in the sky.

    I had planned to walk with Xara today like I had over the last week or so, but she had some urgent business to attend to with her club so she had to put that as her primary focus.

    Normally, something like that would make me feel a bit lonely, but considering this is exactly what I asked her to do with putting her own interests first, all I feel right now is pride. Is that weird?

    Well anyway, once the two of us reached school, Vey went off to the squire classes and I went on my way to my own classroom.

    Walking through the door, everyone in class ignored me as I walked up to my seat in the back of the classroom.

    Flipping open my grimoire, I picked up where I left off and spent a few minutes reading before I heard footsteps walk up to me.

    ¡°Um¡­Axel?¡±

    Lifting my head up from the book, I found Dianne standing there shaking nervously with her cheeks glowing a light pink.

    ¡°Do you think¡­I could talk to you after class?¡±

    ¡°Hm? Sure.¡±

    I had no reason to refuse a friend. But weirdly enough, she looked relieved when I said that.

    Millions of different theories began to form in my head. Some led towards confessions, but that wasn¡¯t possible as I don¡¯t recall doing anything worth gaining her affection. Some might consider what I did to save her from her butler was something, but I highly doubt that. She may be a princess, but I don¡¯t think she¡¯s one of those save them and they fall in love with you people. At least, that wasn¡¯t how she was in the game.

    Then again, I have seen a few things change from how they were in the game. So if she did have a personality change like that, it wouldn¡¯t be impossible.

    However, if we include all the experiences I¡¯ve had with her so far, her personality does appear to match her game counterpart. Meaning this more than likely isn¡¯t a confession of any kind.

    Deciding not to dwell on it for longer than I had to, I went back to reading for the rest of class.

    When class ended, Dianne and I went to our group''s favorite spot on the roof a bit earlier than the others so we could talk about what she had wanted to ask.

    I ate a burger which, as usual, had high-quality meat expected of a school mainly teaching royals and listened to Dianne as she fumbled her fingers.

    ¡°This thing is¡­um¡­I¡­If you can¡­¡±

    What was with all this stuttering for?

    Sipping some juice, I waited for her to compose herself.

    She took in a deep breath and made it clear she was ready to ask what she needed.

    ¡°If you can¡­I want you to help me get close to Sir Riko!¡±

    ¡°...Huh?¡±

    Well, I wasn¡¯t expecting that. I was about to ask why when I suddenly remembered yesterday we had some pretty heavy rain.

    ¡°So that event finally happened huh?¡± I muttered to myself.

    Eating into a pear I had on my tray, I pretended not to know what brought this on.

    ¡°Why Riko?¡± I asked.

    Dianne fidgeted with her fingers.

    ¡°Well¡­As crazy as it sounds, I think I¡­might have fallen for him.¡±

    ¡°Hm? That so?¡±

    ¡°Huh!? Why do you look so bored while asking that!?¡±

    ¡°What? Were you expecting me to freak out or something?¡±

    Why would I freak out over something I already knew about?

    Letting out a sigh, I decided to humor her for a bit longer.

    ¡°If I¡¯m being honest, this is kinda sudden. What brought this on?¡±

    ¡°Oh..Well, I¡­¡±

    After that, she started to go into more detail. She mentioned how she saw him yesterday helping a kitten in the rain. She couldn¡¯t explain why, but after watching that scene, her heart wouldn¡¯t stop beating when thinking about Riko.

    In short, the MC triggered the love at first sight event. Well, it¡¯s called love at first sight, but that¡¯s just a name fans used to describe the event where Dianne first falls for the protagonist.

    During my playthrough, the MC came across a kitten in the rain and he decided to help take care of it. The kitten ends up staying in his room for the rest of the game and only really comes into play by bringing the MC and Dianne together at the end of her route.

    The reason for this is because after the MC leaves with the kitten, we cut away to learn someone was watching the whole time and fell in love with the MC after seeing his act of kindness. And, as you might have guessed, that person was Dianne. Honestly, I almost completely forgot about that event. I guess it triggered yesterday and now Riko¡¯s going down the path for the Dianne route.

    ¡°If you want to get closer to him, why do you need my help?¡±

    I struggled to see how I was relevant to helping her accomplish her route with the MC.

    ¡°Well¡­you¡¯re dating Xara. She¡¯s really close with Sir Riko, correct?¡±

    ¡°I guess.¡±

    I actually didn¡¯t really know what their relationship was at this point. Especially since I ended up taking Xara for myself meaning her route is completely destroyed.

    Normally, she just stuck by the MC¡¯s side as a close friend if he didn¡¯t choose her. But is that still the case?

    ¡°You see, I was hoping she¡¯d be willing to introduce us to each other properly.¡±

    ¡°Really? But didn¡¯t you two already meet each other a little while ago?¡±

    ¡°I¡­I guess you¡¯re right about that, still, as I said, I¡¯d like to meet him properly. So if Miss Femashito could give me an opening in order to interact with Sir Riko more, I¡¯d appreciate it.¡±

    So in other words, I acted as the messenger so that Dianne could turn my girlfriend into a wingman. Geez. Just go talk with him. Are you really gonna go through all these extra steps?

    I rubbed my eyes. While I hate to say it, this was probably all she could think of. After all, she seems to have a similar mindset to her game counterpart. Both overthink their plans and struggle to come up with ideas if others aren''t there to help her out.

    In short, she can be kinda stupid when it comes to dealing with stuff outside of her royal education.

    Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel.

    But as stupid as she was acting right now, I knew it would just hurt her motivation if I pointed out how dumb it all sounded so I decided to keep my mouth shut. I may be brutally honest at times, but even I know when to avoid saying something. Even if it¡¯s the harsh truth. I¡¯m not that kinda person¡­I think.

    Sighing, I looked at Dianne.

    ¡°Fine. I¡¯ll see if she can help,¡± I said with a groan.

    ¡°Really!? Thank you!¡±

    Giving me a smile that almost made my heart skip a beat, and by almost I mean I made sure it didn¡¯t since I don¡¯t want to seem like a cheater, Dianne gave me a hug before waving goodbye as she left me behind to reflect on what just happened.

    ¡°Well that was certainly interesting.¡±

    Ignoring Nia, I stretched out my arms and let out another groan.

    ¡°Why do I get the feelings thing are about to get a lot more complicated?¡±

    ¡°If they do, it¡¯ll probably be your fault.¡±

    Harsh. But she wasn¡¯t entirely off base to think that way. I did seem to cause issues everywhere I went.

    Finally done standing here, I was about to leave just as Flynn and Roy arrived for lunch. Not wanting to make things awkward by leaving, I sat back down and chatted with them about a bunch of random topics for a while.

    After school was over, Xara came to my dorm room to hang out and I told her what Dianne had said.

    She thought for a moment, then sighed.

    ¡°I wouldn¡¯t mind doing it, but I don¡¯t think Riko really wants to talk to me right now.¡±

    ¡°Ah. Because of the rejection, right?¡±

    Xara nodded.

    Apparently, right before Xara had met up with me, Riko tried confessing to her first. She said she was ready to reject him when a part of her felt like she wanted to say yes despite not having much romantic interest.

    If I had to guess, that was probably the part of her mind that still had some form of connection to her mindset in the game. I couldn¡¯t be sure how connected this world it was, but the most I could come up with was it was either a part of her mind was trying to cling to the MC again, or she might¡¯ve had actual feelings for him at one point that still lingered somewhere in her heart.

    I know I shouldn¡¯t say this since I did technically win against him, but something about her hesitating to say no made me kinda jealous.

    But ignoring that for now, it doesn¡¯t surprise me that the MC was trying to avoid Xara.

    ¡°Even when you and I aren¡¯t together, he runs away the minute he sees me. So even if I tried to get the two of them together, I highly doubt I could be of much help.¡±

    ¡°I see.¡±

    I guess that¡¯s just how it is. Sorry Dianne. Looks like you¡¯re on your own for this one.

    That¡¯s what I should¡¯ve said to her when I talked with her the next day. However...

    ¡°Xara isn¡¯t able to help you on this. Sorry.¡±

    ¡°Oh...It¡¯s fine¡­¡±

    ...when I saw how sad she looked after hearing that news, I couldn¡¯t help but groan internally as the next words left my mouth.

    ¡°While I may not be too close to him, I¡¯ll try to support you and help in any way I can. Does that sound good?¡±

    Those words seemed to reach her since her expression softened and she smiled at me.

    ¡°Thanks, Axel.¡±

    With that, I had officially shifted wingmanship from Xara to myself.

    Not exactly something I¡¯m proud of, but it is what it is.

    Even now, a few days later, I wish I just told her to deal with this herself. Thanks to what I said, the two of us are stuck hanging out almost twenty-four-seven trying to figure out how to get Dianne closer to Riko.

    We hang out so much, that Xara¡¯s started to grow jealous and has given me several murderous glances while Dianne and I talked.

    If it was like before, I would¡¯ve just chopped her in the head and said to grow up, but this dating stuff seemed to come with a guilty conscience since the idea of even trying to hurt Xara left my mind as soon as it entered.

    By the end of the week, I found myself feeling exasperated as Dianne discussed another idea to get closer to the MC.

    I didn¡¯t know how much more I could take.

    ¡°So then, if plan three thousand four hundred and seventy-two doesn¡¯t work, then we move onto plan three thousand four hundred and seventy-three. While similar to plan two hundred and forty-six, it actually has a pretty big twist that will guarantee he notices me. What we have to do is-¡±

    Screaming eternally, I let Dianne babble on with stars in her eyes. Was she always this obsessed with the MC in the game?

    I wouldn¡¯t know since I played as the MC and didn¡¯t really get to see much of Dianne out of the main story events. But at this point, this just felt like torture.

    However, every time I tried to call it quits, Dianne would give me a sad look and I forced myself to get right back into it. Geez. Am I really this mentally weak?

    Finished talking to me, thankfully, Dianne got up and started leaving my room. It seemed like the day''s blabbering was finally over.

    ¡°Well then, see you tomorrow Axel,¡± she said as she waved me goodbye.

    ¡°Er¡­Yeah.¡±

    I already wasn¡¯t looking forward to it. Especially since it¡¯s a weekend which meant she¡¯d be in my room all day talking about plan after plan to win over Riko.

    However, right before she closed the door, Dianne turned back to me.

    ¡°Oh. Sorry about this, but we won¡¯t hold a meeting on Munday.¡±

    Munday was this world''s Monday. Not exactly original, so I find myself chuckling when people mention the days out loud. But moving past that, I gave Dianne a look of curiosity.

    ¡°Really? How come?¡±

    I wasn¡¯t complaining, I just didn¡¯t know why.

    ¡°Did you forget? We have the big school expedition next week.¡±

    I instantly remembered what she was talking about.

    To explain, the big school expedition is an event in the game where several flying ships are sent to the school and they take the students out to explore different environments from a sky view.

    While exploring, students are meant to write about the kind of stuff they saw as something kinda like a report or essay.

    As cool as the event sounded, I didn¡¯t really get to experience it while playing the game thanks to the game company wanting to save money by only showing off one of the environments as an illustration. It looked incredible, but it still would¡¯ve been nice to see all the different environments the MC described.

    So as exciting as it was for me to finally get to see it for myself, I didn¡¯t exactly have much enthusiasm for the people I¡¯d be stuck with.

    Apparently, the school hadn¡¯t learned its lesson about leaving me alone with a bunch of royal assholes and stuck me on a ship where no one I knew would be on it.

    From what Xara told me, she, Roy, Ella, and Flynn were all on the same flight, meanwhile, Dianne was apparently going on a flight with Riko. That was good for her, but then there was me. I wasn¡¯t traveling with anyone I knew. Meaning I was gonna be stuck by myself with only Nia at my side.

    With news like that, I found myself down in the dumps over the last day or so which wasn¡¯t helped by Dianne¡¯s rambling.

    With those two things taking up most of the space in my brain, I was bound to forget about one of them. Thus, it completely slipped from my mind that the event was happening from Monday morning all the way to Tuesday night. Or, I guess the people here call them Munday and Toosday. The game''s creators really weren¡¯t that creative when it came to names. Actually, now that think about it, the only real saving grace of this game was its story and art. Everything else seemed either cheap or lacked creativity.

    ¡°Sorry. I actually did forget. Thanks for reminding me.¡±

    Dianne giggled.

    ¡°Well then, see you tomorrow.¡±

    ¡°Er¡­Yeah.¡±

    I chuckled awkwardly as she closed the door before walking over to my bed and collapsing on top of it. I let out a loud groan which was muffled up by my sheets so that I didn¡¯t wake the already sleeping Vey.

    Nia chuckled at the sight from inside the grimoire.

    ¡°What¡¯s so funny?¡± I growled.

    ¡°Nothing. I just find the way you¡¯ve been acting rather hilarious recently.¡±

    ¡°Haaah. If even you¡¯re saying I¡¯ve been acting differently then it has to be true.¡±

    As the one doing said acting, I couldn¡¯t really tell. To me, I felt like I acted the same way as always.

    ¡°So tell me, how different am I acting?¡±

    Nia appeared before me with her finger on her chin.

    ¡°Hmm. Let me ask you, if one of your closest friends suddenly asked for your help, would you help them?¡±

    ¡°Of course.¡±

    ¡°Alright. Then let me change things up a bit. What if instead of your friends, it was a complete stranger you never met that asked for your help? Would you still help them?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t see why not. I¡¯m fine with helping as long as it doesn¡¯t get me in trouble.¡±

    ¡°And there¡¯s the difference.¡±

    ¡°Huh?¡±

    ¡°If you were the same as before, you¡¯d have first considered whether they were trying to lure you in or actually asking for help. A completely different reaction from what you¡¯re saying now.¡±

    ¡°That so?¡±

    Did I think like that before? If I¡¯m being honest, ever since I started dating Xara, everything''s just felt like sunshine and rainbows. Even now, despite my frustrations when it comes to Dianne¡¯s scheming, I still have this overwhelming sense of happiness inside me.

    ¡°Yeah. It is. At this point, I¡¯m worried if you¡¯re coming down with something.¡±

    I shrugged.

    ¡°I don¡¯t see what¡¯s so bad about my personality changing. If it means I can hold onto this feeling of happiness, I don¡¯t see a problem with it.¡±

    Nia sighed.

    ¡°If you say so.¡±

    With that, I curled up in my bed and closed my eyes. Nia joined me a few moments later, and then, I fell unconscious. All the while, my excitement slowly began to grow at the prospect of all the different environments I might get to see during this trip.

    After a grueling weekend, Munday arrived and I stretched out my arms while getting up for the day.

    As excited as I was to see the environments I couldn¡¯t while playing the game, I was still trying to recover my energy from the two days of plan rambling Dianne had just put me through.

    Apparently, she¡¯s gonna attempt one of them during the trip. I just hope it works out for her.

    Since this trip was only for actual students at the school, the squires weren¡¯t allowed to come. Thus, Vey stayed behind to continue her studies.

    Leaving the building, Xara was standing there with a smile.

    She walked over to me and gave me a kiss on the cheek.

    ¡°That¡¯s for the road.¡±

    I chuckled.

    ¡°Thanks.¡±

    After that, the two of us made our way to the front of the school building to find teachers guiding students to their respective groups.

    Waving goodbye to Xara, she ran off to join the others in her group. Meanwhile, Dianne walked over to me.

    ¡°Well, it¡¯s time to put my plan into action.¡±

    Seeing her hands fidget nervously, I patted her back.

    ¡°You¡¯ll be fine. Just try your best.¡±

    Those words sounded fake when I said them out loud thanks to how generic they were, but they appeared to help as Dianne stopped fidgeting and nodded.

    ¡°Thanks. Anyway, I should be on my way now. Goodbye, Axel.¡±

    Giving her a thumbs up, I smiled.

    ¡°Right. Good luck. I look forward to hearing how things go.¡±

    ¡°Yes. Thank you.¡±

    With that, Dianne went back to her own group and I walked around to find mine.

    A few minutes later, I found the group I was looking for and made my way over.

    Upon reaching everyone, they glared at me with disgust. Do you guys seriously still hate me? It¡¯s been almost a year now. Learn to grow up.

    Actually, speaking of growing up, there''s another thing I forgot about. This trip takes place at the end of the year. It also acts at the point where the MC has to pick his heroine. I don¡¯t know how things have been going with the other heroines, but I wonder if the MC¡¯s made any progress with anyone other than Xara.

    This may sound like a stupid concern, but ever since I took the MC¡¯s spot in Dianne¡¯s class, it¡¯s felt like the whole story¡¯s been a little off.

    For a quick explanation, the MC was originally supposed to go on the trip with all the heroines. After doing so, one last event occurs that ends with the MC having to pick which girl to follow. But right now, the only girl he¡¯ll be traveling with is Dianne. Meaning the story is already off course. Not that I¡¯m gonna try and fix it. Why try and fix what¡¯s already beyond repair?

    Still, it does make me wonder how thing''s are gonna end.

    But moving past that for now, I made my way onto the floating ship we¡¯d be traveling on, and was immediately handed a card that was apparently to my room on this ship. I didn¡¯t mention this before, but these ships are actually quite big. In fact, I¡¯m still amazed I wasn¡¯t paired with any of my friends since, in total, there were only four ships and they were all as big as the school¡¯s front gate. Just what¡¯d you expect from a school with such a high budget.

    Making my way to my room, I took a look around.

    Just like my normal dorm room, it was way fancier than anything I could¡¯ve imagined. So much so, that when I heard some of the other students say they were too small and disgusting to look at, I wondered if they needed therapy or something.

    Flopping down on my bed, I snuggled up in the mattress. It was softer than I¡¯d expected.

    Despite only staying here for a single night, I was more than satisfied with this room.

    Suddenly, a voice echoed from above.

    ¡°Attention all students, we are about to depart. If anyone thinks they might be missing anything, please make sure to check your things before we leave.¡±

    Knowing I was good, I continued relaxing in bed. After my time in the dungeon, I¡¯d learned to always think ahead so that I was prepared for anything.

    So, closing my eyes, I began to imagine what kinds of stuff I was gonna see on this trip. With all the kinds of environments to be explored, the adventuring side of me started to get excited.

    About half an hour later, I got up from my bed. From how light my feet felt, we probably already left the school.

    I stretched out my arms, then let out a yawn. It looked like I was still tired.

    Wondering if there were any spells to help with sleep deprivation, I decided to ask Nia.

    ¡°Hey, Nia, are there any spells I could learn that would help wake me up a little bit?¡±

    I waited for her to say something like ¡°Learning any spell could wake you up.¡± or ¡°Why would you need a spell like that?¡±

    However, all I got was silence.

    ¡°Hm?¡±

    Confused, I looked down at my belt where I normally kept my grimoire.

    ¡°Wait¡­Where is it!?¡±

    Feeling a sense of fear wash over me, I tried feeling around my belt before running over to my bag and tearing through it.

    ¡°It¡¯s not here¡­¡±

    I slumped my arms to the floor.

    Crap. This wasn¡¯t good. Did I seriously forget to bring my grimoire with me!?

    Just when I said I was always prepared, I happened to forget my most powerful weapon.

    ¡°DAMMIT!¡±

    I rustled my hair in frustration.

    Of all the mistakes I could¡¯ve made, this was the worst.

    To explain, besides the spells Nia, the spirit in my grimoire, burned into my brain, I am unable to cast anything that isn¡¯t a basic spell. Not to mention the amount of magic I cast normally gets absorbed by the grimiore which gives me the ability to cast more spells.

    In short, I¡¯m screwed without my grimoire.

    Wanting to go back and get it, I prepared to use my teleportation spell to return to my room.

    But when I tried to do so-

    ¡°...Huh?¡±

    -the spell instantly vanished.

    ¡°What the hell?¡±

    Confused, I tried a few more times but to no avail.

    Not sure what was going on, I left my room and made my way over to a crewmember taking care of the ship and asked them what was going on. Looking at me as if I asked a dumb question, he explained it to me.

    Apparently, the type of metal this ship ran on required some kind of special core that would explode if it absorbed any kind of magic. Meaning that in order to ensure our safety, they set up a magic-blocking barrier so that the core didn¡¯t blow up by accident if one of the students carelessly cast a spell.

    Honestly, it sounded like complete bullshit to me.

    But sadly, it seemed like that was just how things were. Meaning I had to go two days without using any magic at all. Kinda hard to hear when magic is literally the only thing keeping me from being snapped in two by the other students here.

    Sighing, I walked over to one of the boat edges and looked out into the sky.

    Despite these horrible circumstances, the view was still nice.

    Deciding to make the best of it for now, I took in the sights. Trying my best to keep myself positive.

    Meanwhile, Vey let out a yawn as she got out of bed and found a girl sitting there in the room tapping her foot. She had a rather annoyed look on her face.

    ¡°Um¡­Miss Nia.¡±

    ¡°He forgot me,¡± Nia mumbled.

    ¡°Huh?¡±

    ¡°That stupid Master forgot me!¡±

    ¡°Eek!¡±

    Not sure what she was talking about, Vey jumped in surprise and tried to prepare herself for class while avoiding Nia¡¯s intense aura that was practically screaming bloody murder.

    Once Vey was gone, Nia puffed out her cheeks and curled herself up into a ball.

    ¡°...Master you jerk.¡±

 Chapter 29: A Trip of Confliction

    As the ship took off, I could feel my excitement growing. After all the planning Axel and I did, it was finally time for me to put my plans to get closer to Riko into action.

    I could feel myself already growing more nervous.

    While the scenery slowly flew by, I searched around the ship to find him. Finally, I spotted Riko standing at the front of the ship with a smile on his face.

    Feeling my body tense up, I made my way over to him as casually as I could. All while my heart was pounding in my chest.

    Apparently sensing my presence, Riko turned around and looked at me.

    ¡°Hey, there Miss Riosha. How are you?¡±

    ¡°Oh¡­erm¡­I¡­Uh¡­¡±

    Not sure what to say, I found my words getting stuck in my throat. Come on Dianne. You can do this!

    ¡°I¡¯m¡­doing quite well. How about you?¡±

    Riko chuckled awkwardly.

    ¡°I¡¯d like to say I¡¯m fine, but so much has happened recently that I honestly don¡¯t know what to think anymore.¡±

    Moving up next to him, I looked out at the sights in front of the ship.

    We stood there quietly for a few minutes before he spoke up again.

    ¡°Hey¡­I took your advice.¡±

    ¡°Hm?¡±

    ¡°About confessing to Xara.¡±

    I immediately tensed up. But wait, didn¡¯t she get together with Axel?

    ¡°That so? When did you do it?¡±

    ¡°A little over a week ago.¡±

    Once again, wasn¡¯t that the same time Xara and Axel got together?

    ¡°I see. Guessing with how things are now, it didn¡¯t go well. Correct?¡±

    Trying to hold back a few tears, Riko nodded.

    ¡°From how it looks, right after I confessed to her, she got confessed to by that commoner guy. Honestly, hearing she would rather be with him hurts way more than I thought it would. And despite wanting to congratulate her, I¡¯ve been avoiding her instead. It just hurts too much to see Xara right now.¡±

    If that¡¯s how he sees it, it¡¯s no wonder Miss Xara was unable to get Riko and me a chance to meet up before this point.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry to hear that. It¡¯s probably my fault for egging you on in the first place.¡±

    Riko shook his head.

    ¡°Nah. It was my fault for not confessing earlier.¡±

    Turning around to leave, Riko gave me a rather strained smile.

    ¡°Thanks for listening to that. I¡¯m gonna get going now.¡±

    ¡°Um¡­Sure. Bye.¡±

    With that, he left me behind standing on the front of the ship.

    Clenching my hand, I tried to hold back the tears forming in my eyes.

    I know I shouldn¡¯t be mad that Xara rejected him, but seeing the pain on his face made it all too clear to me that he still hadn¡¯t gotten over her rejecting him for Axel.

    Feeling a pain in my chest, I went to my room to lie down for a bit. Unsure what to do next.

    After about six hours of travel, we apparently were taking a stop of some kind.

    I got out of bed and went onto the deck of the ship.

    Walking for a bit, I noticed some students muttering among each other and I made my over to see what everyone was talking about.

    I tapped on one of the student''s shoulders and they turned to face me.

    ¡°Excuse me for asking, but what¡¯s going on?¡±

    The student rubbed his eyes.

    ¡°Apparently, a few kids didn¡¯t learn that you can¡¯t use magic while on the ship. Because of that, they¡¯re trying to rally the rest of the students to fight for their right to use magic.¡±

    ¡°Really? But isn¡¯t the whole reason we can¡¯t use magic because it could cause the core of the ship to explode?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s what we''re trying to explain to them. However, they don¡¯t want to hear it.¡±

    I remembered reading about this when I was preparing my plans for this trip. Apparently, the ships used some kind of core that we couldn¡¯t risk exposing to any magic. I wasn¡¯t sure why a ship would use such a dangerous item if that was all it took to make it explode, but my guess was that people were still learning to use magic safely. After all, before thirty years ago, things like magic were a strange mystery we had yet to grasp in the slightest.

    Looking around at the crowd, I spotted a familiar face that made my heart jump.

    ¡°Riko.¡±

    Hearing me call his name, Riko turned towards me.

    ¡°Oh. Hey there Miss Riosha.¡±

    ¡°What are you doing out here?¡±

    ¡°I heard a ruckus and decided to check it out. Turns out it¡¯s a bunch of people who don¡¯t like taking no for an answer.¡±

    Turning my gaze towards a few people shouting out to the gathering crowd, they demanded things like rights and privileges to use magic on the ship. Honestly, all they were doing was being noisy. If Axel were here, he probably would¡¯ve said some comeback and used that to quiet down the people causing problems.

    Sighing, I let my heart relax as I stood next to Riko before speaking again.

    ¡°This is an unrelated matter, but apparently we¡¯ll be stopping for some kind of festival on our route. Would you be interested in joining me in some festivities when we get there?¡±

    I tried my best to make that sound as casual as possible. This was a big part of my plan. I¡¯d forgotten to say it earlier, but I was hoping to use this as an excuse to go on a date with Riko. And even if he didn¡¯t see it as a date, it could still be considered an outing between the two of us.

    Riko seemed to think about it for a moment before nodding.

    ¡°Sure. That sounds like fun.¡±

    I internally gave myself a cheer of joy. Step one of my plan was complete.

    Trying to hide my blushing cheeks, I smiled.

    ¡°I- I look forward to our time together.¡±

    With that, I gave him a bow before returning to my room and squealing into my pillow. The excitement was too much. Everything was going exactly as planned. Now all I needed to do was make sure the two of us had a great time while out at the festival.

    Opening my bag, I pulled out something my mother called a yukata which she said was a key part of enjoying the festival experience. I¡¯d spent almost every night since this trip was announced learning how to put it on. Apparently, the ship offered yukata''s for people who forgot to bring one, but for me, I was bringing the yukata that had been passed down from my grandmother to my mother all the way to me. Seeing it for myself, I found myself fond of the way it was designed. It was a deep purple with a bunch of flower textures sprouting up from different spots coated in a lightly tinted pink and green. To me, it looked quite cute.

    If I was correct, we¡¯d be arriving at the festival within the next two hours. Upon reaching that point, the next part of my plan would begin. That part being Riko and I having a good time while out at the festival.

    I already had everything set in my head. First: we¡¯d go around trying out all the different party games the festival has to offer. Second: We visit the shrine my mother mentioned they have there and pray for what we wish for most. Finally, third: we sit down next to each other and watch the fireworks show my dad said they always had every year that he and my mom watched together during their school years.

    With my plan in place, I should have gained enough of his interest to the point he actually sees me as a potential partner. That¡¯ll give me the opening I need to get even closer. And once we''re close enough, I¡¯ll confess to him and the two of us will become a couple. The perfect plan.

    Giggling to myself in excitement, I spent some time to make sure I remembered how to wear a yukata correctly as we slowly made our way towards the festival site.

    Around two hours later, we arrived. I was one of the first people to get off as I took a quick glance at my yukata to make sure it was all set. After doing so, I continued walking toward the festival site.

    Riko had agreed to meet me at the entrance. According to what Axel told me, that was the easiest spot for people to meet up.

    Seeing the entrance draw near, I spotted Riko among the group of students standing around that area.

    I waved my hand out to him.

    ¡°Hey! Thanks for waiting!¡±

    Hearing me, Riko turned toward my direction and smiled. My heart instantly jumped as I continued walking forward.

    Once I was a few steps in front of him, he looked me up and down.

    ¡°Wow. That yukata looks great on you Miss Riosha.¡±

    I giggled.

    ¡°Thanks. The same goes for you.¡±

    Riko was wearing what looked the yukata¡¯s they offered on the ship. It was a simple mix of red and yellow stripes that blended together surprisingly well.

    ¡°Thank you. Well then, shall we go?¡±

    Riko said this while holding out a hand for me. Nervously, I reached out and grabbed it and he guided me into the festival.

    Executing the second part of my plan, I brought Riko over to one of the games and tried to beat it on the first try. However-

    ¡°Haaah. Looks like I failed again.¡±

    -things weren¡¯t going very well.

    I slumped my arms. Axel told me the ring toss was one of the easier games at a festival like this. However, I found myself struggling to get even one ring hooked onto the bottles lined up in front of me. As he watched from behind, I could hear Riko chuckling to himself. Clearly finding my struggles humorous.

    After failing the fourth time, I began to trudge away from the stand when Riko grabbed my hand. I gave him a look of confusion. He grinned and stepped up to the stand and took a few of the rings.

    ¡°Here. Allow me.¡±

    Then, to my surprise, he managed to get each ring onto a bottle. His reward for winning the game was a small little plush dog.

    He must¡¯ve seen me staring because he offered the dog to me and I nervously took it from his hands.

    The two of us continued to wander the festival grounds as several of the same instances happened again and again. Finally, when we played a game where we were supposed to catch fish, I managed to win and received the fish as my prize.

    Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.

    Seeing I¡¯d won, I couldn¡¯t help but jump for joy and kept shouting about how I did it. Seeing me so excited, Riko let out a small laugh before we decided to move on to the next thing. But before doing so, I handed the fish to a festival official who¡¯d make sure it was brought back to my home safely.

    The two of us tried out a few more games and by the end, we managed to amass quite a few prizes. Thankfully, we were able to ship them back to our dorms so we weren¡¯t forced to carry them around everywhere.

    Now, I was just wandering the festival grounds and eating a delicious treat called cotton candy next to Riko. Thanks to the festivities, I was able to ignore my pounding heart and the two of us continued exploring before finally deciding to make our way over to the shrine.

    So far so good. With us enjoying the festival being completed, it was time to pray at the shrine. From what I read, the shrine was apparently dedicated to an ancient being known as ¡°Kupid¡± who brought eternal love everywhere she went. She apparently even managed to bring two gods back together after they looked like they¡¯d be apart forever. As thanks, the gods constructed a piece of land for Kupid to reside and the center of said land was where this shrine was constructed.

    As wonderful as that sounded, I did find myself wondering why the center was on a hill that required a set of stairs to reach.

    Still, it was too late to give up so Riko and I slowly ascended the stairs and arrived at the top around two minutes later.

    At the top, there resided what you could describe as a marvelous piece of art. It was a building around eight meters in height and four meters wide. It had wood that was painted a bright pink with the roof being a more dark red. Despite how much you¡¯d think the colors didn¡¯t fit, they felt oddly right as I looked at the shrine. Its design wasn¡¯t anything to laugh at either. According to what I read, the design was similar to that of a shine you¡¯d see in a land known as Japan. I¡¯d never heard of that place, I also couldn¡¯t find it anywhere on any map I¡¯ve looked at. But if this was the design they used, I understood why they used it. This was beautiful.

    Trying to focus back on the present, I walked up to the shrine to find a girl who appeared to be around the age of fourteen standing there. She explained to us that we were meant to ring the bell hanging from the front of the shrine and then clap our hands three times before making a wish. I decided to ask if we could wish for anything. The girl who called herself the shrine maiden told me I could. However, since Kupid is who this shrine is dedicated to, wishes involving love worked the best.

    Having learned that information, I moved up to the bell at the front of the shrine and shook it. After that, I clapped three times and gave my prayer once I took a deep breath.

    ¡°I wish the one I long for will return my feelings,¡± I muttered quietly to the point it was almost impossible to hear me.

    I would¡¯ve been more specific, but I felt that if I tried that, it would just be forcing my own feelings onto another. Even if I wanted Riko to return my feelings, I knew forcing him to through a wish would be terrible.

    Finally done, I took a step back and let Riko move up to the shrine and make his wish.

    I couldn¡¯t hear what he said, but he seemed pretty serious when he made his wish.

    Once he was done, he let out a relaxed sigh before returning to me and the two of us left right as a few other people arrived to make wishes to the shrine.

    Now that I think about it, Axel was pretty curious about this shrine when I told him about it. Maybe I should bring him here sometime.

    But moving past that thought for now, Riko and I walked around the festival grounds for a little while longer before finally stopping at a spot that would give us a good look at the fireworks that were meant to go off in not too long.

    There weren¡¯t any chairs or seats, so the two of us ended up sitting on the ground and staring out at the darkening sky.

    ¡°Hey. Thanks for inviting me. To hang out at the festival, I mean.¡±

    Hearing Riko say that, I gave him a smile.

    ¡°It was no issue. I had a great time today.¡±

    As I continued to smile, Riko turned his head away.

    ¡°Hm? Is something wrong?¡±

    ¡°Er¡­No. It¡¯s just that¡­you¡¯re cute when you smile like that.¡±

    Hearing that, I immediately went bright red.

    ¡°Oh¡­I¡­um¡­Really?¡±

    ¡°Uh¡­Yeah.¡±

    Riko scratched the back of his neck awkwardly before sighing.

    ¡°Y¡¯know, when Xara rejected me, I must admit I was pretty heartbroken.¡±

    Hearing that immediately caused my smile to fade. His face had the strained look from before. If he was that upset to talk about it, why did he do so?

    ¡°But¡­after today, I think I might be starting to feel better.¡±

    Once he said that, my smile slowly returned

    ¡°I¡¯m glad to hear it.¡±

    The two of us, who without realizing it had turned to face toward each other, looked into the other''s eyes. We stared for what felt like ages. It was like I wasn¡¯t able to say anything. All I could do was stare at him.

    A moment later, a loud explosion snapped both of us out of whatever the heck we were doing and we turned our heads to see sparks of light go off in the air.

    ¡°So this is fireworks¡­¡± I found myself mumbling. I couldn¡¯t help but stare in awe as the beautiful colors showered the sky. It was truly an amazing site. With all the lights covering the sky, it made me wish Axel could¡¯ve been here to see this...

    ...Wait. Why was I thinking that?

    As Riko continued to watch the fireworks, I turned my head the other way and pondered what I¡¯d just thought.

    ¡°Why? Why did I just think that?¡±

    While I continued to watch the fireworks, my mind kept wandering to Axel. Thinking about how much he¡¯d love seeing these.

    Come to think of it, I¡¯ve been thinking a lot about Axel throughout this trip. What was going on?

    Suddenly, when thoughts of Axel¡¯s face entered my mind, my cheeks warmed up slightly. The same feeling I got while looking at Riko.

    ¡°Wait¡­Could this be-?¡±

    As that thought entered my mind, a giant firework went off in front of us that filled the sky with dozens of different colors.

    Trying my best to ignore the realization I¡¯d just reached, I shook my head and did my best to focus on the fireworks. All the while, Riko kept glancing at me time and time again. Strangely enough though, having him look at me didn¡¯t make me as happy as it did before. How strange.

    Once the fireworks were over, the two of us began making our way back to the ship.

    We walked side by side without a word.

    Taking a moment to glance at Riko, I noticed his cheeks were a light pink. Did that mean my plan to get closer to him was working? If so, that should make me happy. But weirdly enough, I didn¡¯t feel anything when that thought crossed my mind. What was wrong with me?

    Less than a minute away from the ship, I was planning to make my way straight to my room in order to get some sleep. I was sure whatever was going on with me was just thanks to sleep fatigue. However, my plans were instantly shattered when an explosion rocked the ground around us.

    Riko and I looked around confused for several moments before running towards where the explosion appeared to have come from. When we arrived, there was a giant crater in the ground with parts of what appeared to be the ship we came here on lying all over the ground. Several students, as well as boat staff, seemed to be trapped under the rubble and people were going around trying to rescue them.

    Trying to figure out the situation, I went over to the man who appeared to be leading the efforts.

    ¡°Excuse me, could you explain what happened here?¡±

    The man rubbed his eyes.

    ¡°Some students were demanding their right to use magic on the boat and ended up sneaking in and shutting down the machine being used to emit the magic-blocking barrier. Because they did that, the magic they produced caused the ship''s core to explode.¡±

    So those people who were demanding the right to use magic were behind this.

    The man scratched the back of his head.

    ¡°Geez. I know I shouldn¡¯t say stuff like this, but I feel like the quality of royalty has declined quite a bit. I could never see anyone before this generation doing something so stupid.¡±

    Hearing that, I wanted to shout out our generation wasn¡¯t that bad. However, I found myself remembering all the dumb things I¡¯ve seen the students at our school do. So as much as I hated to admit it, he was right. We really were awful.

    Even so, now wasn¡¯t the time to reflect on the actions of my generation.

    ¡°Please allow us to help!¡±

    Surprised by how loud I was, the man took a step back before shrugging.

    ¡°Be my guest.¡±

    With that, Riko and I went around and saved everyone we could. Thankfully, no one was killed. But several crew members as well as a few students were still quite injured. Some were just knocked unconscious, while others were awake and had several broken bones.

    And after almost two hours of work, everyone seemed to be accounted for and I found myself collapsing on the ground in exhaustion. I had done all that while still in my yukata so I was sweating quite a bit.

    Riko came over with some cups of cold water and handed one to me.

    I accepted it and drank slowly so that I could savor the cold liquid falling down my throat.

    ¡°I heard from one of the teachers that we''re apparently gonna have to sleep here tonight since a rescue ship can¡¯t arrive till tomorrow night.¡±

    ¡°Is that so? And how do they plan to shelter this many students?¡±

    ¡°I asked about that. I believe they said they¡¯d see if there are any locals willing to lend their houses over in exchange for money.¡±

    ¡°I see.¡±

    Asking for help from the locals made the most sense. However-

    ¡°You expect us to sleep in a commoner¡¯s home!?¡±

    ¡°How dare you assume we¡¯d be willing to sleep in such rubbish! You should be ashamed for calling yourselves teachers!¡±

    ¡°As if I¡¯d stoop low enough to sleep in the home of a commoner!¡±

    -it appeared a majority of the students weren¡¯t exactly ecstatic about the idea.

    Sighing, I got up and tried my best to lead by example by accepting what the teachers were requesting and making my way over to a house one of the common folk offered.

    Before I knew it, the middle of the night had arrived. I was already pretty tired, so the idea I was still up was rather vexing.

    It wasn¡¯t that the bed was uncomfortable, I just found myself reflecting on the day''s events.

    From inviting out Riko, to the fireworks. And as I did so, one thing stuck out in my head. And that was that I kept thinking about how much fun this would¡¯ve been had Axel come along. Honestly, it was quite frustrating that the theory I created could potentially be true. And it was like everything I¡¯d previously thought about was being overridden by thoughts about Axel.

    As I tried to figure out why that was, my mind flashed back to several instances in the past when Axel was the most relevant. There was the first time he picked me up and carried me in a rather strange but comfortable carry, to when he helped our team win during the Hunter Games, as well as protected me when Richie nearly turned me into a monster. The more I thought about it, the more I realized how cool he looked. And, come to think of it, he¡¯s really not that bad looking¡­

    ¡°What am I thinking!?¡±

    I rustled my hair in frustration. Up to this point, my mind had been completely focused on Riko. But out of nowhere, all I can think about is Axel. It didn¡¯t make any sense. What was going on?

    Still unsure, I decided to sleep on it and got under the bed covers before I closed my eyes.

    The next morning, I woke up with a start as my face was flushed red.

    ¡°What the heck was that dream about Axel!? And why was it so detailed and steamy!?¡±

    For some reason, I had a dream about going on a rather interesting outing with Axel. By the end, we were in bed together and it was getting way too hot for me and I was forced to wake up.

    Getting onto my feet, I heard a knock at my door. I was about to go over and answer when I looked down to find I was in nothing but my underwear and bra. Of course I was. Since my clothes had been burned up in the explosion, I didn¡¯t have anything but my yukata on me. And there was no way I was sleeping in that. I¡¯d have gotten heatstroke.

    Trying to slip on my yukata as fast as possible, I opened the door to find a teacher there holding a set of clothes.

    ¡°This is for you. It¡¯s some clothes so that you don¡¯t have to walk around in that hot yukata all day.¡±

    ¡°Oh. Thank you.¡±

    I took the clothes out of the teacher''s hands.

    ¡°Before I go, I should tell you we¡¯ll be holding a meeting to discuss the plans for today in about half an hour at the site where the festival took place. If you have the time, then please be there.¡±

    I nodded in understanding before closing the door and trying on the clothes I¡¯d been given. They clearly weren¡¯t clothes royalty would normally wear. The outfit came with a loose purple t-shirt, dark blue pants commoners called jeans, and a set of shoes that looked a little worn down.

    I was certain that if a majority of the students here saw this kind of stuff was all they could wear right now, most would either just stick in the yukata or not leave their rooms.

    As I wanted to leave, I quickly slipped on the clothes I was given and left the house.

    Once I was out, I went towards the spot the teacher told me about and saw a few other students there. The majority of them still wore their yukata¡¯s with only a few others begrudgingly wearing the clothes provided to them.

    After the teachers were sure those who wanted to be there had arrived, they began going over the day''s events.

    Since the festival was already over, they didn¡¯t really have anything else planned so they permitted us to just walk around and do whatever we wanted. However, if any of us wished to help, they¡¯d let us assist in cleaning up whatever was left over from the festival.

    I ended up spending the rest of the day doing that and Riko joined in to help me out.

    And before I knew it, the day had flown by and the rescue ship had arrived.

    The students slowly got on board one by one and around an hour later, we set out back towards the school.

    Flopping down onto one of the beds the rescue ship offered, I let out an exhausted sigh. The trip that was supposed to get Riko and me together ended up being a lot more taxing than I¡¯d previously anticipated.

    I ended up feeling completely worn down to the point that when we got back to the school, I immediately went back to my room.

    Not that such a move didn¡¯t make sense. It was nearly midnight when we finally returned.

    Sliding under the covers of my bed, I closed my eyes and fell asleep almost instantly.

    Before I knew it, the next morning had arrived and I got up for the day. Apparently, despite only having just returned from the trip, classes were already back in session. Showing how short and simple this trip was meant to be.

    Slipping on a new school uniform I¡¯d received last night to replace the one that got blown up, I walked out the door and made my way to class. All the while, I wondered how Axel¡¯s trip went. He seemed pretty excited when I saw him before, so I hope he had a fun time worthy of that excitement.

    Deciding I¡¯d ask him about that when I got to the classroom, I walked through the halls with a spring in my step.

    I arrived at my destination a few minutes later and opened the door. Upon entry, a few other students started approaching me. I was planning to ignore them and turn my attention to asking Axel about his time on the trip, but when I looked at the spot where he would normally sit, there was no one there.

    "Um¡­ Excuse me. Could someone tell me where Axel is?¡±

    While he normally makes it here after me. There are rare occasions he gets here before. Does this mean he hasn¡¯t gotten here yet?

    As I asked my question, the classroom immediately went silent. However, a few seconds later, snickers started echoing throughout the room. What was so funny? Did I ask something amusing? I was completely lost.

    Apparently annoyed by the snickers, Mister Roy got up from his seat with a loud creak which caused all the other students to hush.

    After doing that, he walked over to me with a grim look on his face. Something about it caused goosebumps to form on my skin.

    ¡°Miss Riosha¡­Axel has¡­gone missing.¡±

    ¡°...Huh?¡±

    Hearing those words, my body froze. And all I could do was stand there in disbelief.

 Chapter 30: The Scum That Are Nobles

    Stretching out my arms, I looked off the side of the ship. The sight really was incredible. A sense of excitement welled up from inside me as we rode past several different spectacles that you needed to see in order to believe. From the floating windmills that I still couldn¡¯t figure out the use for since actual lights hadn¡¯t been invented yet, to the rainbow that was off in the distance that shined with quite a strange change to it having the colors placed in the reverse order they were in my world. Instead of having it go red, orange, yellow, green, blue, or purple, it instead goes purple, blue, green, yellow, orange, and red. Not exactly the biggest change to the world, but considering all they did with the names of the week was alter the way the days were pronounced by a few simple letters, this wasn¡¯t that unbelievable to see.

    Honestly, I¡¯m kinda surprised at how similar the game is to my world. I know it sounds weird, but it¡¯s actually kinda refreshing seeing such simple changes. The simplicity of it helped a lot in getting me adjusted to this world''s schedule, and the fact that everyone speaks the same language as me makes communication a lot easier. At least I think it was the developers of this game who made such choices. Some of this stuff could just be the work of that God who sent me here who was just adding more to the world. Nonetheless, I¡¯m still happy to see such nice spectacles that remind me of my old world.

    Hm? What¡¯s that off in the distance?

    Taking a moment to see what my expanded thinking was telling me, I squinted my eyes as I looked out into the distance and noticed something far off that appeared to be another flying ship of some kind.

    Concerned about whatever that was, I made my way up to some crewmembers who seemed to have a hatred towards me for some reason, and told them about the thing off in the distance.

    They didn¡¯t seem to like I was the one who noticed, but one of the crewmembers went off to inform the captain of the ship.

    A few minutes later, the captain was staring off at the object in the distance with a telescope in his hand. With the pose he was in while looking, I thought he almost looked like a pirate captain. Were pirates even a thing in this world?

    Anyways, after he was done looking, he turned to the ship''s crew.

    ¡°A starship is approaching us. Prepare to be boarded.¡±

    Hm? A starship? You mean one of those ships that only royalty ride on? I never saw one in the game since it was only ever mentioned and never shown, so I had no idea what one looked like.

    Taking a look at the ship once more, I felt goosebumps grow on my skin. For some reason, that ship gave me an ominous feeling.

    Concerned, I tried preparing a wind spell in case things got ugly when I suddenly remembered I couldn¡¯t use magic on this ship. What a pain.

    With nothing else I could do, I gripped my hand onto my belt in the spot where my grimoire normally stayed to act as a calming ritual in order to put off this strange sense of unease.

    About twenty minutes later, the ship was right next to us. I got a good look at it and couldn¡¯t help but marvel at its design. It didn¡¯t look that different from the ship we were on, but it had a sleek blue shine painted all across the ship and gave off a feeling of intimidation that I couldn¡¯t really describe with words.

    Due to feeling concerned, several students had gathered to look at the ship.

    The majority had looks of confusion on their faces, some stared in awe, and some watched in fear as the ship lowered down a ramp onto our own.

    There was silence among the students. No one uttered a single word. Finally, a person stepped onto the ramp. We all gazed up to find an older-looking gentleman standing there and gazing at the crowd.

    Finally, the gentlemen took a step forward. After that, he took another, then another.

    About ten seconds later, he had successfully made it onto our ship. He once again gazed around at the crowd before taking a bow.

    ¡°Pardon my disturbance. Might I ask if there is a young Axel Savoncho on this ship with you all?¡±

    ¡°...Huh?¡±

    He was looking for me? Why?

    Before anyone could say anything, the captain made his way towards the gentlemen. After a moment, the two of them were staring face to face.

    ¡°Are you Sir Savoncho?¡±

    ¡°No. I¡¯m not. However, this is my ship. So if you wish to meet with one of my ship''s guests, then at least explain yourself before doing so.¡±

    The gentleman was silent for a moment before nodding.

    ¡°Very well.¡±

    Turning his head towards the ramp, he managed to direct all our attention to the person now standing there at the top.

    At first, I couldn¡¯t make out who it was. However, once my eyes adjusted to the sun, I couldn¡¯t help but feel a sense of surprise when I saw who was standing there.

    The one standing on the ramp was a woman. She had blonde hair tied into a ponytail, green eyes, and a face I couldn¡¯t help but hate.

    ¡°Greetings! My name is Lily Acantha! A pleasure to meet¡­most of you.¡±

    Yep. Lily. The woman that led me down the path I was in now. First trapping me down in a dungeon where I nearly died and then got expelled for doing so. What the hell was she doing here? Was she the one looking for me?

    Lily made her way down the ramp and landed on the ship with a grin that irritated me to no end.

    She turned to the captain.

    ¡°I overheard. You wish to know why we wish to speak with Savoncho, correct?¡±

    The captain nodded.

    Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

    Lily chuckled.

    ¡°It¡¯s simple. You see, as compensation for getting me removed from my place at the school I used to attend, I¡¯d like for him to give me his personal island and everything on it. I imagine that isn¡¯t asking for too much.¡±

    This bitch!

    I wanted to scream out at her, but I tried my best to hold myself back. Right now, I was completely powerless. If I tried anything, I¡¯d just get beaten to a pulp.

    Gritting my teeth, I listened to the two¡¯s conversation.

    ¡°Is that so? Well if it¡¯s just for negotiations, then I don¡¯t see why the two of you can¡¯t meet. Bring Axel Savoncho here!¡±

    WHAT!?

    I didn¡¯t have any time to respond as the students immediately began pushing me towards Lily.

    What the hell are you doing you jerks!? That¡¯s what I wanted to scream, however, I bit my tongue. Finally, I reached Lily and she looked me up and down with a disgusting grin on her face. I responded with an angry glare.

    ¡°Mister Savoncho. So good of you to meet me today. I hope you heard what I had to say.¡±

    Keeping my glare on her, I answered her with a stern voice.

    ¡°Like hell I¡¯d agree to something like th-Ow!¡±

    As I was about to finish speaking, the gentleman instantly appeared behind me and pinned my arm behind my back. What heck!? This guy was way too strong for someone his age!

    ¡°I kindly ask you not to say anything unnecessary towards my lady. If you wish to continue this struggle, I will not hesitate to break any of your bones.¡±

    I couldn¡¯t do anything but growl. This whole situation was starting to piss me off.

    Seeing my frustration, the grin on Lily¡¯s face only grew wider. You sadistic bitch!

    I wanted to struggle, but the gentleman pinned me to the ground and kept me in place.

    The captain, who was supposed to be one for protecting the guests on his ship, just watched as things played out. A look of indifference on his face.

    Lily giggled, then turned her attention to the crowd.

    ¡°From the looks of it, he doesn¡¯t seem to get the message. Would some of you step forward and kindly remind him of his place?¡±

    Hearing that, several students began to smile and walk towards me.

    Sensing their bloodlust, I tried desperately to move. Sadly, the gentleman made sure that didn¡¯t happen.

    As the students surrounded me, they began bringing their fists down on me and drilling punches into my face, stomach, and legs. Pain was shooting throughout my entire body and I couldn¡¯t do anything to stop it.

    While the students continued to beat and batter me, they began shouting a bunch of shit.

    ¡°Know your place commoner!¡±

    ¡°You clearly don¡¯t understand! There¡¯s no such thing as negotiations with commoners!¡±

    ¡°If you really understood your position, you¡¯d have agreed to her request without hesitation!¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t act like you¡¯re on the same level as us you swine!¡±

    Why was I being subjected to this? Why did I deserve it? Why? WHY!?

    I tried to let out a scream, but someone punched me in the face and knocked out a few of my teeth before backing up and complaining about getting filthy commoner spit on their hand.

    The pain continued for several minutes before I finally lost consciousness. All the while, the laughing of those royal assholes echoed in my ear.

    I woke up a few hours later. My head was throbbing in pain as I sat up. The sound of water dripping entered my ears.

    Looking around, I saw I was in a cell of some kind.

    I tried to get up but found my legs quickly giving out. My body was so destroyed, that I couldn''t even hold myself up for more than a few moments.

    Lying up against the wall, I felt a vibration below me. That confused me a bit, but a few minutes later, the gentleman from before showed up.

    ¡°My apologies Sir Savoncho. My lady can be rather sadistic when she wishes to be. I hope you find it in your heart to forgive her.¡±

    I tried to respond with ¡°Like hell, I¡¯d ever forgive her!¡± but it was impossible for me to respond as my voice had been just as destroyed as the rest of my body.

    While I lied there, the gentleman explained what was going on.

    Apparently, since negotiations had failed, Lily had taken me as compensation and the other students were more than happy to hand me over. I wanted to ask about why the crew didn¡¯t stop her, but the gentleman responded as if reading my thoughts by saying the captain and crew didn¡¯t care. As long as she¡¯d leave the ship alone, they were fine with anything. What a bunch of jerkwads.

    The gentleman walked into my cell and put some food next to me before leaving with the key at his side.

    I sat there silently for several minutes before trying my best to eat the food. From the taste, it reminded me of the type of food I had back when I was an adventurer. For royalty, this would seem like cruel treatment, but as someone who lived off food like this for four years, I was right at home eating a rather bland meal. Though it was hard to eat with the broken teeth. I could only hope Sirin could make new ones for me once this was all over. But anyway, after I was done, I tried my best to stand up only to fall again.

    I finally began finding my voice again and muttered curses under my breath.

    I had wondered why I was even still alive but then remembered my defenses on the island. If they killed me, they¡¯d probably never gain access to the island. But if they showed up on the island and used me as a shield, then they¡¯d have nothing to worry about. I would love to prove to them how stupid that idea was, but I¡¯d rather not play to their tune.

    I tried to cast some magic to escape, but apparently, this cell was covered by a barrier that kept me from using my spells.

    Quite the frustrating scenario.

    Not to mention, apparently, all the students were gonna say I went missing when they got back so that after Lily was done using me, she could just kill me off somewhere no one would be able to find me.

    I let out a frustrated sigh.

    ¡°How could I forget?¡± I muttered.

    ¡°How could I ever forget how cruel the world of royalty was to commoners?¡±

    As I pondered this question, thoughts of the events leading up to now reminded me of how well things were going up until this point.

    ¡°Ah¡­I see.¡±

    It was then that I finally realized it. I couldn¡¯t help but chuckle to myself when I came to the realization.

    ¡°I got too complacent. I stopped staying on edge and began to soften up. The one thing I should never have done.¡±

    Thanks to my relationship with Xara, I forgot the rules of society. That being this world thrived off being superior to others. And since I started as a commoner, that was all I was seen as. That¡¯s all I¡¯ve ever been. A filthy commoner who tried to strive in the world of royalty.

    Honest, I¡¯m amazed at how long it took me to realize.

    Originally, I came to this world and decided to create a harem. After that, I saw how cruel this world could be and decided to live it how I wanted. But even after doing so, I was still looked down upon for being a commoner. Even if some people saw me as more, that¡¯s not what the majority see. They just think of me as nothing but a commoner who found a way to sneak into royal society and tried to blend in. I can¡¯t believe how stupid I was up to this point. Live life how I want? What¡¯s the point of that if I¡¯m still being looked down on!?

    If it wasn¡¯t already hard enough to move, I would¡¯ve smashed my fists into the wall.

    I worked so hard to get the life I had now. But just because I wasn''t a royal asshole, people looked down on me. And no matter how hard I try, they¡¯ll never see me as anything else. As much as I hate to admit it, that¡¯s reality. And there¡¯s nothing I can do about it.

    Thus, as I continued to grit my teeth, I sat there in silence. Drowning in my own thoughts of anger and frustration.

 Chapter 31: Destruction Brings Rebirth

    It¡¯s been two days since I was trapped in this cell. I finally learned what that vibrating was. Apparently, it was the ship moving. That¡¯s right, I¡¯ve been in a cell on a ship for the last two days.

    I haven¡¯t starved yet since I still get a meal delivered by the old gentleman every day, but it¡¯d be a stretch to say I¡¯m doing fine.

    Most of my wounds still hurt like crazy, and I¡¯ve been bored to the point I¡¯ve started casting magic to pass the time. And before you ask, no I can¡¯t actually cast magic. I¡¯ve just been trying different combinations using magic circles I read about from my grimoire that Nia taught me when I asked her to teach me whatever. However, they¡¯ve all ended in failure, but it¡¯s better than just staring at a wall all day.

    I couldn¡¯t tell what time it was, but given I had just been delivered my food about half an hour ago, it was probably midday since that¡¯s around the time lunches normally occur in this world.

    I had already finished my lunch and returned to failing the same spell over and over.

    I found myself missing the few people I was close to. No doubt Xara and Vey would be concerned about my whereabouts. And I wouldn¡¯t put it past Nia to still be angry over the fact I¡¯d forgotten to bring her with me.

    Not that she¡¯d probably still be in my possession. Along with throwing me in this cell, they took all my clothes and other stuff while leaving me with a pair of filthy ripped-up old clothes that made me look like a homeless person.

    Thinking about all this, I couldn¡¯t help but chuckle at how worthless I was to be in this situation. I really wasn¡¯t anything without magic.

    Continuing to entertain my boredom, I tried another spell combination that I was certain would vanish. However-

    ¡°Huh!?¡±

    -my eyes widened as I felt a breeze blow into my face.

    I stared down at the spell in my hand. This was the spell I¡¯d been trying to cast for the last day and a half. It wasn¡¯t anything massive. I was just trying to create some wind to cool myself down thanks to how hot this cell got.

    Making sure what just happened wasn¡¯t a fluke, I tried again. Once more, I felt a breeze flying into my face.

    Still shocked, I checked my surroundings and sure enough, the barrier appeared to still be up. So how was I casting this?

    Feeling my hopes rise, I tried another spell using a similar combination.

    Almost instantly, a ball of water formed in my palm. A sense of excitement welled up from inside me. I couldn¡¯t believe what I was seeing.

    Having come to a realization, I let out a loud laugh that echoed through the room. It actually sounded kinda sinister.

    Gazing down at my hand, a grin grew on my face. I had just done the impossible. I had successfully figured out how to beat a magic-blocking barrier. With this weakness finally shattered, I knew there was nothing left to stand in my way if I wanted to escape.

    Wanting to leave as soon as possible, I was preparing to use a teleportation spell when a thought dawned on me.

    A couple of days ago, I¡¯d stated how much I hated the fact I was looked down upon and how I wouldn¡¯t be seen as anything more than a commoner. So if that was the case, how would those royal assholes react if I began showing off just how powerful I was compared to them?

    When that thought occurred, a rather wicked grin spread across my face as I stopped my teleportation spell and turned to the front of the cell.

    ¡°Say, how would Lily react if I destroyed this ship and everyone on it? Would she be sad, angry, confused? I wanna find out!¡±

    As I said that, a sense of excitement rose up inside me.

    Making my way toward the cell doors, I decided to alter my wind blade spell a little bit and the sound of a chainsaw entered my ear.

    I looked at my hands to find sharp, fast blades spinning therein rapid circles and I made my way to the front of the cell, I sliced through the bars with ease. I didn''t have half as much strength as I did when I had Nia by my side, but what I had would do fine with the things I wanted to accomplish.

    Applying wind magic to my feet, I began cutting through the ceiling at a rapid pace. Ready to tear this ship to shreds.

    Something shaking below caused Lily to spill her tea.

    She got up with an angry growl.

    ¡°What¡¯s going on here!? Were only an hour away from the island!¡±

    The gentleman next to Lily bowed.

    ¡°My apologies my lady. As I¡¯ve been here with you, I am unable to answer your question.¡±

    Lily was about to raise her voice at his words when someone burst into the room. It was one of the crewmembers of her ship.

    ¡°The prisoners escaped! He¡¯s currently wreaking havoc across the entire ship!¡±

    ¡°WHAT!?¡±

    Hearing this, Lily took a step back. Fear began to show in her eyes.

    Seeing that, the gentleman stepped forward and grabbed the crewmember, and began to drag him off.

    ¡°I¡¯ll punish you for scaring my lady later. For now, let¡¯s go deal with the issue at hand.¡±

    With that, the gentleman bowed once more and left the room as he closed the door behind him.

    Lily tried her best to calm herself down as best she could. Knowing full well just how powerful the man who served her could be...

    ¡­CRASH!

    Suddenly, the gentleman was sent flying through the roof and crashing onto the ground in front of Lily. She let out a scream of terror before looking up at the ceiling to find Axel watching her with a grin on his face.

    ¡°Oh, there you are Lily! I was wondering where you could¡¯ve been. Who would¡¯ve guessed you¡¯d be in the fanciest room on this ship?¡±

    Axel, who was floating in the sky, made his way to the ground. As he did so, the crewmember from before burst into the room.

    ¡°HAAAH!¡±

    The crewmember tried to charge at Axel, however, Axel didn¡¯t even flinch as he lifted his hand up and pointed it at the crewmember. Sending him flying out of the room and towards the ship''s edge.

    Somehow seeing he hadn¡¯t knocked the crewmember off the ship from a distance, Axel shot him with wind magic one more time and the crewmember fell off the ship as his screams were loud enough for even Lily to hear.

    Shaking in fear, Lily tried to raise up her hand to cast a spell.

    ¡°By the god flames, I ask thou to scorch my enemy! Fire Blast!¡±

    The ball of fire shot at Axel and Lily could feel her confidence returning. However, Axel simply blinked as the fire vanished right before reaching his face. As if the wind had blown it away.

    ¡°Did you seriously think that tiny ball of fire would be enough to stop me? How dumb could you be?¡±

    Axel took a step towards Lily. But just as he did so, the gentleman jumped behind him with the intent to smash his head into the ground.

    But just as his fist was about to make contact, Axel held out his own hand and grabbed hold of the enemy''s fist. The gentlemen grunted in pain as Axel started to crush his hand.

    ¡°Geez. Reinforcement magic sure is handy. Glad I learned it,¡± Axel said as his hand shined like iron from having used the same spell he used for taking down Richie.

    Without hesitation, Axel lifted the gentleman up into the air using wind magic before slamming him into the ground.

    ¡°Sorry old man. I¡¯m not gonna let you take me down a second time. However, since you were kind enough to give me some decent food, I¡¯ll make sure your death is as quick as possible.¡±

    Upon saying that, Axel lifted his hand up into the air before smashing it into the gentleman''s chest. Reaching his heart and crushing it instantly. The gentlemen let out a single scream before collapsing to the ground dead.

    As it all happened, the smile never left Axel''s face. It was almost eerie just how much he looked like he was enjoying this.

    Lily stared in terror. That man was one of the few people she¡¯d considered to be strong among her family''s servants. Despite that, he lost without being able to land a single punch.

    Lily felt her legs were about to collapse as she stared at Axel. This commoner who they beat before with such ease, had just taken down the best fighter she had on hand.

    ¡°What was up with this man!? He wasn¡¯t this strong before!¡± She thought.

    Seeing her terror caused Axel to chuckle.

    ¡°Oh? Why are you so scared all of a sudden? Is seeing me kill that guy really such a big deal? He was just a grunt. Or was he meant to be more than that?¡±

    Did he just call her strongest warrior a grunt!? That term was only used to refer to someone who was weak and disposable! The complete opposite of that gentleman!

    No longer able to keep herself standing, Lily collapsed to the floor as a yellow liquid leaked from under her. Seeing that, Axel gave her a rather weird look.

    ¡°People actually piss themselves when they¡¯re scared? Gross.¡±

    What was wrong with this man!?

    ¡°W¡­Why are you doing this!? If you¡¯re really this powerful, you could¡¯ve just left us be!¡±

    As Lily asked that, Axel gave her a look of disbelief.

    ¡°Are you seriously asking that?¡± Axel shouted at he stood in front of Lily and grabbed her arm while she let out a small squeal.

    ¡°I guess the normal answer is too complex for an idiot like you, so I¡¯ll spell it out in a way even someone as stupid as you can understand.¡±

    Keeping his grip tight on her arm, Axel grinned.

    ¡°If you guys are gonna bash on me so much for being a commoner, then I¡¯ll show you exactly what a commoner like me can really do!¡±

    Activating a spell under his feet, Axel began flying in the air with Lily in tow. All the while, the ship Lily had been riding on slowly began to lose altitude and fall towards the ground.

    I forced Lily to watch as her ship crashed into the land below. I had no doubt that everyone on that ship was probably already dead at this point. And even if someone managed to survive, they wouldn¡¯t last long as the ship was probably gonna explode in a few minutes anyway.

    Letting Lily take in the sight, I let out a sigh to calm myself. Despite my smile never fading.

    ¡°Take it all in Lily. Everything you see today is your fault. If you weren¡¯t so greedy, if you weren¡¯t so bent on taking my things and messing with me, you never would¡¯ve gotten all those people killed. All this death is on you.¡±

    It was clear Lily heard my words as tears were beginning to form in her eyes.

    After we watched the ship fall for another minute or so, I then began guiding us back to my island. Sirin was there to greet me as I had her lock Lily away and we set a course for the estate Lily¡¯s parents owned.

    When we arrived, I immediately had them repay me for their daughter''s actions.

    They tried to pawn off the payment by just giving me Lily and letting me do whatever I wanted with her, but I wasn¡¯t one to keep things like slaves so I just took their money and went on my way.

    By the time everything was said and done, four days had passed. That meant the school week was over tomorrow.

    I knew I wasn¡¯t going to make it back by then, so in order to inform them I was okay, I had Sirin fly back to the school first to tell Nia about what happened and have her relay it to Vey who could tell the instructors and create a chain so that everyone knew I was on my way back.

    Once everything was done, I collapsed on my bed inside my room on the island and let out a sigh of relief.

    ¡°Looks like I made it back safe and sound.¡±

    ¡°Master, I wouldn¡¯t call all those wounds covering your body safe and sound any day.¡±

    Oh yeah. I was still battered and bruised from when I was beaten to a pulp by those royal assholes. Honestly, I had completely forgotten about the pain. It was probably thanks to the adrenaline, but I wasn¡¯t feeling anything.

    The pain didn¡¯t end up returning until the day after and then I ended up spending the next day and a half being tended to by some of the machines Sirin had created. Including receiving some replacement teeth to fill in the gaps in my mouth. Geez. I¡¯ve already said this a few times, but I¡¯m still lost on how something so futuristic could be in a game about fantasy.

    In the end, everything worked out. And thanks to the realizations I had on that ship, I have a much clearer head, as well as a different worldview from before.

    Now, I knew just how different my world was to those royal assholes. And it was about time I finally stepped up and embraced it.

    Even if it makes the people I care about hate me, I don¡¯t plan to sit by and take things anymore. From now on, I¡¯m gonna become the villain in those jerkwad''s stories. And I plan to enjoy it.

    It had already been over a week since Axel¡¯s disappearance. Xara¡¯s been struggling a lot more in classes, and my own grades have declined little by little since I¡¯m still struggling to deal with my emotions on the matter. I¡¯d been hoping to get into contact with my father in order to send out a search party for Axel, but the officials of the school said that wouldn¡¯t be necessary. That only caused my concerns to grow as I considered the idea that since this was the second time Axel had disappeared, the school would just clean him from their records and move on. I didn¡¯t want to think that was the case, but I couldn¡¯t deny the possibility.

    If you come across this story on Amazon, it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it.

    It was now the start of a new week. I had just exited my dorm and was approaching the gate with a grim expression on my face.

    Hearing footsteps next to me, I turned to find Xara standing there trying to muster a positive smile.

    ¡°Hey there Dianne. Looking forward to another interesting school week?¡±

    I could see she was trying to put up a front. She¡¯d been like this since a few days ago. She wanted to pretend Axel¡¯s disappearance wasn¡¯t affecting her, but it was clear she was still worried.

    Not sure what to say in order to bring up her spirits, I simply smiled.

    ¡°Yes. I suppose I am.¡±

    Once I said that, I continued my trek towards the school building when¡­

    ¡°Huh? What¡¯s that?¡±

    Hearing Xara¡¯s confused tone, I turned around to find a giant floating platform above the front gate of the school. Several other students looked up in confusion as voices muttered through the crowd.

    Then, a loud sound shout echoed through the air. Like one of those voice amplification spells teachers used.

    ¡°You thought you could get rid of him, you thought he was a goner, but unlike what you all probably wanted, he is back!¡± shouted a voice through the air.

    Confused, I continued staring at the floating platform.

    Suddenly, the shadow of a person shined on top. At the sight, tears of joy entered Xara¡¯s eyes.

    I, however, felt a strange sense of concern as I was still unable to see the person''s face. It sounded like a boy and looked familiar, I just couldn''t put my finger on it.

    Then, without warning, the person jumped off the platform.

    ¡°Oh no!¡±

    Was this person about to kill themselves!?

    I was about to run forward when a gush of wind blew behind me and the person falling began to slow down.

    Finally, they reached the ground below and I got a clear look at their face. Upon seeing who it was, a sense of both relief and excitement rushed through me.

    The one we were looking at grinned and shouted out for the world to hear.

    ¡°That¡¯s right everybody! Axel Savoncho is back!¡±

    Without hesitation, Xara spread out her wings and began to fly towards Axel. I was about to run over to him myself, however, his next words caused me to stop in my tracks.

    ¡°And whether you like it or not, I¡¯m here to take you all down!¡±

    "¡­Huh?"

    Xara stopped as well. She seemed just as confused. In fact, several students seemed lost on his words. However, the majority just looked at him with angry glares.

    ¡°Wow. I can already feel the glares pinned on me. Oooh scary. Haha. Yeah, that¡¯s not gonna work on me anymore. I¡¯m done trying to play by your dumb rules. So if you want to glare at me, I¡¯m not afraid to show you just how below me you all are!¡±

    After saying that, Axel tapped his foot on the ground and began floating in the air.

    ¡°For those I consider my friends, don¡¯t get all freaked out by me now. I promise I¡¯m still the same as before. However, after facing a rather irritating annoyance, I¡¯ve decided it¡¯s finally time I start standing up for myself. So if you¡¯re cool with that, I¡¯m just gonna start doing what I want.¡±

    Having said that, Axel was immediately met with scorn.

    ¡°Screw you!¡±

    ¡°Go to hell you filthy commoner!¡±

    ¡°Leave and never come back you pig!¡±

    Feeling my own anger growing, I was about to turn and shout at the students who were insulting Axel. But to my surprise, Axel began to let out a rather creepy laugh.

    Then, almost instantly, he appeared in front of the students who were insulting him and gave each of them a slap hard enough to slam them into the ground.

    I gawked in surprise as Axel flew back into the air.

    ¡°Did you literally not just hear me? You really are a bunch of idiots!¡±

    His grin grew wider, Axel seemed to spot Xara and me among the crowd and left everyone off with one final set of words.

    ¡°I¡¯m sick and tired of your pointless mockery. If you want me to be a filthy commoner so badly, then I¡¯ll show you just how filthy I can be!¡±

    Having said his peace, Axel moved towards the ground and bowed in front of me and Xara.

    ¡°Greetings you two. I¡¯m glad to see you¡¯re doing well. How was the school trip?¡±

    ¡°Um¡­It was fun,¡± I managed to mutter.

    ¡°Good to hear.¡±

    Giving me a smile, Axel walked up in front of Xara who looked like she almost wanted to take a step back.

    However, she was immediately caught off guard as Axel prostrated himself on the ground.

    ¡°I¡¯m really sorry if that freaked you out! I just needed to get my point across and that was the best way I could think of to do it!¡±

    The change in tone was so abrupt, that I found myself struggling to believe this was the same person boasting mere moments ago.

    ¡°Um¡­So it really is you Axel? Right?¡± Xara asked.

    Axel got up onto his feet and nodded.

    ¡°Yeah. It¡¯s me. Again, sorry if I scared you. It¡¯s just that a lot has happened over the last few da-!¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m so glad you¡¯re okay!¡±

    Xara instantly embraced Axel in a hug to which he responded with by hugging her back.

    ¡°I hope I didn¡¯t worry you too much.¡±

    ¡°Heh. You jerk. Please don¡¯t ever scare me like that again.¡±

    The two continued to hug each other tightly as I held a strained smile.

    I couldn¡¯t explain why, but something about this sight irritated me. But at the same time, it felt quite wholesome.

    After a few minutes, I realized what time it was and peeled the two of them off each other so we could get to school on time.

    Then, Axel and I made our way towards class while having a nice chat. And finally, things looked like they were starting to return to normal.

    ¡°So you confirmed who tried to kidnap him?¡±

    ¡°Yes Sir. She goes by the name Lily Acantha.¡±

    ¡°A member of the Acantha family huh? Wasn¡¯t she one of the students who got expelled?¡±

    ¡°Yes Sir. If I were to guess, she was trying to steal Sir Savoncho¡¯s island as compensation for her own wrongdoings.¡±

    A man who looked like he was in his fifties sighed.

    ¡°First the stuff during the Hunter Games, and now this? That Savoncho guy can¡¯t catch a break. Though knowing Alister, he''d be thrilled to hear what the boy is doing.¡±

    The man rubbed his eyes as he looked out the giant window behind his desk as the one reporting to him remained silent.

    After several moments of pondering, the man turned back to the person giving him the report.

    ¡°Get me in contact with the head of the Acantha family. There¡¯s something I¡¯d like to talk to them about.¡±

    The one who gave the report responded with a bow.

    ¡°Yes sir. I will arrange it immediately.¡±

    Once they finished saying that, the person left the room and the man relaxed into his chair.

    ¡°I swear. Who would¡¯ve thought things would escalate this much?¡± muttered the man as he got back to work on the papers on his desk.

    Sitting in my seat, I couldn¡¯t help but chuckle at all the glares I was receiving.

    ¡°What? Mad I¡¯m not dead?¡±

    None of them responded and just continued glaring at me. Talk about a bunch of sourpusses.

    ¡°With how much you worried me, I almost wish you were,¡± Nia said to me telepathically.

    Hearing her say that reminded me of her reaction when I got back to the dorm to pick her up. She looked both relieved and angry at the same time. She even tried hitting me in the chest multiple times as punishment. But since she wasn¡¯t exactly strong, her punches felt more like gentle taps. It was honestly kinda adorable.

    As class began, I was given a stack of papers that apparently contained all the stuff I missed.

    Normally, I breeze through things like this thanks to Nia giving me all the information beforehand. However, since I only got back this morning, I wasn¡¯t able to memorize anything.

    So while I still had some hesitancy, I began flipping through the papers and studying them as best I could until I was able to memorize them through Nia later.

    As I did so, I could still feel several students eyeing me with bloodlust.

    Calculating ground proximity¡­safe water level found.

    Wanting to mess with them, I used my extended thinking to prepare a water spell and instantly caused water blocks to appear under several student''s feet and let it seep into their shoes. The class was immediately filled with the angry shouts of several students getting mad at their now moist socks and I chuckled to myself before making the water disappear¡­except the water in their shoes which I planned to let stay there.

    I mentioned this before, but after obtaining my grimoire, my magic power grow''s exponentially to the point it''s just as powerful as a third year students. And even that¡¯s straining it. Now does that mean I¡¯ve become an overpowered character? Yes and no. If I were to go against an average person in this world, I¡¯d beat them no sweat. But if it was someone who trained in magic consistently throughout the school¡¯s entire three year course, I wouldn¡¯t stand a chance. Meaning, as I am now, I¡¯m probably the strongest first year, but not the strongest among the third years. What about the second and third years, you ask? I dunno. The only person I¡¯ve faced on that level was probably the MC and I beat him pretty easily. He was actually kinda too easy. Was he really the same MC I played as when going through the game? Meh. Whatever.

    As I continued working my way through the papers I was given, I felt a presence different from the others looking at me.

    Quickly lifting my head up, I noticed Dianne staring at me. But rather than having the normal, kind smile she¡¯d given me pretty much every time since we met, she now had a look of both curiosity and concern. It was actually kinda strange seeing her giving me that look. Not that I blame her since my entrance this morning was quite eccentric for someone like me. Especially if you consider how the first time I came back after nearly dying I just kinda showed up and didn¡¯t explain myself. And as much as I wanted to continue living the life I did before, I couldn¡¯t do that anymore. Not with these royal assholes continuing to pick fights with me. That¡¯s just how the cookie crumbles. If she¡¯s got a problem with it, then she has to come and say it to my face.

    Watching Axel, I found myself feeling conflicted. I was happy to see he was alright, but I got the feeling he was a somewhat different person from before. I didn¡¯t think about it much this morning, but his entrance was quite eccentric compared to what happened the last time he went missing. And when he did arrive, he acted quite odd. Even after he talked about it with Miss Xara, I could tell he wasn¡¯t the same. Not to mention, what he did just now wasn¡¯t something I could ever have seen him doing before. He always said how he¡¯d never hold a petty grudge whenever I talked to him about the other student''s words. But just now, he decided to get back at them by causing small pools of water to appear and soak their shoes. The exact opposite of what he''d do previously. Not to mention, he was grinning the whole time he did it. Like he was having fun messing with the other students.

    Being completely lost, all I could wonder was, what happened that led him to this point?

    Taking a gulp from the milk in my school lunch, I put it down and let out a happy sigh.

    ¡°Man. Was the milk at this school always this good? Maybe I should¡¯ve tried it out sooner.¡±

    Up to that point, I only ever had water with my school lunch as any other drink was too much a risk to afford. But after getting paid compensation for Lily¡¯s stupidity, I made a ton of bank and had enough dough to last me at least two years. What a great way things turned out.

    In front of me, Roy and Flynn looked like they were struggling to accept the idea that the one in front of them was me. Even after I told them what happened, they still looked like they were at a complete loss.

    "You seem way more carefree and yet dangerous at the same time. It''s kinda putting me off," admitted Roy. To which Flynn nodded.

    ¡°I agree. It''s hard to believe how much you changed in such a short period of time. The trip was only a week ago yet you¡¯re attitude seems somewhat different from last we met..¡±

    I shrugged.

    ¡°Just call it a wake-up call. I¡¯ve finally realized that rather than letting things play out the way others want, I¡¯ll do things my own way.¡±

    That¡¯s what I said, and it wasn¡¯t entirely wrong. I was sick of letting others use me like a punching bag. From now on, I plan to do things the way I want.

    Still, that didn¡¯t mean I wanted to ruin the relationships I already had.

    Thankfully, most of my friends seem to be willing to accept the new me. Although, there are still a few I don¡¯t know about.

    Glancing to the spot near me where Dianne would normally sit, I sighed.

    ¡°Guess she really doesn¡¯t know how to feel.¡±

    Flynn gave me a confused look.

    ¡°You mean Miss Riosha?¡±

    I nodded.

    ¡°Yeah. I figured there would be a few people I knew who wouldn¡¯t be able to handle my sudden change in attitude, but she wasn¡¯t one of them. In fact, I thought she¡¯d be the first one to accept me. So it¡¯s a little bit surprising to see her so hesitant.¡±

    I picked up some of the food from my tray with a fork and put it in my mouth.

    ¡°Actually, now that you bring up Riosha not being here, I notice Femashito isn¡¯t here either,¡± stated Roy.

    ¡°She said her clubs reorganizing everything for the new year so she couldn¡¯t join us. She seemed pretty upset about it too,¡± I explained.

    ¡°I see. I guess it is that time of the year already.¡±

    Yep. As crazy as it sounds, we were approaching the end of the first year. Normally, the MC would¡¯ve picked a girl by now and already set down a route to begin during the second year. But right now, the only girl I¡¯ve seen who¡¯s had a mild interest in the MC has been Dianne. Other than her, I haven¡¯t seen him interacting with any of the love interests.

    Since we have some time before second period starts, I might as well go over the other heroines since I haven''t really talked about them much.

    With where I am now, I¡¯ve already met with the first two heroines. Those being Xara Femashito, and Dianne Riosha. I¡¯ve also already obtained the grimiore that was originally meant to be the MC¡¯s which contained the sixth secret heroine Nia. That leaves three more. If we were to go in order, then the first one to go over would be Talia Yergonu. She¡¯s a half elf who hates men and also acts as the leader of the disciplinary committee. She¡¯s also a grade higher than the MC in the game which would make her his senior. If I remember correctly, something happened in her past that made it hard for her to be around men and she consistently punched the MC whenever he accidentally touched her before going down her route. How did the MC win her over then you ask? It was all thanks to his face. You can¡¯t really tell due to how hard it is to see most of his face through his hair, but he actually has a lot of surprisingly feminine features that make it easier for Talia to be around him. That leads them down a path where she tries to understand men better through the MC and she eventually falls for him.

    Actually, if I remember right, she also has ties with the next heroine. That being Haiko Ariyama. Haiko is the student council president and has such a cold and calculating attitude that I thought she was some kind of humanoid robot when I met her during my first playthrough of the game.

    Unlike a lot of the other heroines, I don¡¯t remember her route too well.

    It¡¯s not like I can¡¯t remember anything, I just can¡¯t remember all the details of her route. For a basic description, I believe she was experimented on by her parents when she was young which led to her current personality. After that, she distanced herself from her parents and the MC helped her reconnect with them. Bringing the family back together.

    I can¡¯t recall everything leading up to that point, but that was how her route ended. Sadly, I can¡¯t remember how she and the MC met in the first place so I highly doubt the two of us will ever meet.

    Then there¡¯s the last heroine I have yet to meet¡­kinda.

    Well, I have met her, but the two of us haven¡¯t interacted much. And that person is Kimichi Romaiyozu.

    Kimchi is a tiger demi-human girl who continuously pushes her goals forward. She always had a tomboyish nature and didn¡¯t really seem like one for romance. In all honesty, I hated her route the most. Not because she was a bad person, but because of the message the people developing this game decided to do with her character.

    You see, she was one of the few remaining tiger demi-humans in the world and she aimed to prove how useful her people could be in society by pushing herself as far as she could. But in her route, the MC seems to think it¡¯d be better for her to give up on that goal and instead take things slower. And after a bit of rather weak convincing, she caved in and decided to focus on a single specific goal in hopes of reaching as far as she could in one field.

    Now I know plenty of people on the internet would¡¯ve hated me for saying this, but I found the whole plot dumb.

    Not only is her route the shortest in the game, but it¡¯s also the most poorly written. For one, she seemed quite determined when she talked about her goal to show how useful tiger demi-humans could be. But the minute the MC tells her to stop and only think about her own future, she suddenly loses all that determination and goes off to hook up with him and join a single field of study. Such a frustrating route.

    If it were me, I¡¯d encourage her to push as much as she could to accomplish what she set out to do. But I guess the developers were going for a work smarter not harder message and that ruined the story for me.

    Anyway, that¡¯s enough talk about the heroines and their routes for now. The bell clarifying we needed to return to class just rang and it was time to get back.

    Doing what I¡¯d done several times at this point, I jumped off the roof and some wind magic kicked up beneath me right before I reached the ground. Then, I tucked my hands into the pockets in my pants and made my way back to the classroom. Humming my favorite anime themes while I walked.

    Watching Axel jump off, Roy sighed.

    ¡°I guess he¡¯s not totally different.¡±

    Flynn rubbed his eyes.

    ¡°Something up?¡± asked Roy.

    ¡°No. Just still trying to take in the change. I mean, he still looks the exact same, but the air around him feels completely new. Nothing like how he was before.¡±

    ¡°I get what you mean. He feels a lot more confident and carefree. Quite different compared to his old serious and suspicious air that was there before.¡±

    Having both agreed Axel was different, the two sat in silence. Pondering what to say next and completely forgetting about the next period they needed to attend.

 Chapter 31.5: The Zombie Hallowscream Incident

    ¡°...Hey Nia?¡±

    ¡°Yeah?¡±

    ¡°How did we end up in this situation?¡±

    As I asked Nia that, I looked down below me.

    Every student at the High School of Magic and Swordsmanship was letting out angry growls while their glowing green eyes glared up at me as I stood on the roof of the school.

    ¡°At this point, I¡¯m just as lost as you are.¡±

    ¡°...I see.¡±

    Well, maybe remembering what happened before now might help. But to do that, I guess I need to start from the beginning.

    ¡°The school is hosting a¡­what?¡± I asked. Confused about what Roy was talking about.

    ¡°It¡¯s the annual Hallowscream festival! It¡¯s where different classes get together and put together a bunch of terrifying events that are meant to scare students from other classes and even give you candy as you go along. And the best part is we get to dress up in costumes while we do it! It¡¯s really fun!¡±

    At this point and time, the Hunter Games situation was fully wrapped up, and the school trip where we went out and explored interesting locations on a floating ship was a little ways off. So I was surprised to hear there was some other event about to take place.

    It didn¡¯t sound familiar when Roy brought it up, so I wondered if this was part of the game this world was based on, or if it was a new event exclusive to this world.

    And from the sounds of it, the event was similar to Halloween. A popular holiday from my old world.

    ¡°So what do you say to joining me? It¡¯ll be a lot of fun!¡± shouted Roy as he looked between me and the one standing beside me. That being Flynn who simply shrugged his shoulders.

    ¡°I don¡¯t mind joining you. It wouldn¡¯t hurt to cut loose every now and then.¡±

    ¡°Awesome! What about you Axel?¡±

    I thought about it for a moment before giving my response.

    ¡°Nah. I think I¡¯ll skip it.¡±

    ¡°Huh!? But why!?¡± asked Roy. Sounding a bit disappointed.

    ¡°I mean, don¡¯t get me wrong. It sounds cool. But knowing what the people think of me at this school, do you really think they¡¯d happily let me participate?¡±

    ¡°Er¡­Well, I mean¡­¡±

    Roy couldn¡¯t deny it. Causing me to let out a sigh as I got onto my feet.

    ¡°Well, you two be sure to enjoy yourselves. And let me know how it goes.¡±

    ¡°R-Right. Yeah. We¡¯ll do that!¡±

    ¡°Cool. Alright. See you two later.¡±

    After saying that, I jumped off the roof and floated down to the ground.

    The rest of the week went by without much occurring in terms of major incidents. And before long, the night of the Hallowscream festival had arrived.

    While Axel was relaxing in his dorm room, Roy and Flynn entered the building wearing rather silly outfits.

    Roy was dressed in something akin to a vampire while Flynn donned a set of knightly armor that was dramatized for effect. And as the two of them looked around, Roy¡¯s eyes couldn¡¯t stop sparkling.

    ¡°Check it out, Flynn! They have a cotton candy machine in that classroom! We gotta check it out!¡±

    ¡°Should we really grab something like that this early? It¡¯d be a pain to carry around while we checked out the other classrooms.¡±

    ¡®Oh¡­Yeah. I guess you got a point.¡±

    Seeming a bit disappointed, Roy tried to laugh it off as he and Flynn resumed looking around.

    Their first stop ended up being this place called a haunted house which was filled with all forms of different ways to jump scare students. However¡­

    ¡°Uh¡­Are these supposed to be scary?¡± asked Roy.

    ¡°I wonder that too. So far there hasn¡¯t been much in terms of actually horrifying sights. Maybe it will get scarier later on?¡±

    ¡°Maybe. Come on. Let¡¯s keep going!¡±

    But sadly, it didn¡¯t get much scarier and when they left the haunted house with chocolate in their hands, Roy let out a disappointed sigh.

    ¡°Well, at least we got some chocolate out of it,¡± he muttered as they started walking off to the next stop on their list. But before they could make it too far, a familiar voice rang out.

    ¡°Hey there you two!¡±

    Turning toward the voice, Roy and Flynn saw Dianne run up to them with a wave.

    She appeared to be wearing what looked like a dragonkin costume. Making her look similar to Valentina who was currently running her own event for the festival.

    However, unlike Valentina¡¯s crimson red scales, Dianne¡¯s were a bright purple which actually looked quite beautiful on her body.

    ¡°Hello, Miss Dianne. It¡¯s nice to see you,¡± said Flynn as he bowed his head.

    Dianne bowed in response before looking around them.

    ¡°Say, is Savoncho with you?¡± she asked. Curious about what he¡¯d wear for a costume. However, Roy shook his head.

    ¡°Sadly, he wasn¡¯t interested. So he plans to skip the festival.¡±

    ¡°Oh really? That¡¯s too bad.¡±

    Trying to not look too disappointed, Dianne clapped her hands together.

    ¡°Well regardless, how about the three of us look around the school together? I¡¯d love to check out some of the different events with you two.¡±

    Roy grinned and gave Dianne a thumbs-up.

    ¡°That sounds great! Come on! Let¡¯s go check out some of those attractions!¡±

    After shouting that, Roy hurried forward with Flynn and Dianne following close behind.

    Meanwhile, a certain group of students were working on some form of green crystal within the confines of their classroom.

    ¡°Come on you guys. We gotta hurry up. Otherwise, the festival will be over before we can show off what we¡¯ve been working on!¡± shouted a girl who looked to be a second year and was around the age of seventeen.

    ¡°Sorry, Hina! We¡¯re hurrying as fast as we can!¡±

    As the other students scrambled around trying to set everything up, the girl called Hina flicked her dark green hair and approached the green crystal.

    Someone stood next to her and wrote some stuff down while speaking with her.

    ¡°So once this crystal activates, it¡¯ll transform the entire school to look like a real haunted house with ghosts and everything?¡± asked the person as Hina nodded her head.

    ¡°That¡¯s right. And once it¡¯s all set, we¡¯ll rule this event for sure.¡±

    Getting that confirmation, the person walked away while Hina smiled to herself.

    ¡°As well as the whole school. Forever,¡± she muttered as Hina stared down at the green crystal. Excited for the festivities to begin.

    Meanwhile, Roy, Dianne, and Flynn were enjoying their time going through all the different classes and checking out what they set up.

    ¡°Say, is your class setting up anything?¡± asked Flynn as he turned to Roy, who nodded.

    ¡°Yeah. It¡¯s a spooky cafe covered in all sorts of decorations. But I¡¯d rather save that for last. So come. Let¡¯s keep looking around!¡±

    ¡°Understood. Well then, shall we?¡±

    When Flynn asked that while looking at Dianne, she nodded her head and followed close behind them.

    That¡¯s when she noticed something in the corner of her eye.

    ¡°Hey you two, what¡¯s that?¡±

    Turning toward where she was referring to, Roy and Flynn saw some form of green magic circle floating above the school.

    ¡°Hm. Not sure. Maybe we should check it o-Ut!?¡±

    Just as Roy finished his sentence, he suddenly collapsed to the ground as the walls turned a dark green.

    ¡°R-Roy!¡± shouted Dianne as she ran up to him. However¡­

    Crash!

    Hearing a noise behind her, Dianne turned around to find Flynn had collapsed as well.

    ¡°W-What''s going on?¡± she asked herself as Dianne took several steps back.

    That¡¯s when she noticed that not just those two, but everyone had fallen to the floor. Leaving just her still standing. All while a strange glowing aura surrounded her body.

    ¡°H-Hey! Are you two okay!?¡±

    Worried most for her friends, Dianne shook both Roy and Flynn. Waiting for a response. And just as she was about to give up, she felt Roy jerk slightly as he let out a small growl.

    ¡°Oh thank goodness you¡¯re alright! What happened th-¡±

    ¡°Grrrgh!¡±

    Out of nowhere, Roy tried lunging at Dianne.

    ¡°Wha-!?¡±

    Barely ducking out of the way, Dianne jumped back to see Roy moving around in a rather strange way with his whole body moving in a rather limpy manner.

    Next to him, Flynn rose to his feet and moved around practically the same way.

    All the while they continued letting out weird growls as their eyes shined a bright green.

    ¡°W-What is happening?¡± Dianne muttered as more and more students rose to their feet with that weird green glow in their eyes.

    ¡°Uh¡­What¡¯s with that weird magic circle?¡± I asked Nia as I looked out at school.

    Like I said before, I hadn¡¯t planned to attend the Hallowscream festival. So I was currently relaxing in my room reading when a giant green magic circle floated up above the school. Just slightly out of reach of my dorm room.

    Getting out of my seat, I put the book down, left the dorm, and approached the school as the magic circle floated above me.

    ¡°What a weird design. I don¡¯t think I¡¯ve ever seen anything like it before,¡± said Nia from within the grimoire.

    Stolen novel; please report.

    ¡°Is that so?¡±

    So Nia didn¡¯t know what she was looking at.

    In that case, I guess we needed to figure things out the hard way.

    Taking in a deep breath, I stepped into the range of the magic circle.

    As I did so, I felt some form of weird pressure in my mind. Like it was being crushed flat. Leaving nothing but an empty brain.

    However, that pressure vanished a few moments later as I let out a sigh.

    ¡°What the hell was that?¡± I muttered as I tried to use my expanded thinking to figure out the cause.

    But when I did so¡­

    ¡°Agh!¡±

    That pressure reappeared. And it took several minutes before it dissipated.

    ¡°Okay. Now I¡¯m really confused.¡±

    It seemed like whatever this was, my expanded thinking was taking the brunt of it. Leaving my real mind to give me control of my body.

    In other words, I had to deal with this stuff without my expanded thinking. Not an impossible task, but slightly inconvenient.

    Thus, I took in a deep breath and began making my way into the school.

    To cut things short, I walked inside, all the students had weird glowing eyes and kept growling at me. Leaving me no choice but to run until I flew up to the roof.

    In the end, it looked like trying to think back was a waste of time because I still had no clue what was going on. And all I could do was let out a frustrated sigh as I rubbed my eyes.

    ¡°What should I do about this?¡± I muttered as I rested my hands on my hips.

    ¡°S-Stay away!¡±

    Suddenly hearing a familar voice, I looked down to find Dianne running from none other then Roy and Flynn who were flailing their arms all over the place while they chased her.

    Jumping down from the roof, I ran after them and moved in front of Dianne.

    ¡°Get back!¡± I shouted as I formed a ball of wind and sent Roy and Flynn flying.

    ¡°A-Axel!¡± Dianne shouted. Sounding relieved.

    ¡°Hang on tight. I¡¯m gonna get us out of here!¡± I said as I used wind magic to pick Dianne up and jumped up through the air until we reached my spot perched up on the roof where I put Dianne down.

    While I did so, the students on the ground below clawed at the walls trying to climb up to us to no avail.

    Looking at them all, they kinda reminded me of zombies with how they were acting right now. But more importantly, I had to talk to Dianne.

    ¡°Say, how come you aren¡¯t like all those guys down there?¡± I asked while turning to her.

    ¡°I-I could ask you the same question.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s¡­complicated. But anyway, why isn¡¯t whatever this is affecting you?¡±

    I knew that I could survive because my expanded thinking was shielding me, but how was Dianne able to resist it?

    Dianne seemed a bit unsure as to whether she should answer or not but in the end nodded her head as she came to a decision.

    ¡°It probably has something to do with my blood.¡±

    ¡°Your blood?¡±

    ¡°Yes. It¡¯s said my family''s bloodline comes from those of the angels which means we have a strong resistance to magic. At least, I think that¡¯s how it works.¡±

    Huh? Well, that¡¯s a bit of Dianne lore I never knew. I wonder why it was never brought up in the original game. But moving past that for now, I sat down.

    ¡°Well, I guess I kinda understand. But in that case, it means I have no way of knowing how to turn the others back to normal.¡±

    I was hoping we could recreate whatever Dianne did in order to free everyone, but it looks like that wasn¡¯t gonna work.

    Lying on my back, I stared up at the magic circle in the sky.

    Besides its green texture, the actual design of the whole thing was actually rather unique.

    It was shaped into the form of a spider web with the middle looking like a flame shooting outward and burning the different webbing.

    As much as I hated to admit it, the design was rather nice to look at.

    ¡°Hey, Master?¡±

    ¡°What is it, Nia?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know if I¡¯m imagining it, but doesn¡¯t the design look like it¡¯s pointing in a certain direction?¡±

    ¡°Hm?¡±

    Confused as to what Nia meant, I looked at the magic circle one more time and paid closer attention to the flame in the middle.

    That¡¯s when I noticed it.

    Flames spread out across the entire web. That was true. However, one noticeable flame was shooting out farther than the rest. Like it was trying to connect with something.

    Getting up onto my feet, Dianne turned toward me.

    ¡°What is it, Axel?¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s something I need to check. Wait here,¡± I said before flying off.

    ¡°W-Wait! Axel!¡±

    Ignoring Dianne¡¯s calls, I flew forward. Curious to see where this flame would lead me.

    ¡°The hell is this?¡± I muttered as I arrived at my destination.

    Entering one of the many club rooms this school provided, I was met with the sight of several zombie-like students and a single glowing green crystal floating there high in the air.

    ¡°My guess is that¡¯s the cause of this whole situation,¡± said Nia as I nodded in agreement.

    ¡°That means I just have to destroy it and this whole thing will be over. Sounds easy enough,¡± I said as I began to prepare a wind attack to destroy the crystal. However¡­

    ¡°Oh no you don¡¯t!¡±

    Hearing a rather eerie voice, I noticed something aimed at my head and I barely ducked out of the way as a scythe grazed my hair.

    Jumping back, I turned toward where the scythe came from and some girl stepped forward.

    ¡°I won¡¯t let you destroy my finest work yet! For I, Hina, the queen of the zombie school, refuse to be dethroned by a mere commoner!¡±

    The girl whose name was apparently Hina has slimy green skin and a crown on her head. She looked like a real honest to god zombie. And as she gave me a slimy grin, she brought up her scythe once more, ready to attack.

    ¡°Take this!¡± she screamed as she swung her weapon.

    Jumping back, I sent a blade of wind flying in her direction but she sliced it in two and charged forward with a murderous aura surrounding her body.

    ¡°...Well shit,¡± I muttered as I jumped away from the club room and out toward the yard as several students turned toward Hina and my direction.

    ¡°Attack him my subjects! And tear him to shreds!¡± shouted Hina as she pointed in my direction.

    Nodding their heads, the students all charged toward me at rapid speed.

    ¡°Well guess that clears up who the ring leader is now,¡± I said as I dodged an attacking student.

    I had pondered whether Hina was the real threat or not. But judging by her authority over these guys, it basically confirms she¡¯s the one behind it.

    However, even if I took her down, as long as the crystal was still up, these students were just gonna be a nuisance to deal with. So I was gonna have to finish this fast.

    Thus, I ducked out of the way of another student and prepared my counterattack against Hina.

    Meanwhile, Dianne made her way down the stairs of the roof and reached the ground before ducking behind a pillar to avoid the attention of the zombified students nearby.

    And as she poked her head out, she saw Axel moving off in the distance and tried to stealthily follow behind him. However¡­

    ¡°EEEK!¡±

    She accidentally tripped and gave away her position. Thus, she was now being chased by multiple students who were continuously letting out angry growls while following after her.

    ¡°T-This wasn¡¯t how I expected this festival to go at all!¡± Dianne shouted as she kept running from the students while keeping her eyes on Axel in the sky.

    But just as she was about to catch up, Axel moved toward the ground. Meaning from here on, Dianne had to figure out where he was based on one thing and one thing alone. And that was¡­

    Crash!

    The damage Axel would cause while trying to solve the problem.

    Following the sound of the destruction, Dianne was finally able to lose the zombified students that were chasing her and then reached Axel who was currently fighting against some green fleshy girl who looked to be a second year.

    Unsure about what was going on, Dianne tried getting closer to figure things out when she suddenly heard a growl nearby.

    Turning her head, she saw none other than Roy standing there looking at her. Causing her blood to run cold.

    And then, after a moment¡­

    ¡°RAAH!¡±

    ¡°AHH!¡±

    Despite just losing the other students by ducking and weaving, Dianne now found herself running from Roy who was easily keeping on her tail.

    Thus, with no other choice, Dianne ran into a nearby room and locked the door. Blocking Roy out.

    Breathing a sigh of relief, Dianne recomposed herself and turned around.

    ¡°...Huh?¡±

    Only to find several more zombified students in front of her as well as a strange green crystal.

    Sweat falling down her palm, Dianne was completely still. She had no idea what to do here. Thus, she simply stood still. Struggling to hold back a loud scream.

    Dodging Hina¡¯s scythe once more, I created a fireball and sent it flying toward my enemy only for her to easily slice it away with her weapon.

    ¡°Y¡¯know, that thing is really starting to get annoying,¡± I growled as I flew through the sky and the students below me followed in droves.

    ¡°Dammit. At this rate, I¡¯ll never be able to deal with that crystal,¡± I said as I flew toward the ground and slammed my fist into the dirt as a wave of wind sent the students surrounding me flying backward.

    Honestly, this whole situation was really starting to piss me off. All I wanted at this point was to head to bed. But that wasn¡¯t an option. Thus, I kept fighting.

    Meanwhile, Dianne stood there in the room. Shaking in fear. She was terrified of the moment the zombified students would attack her. However, there was something strange going on.

    Looking around, all the students in this room were in a completely dazed state. Like they couldn¡¯t even think well enough to move.

    ¡°W-Was it because of this thing?¡± Dianne thought to herself as she looked up at the green crystal.

    Moving forward slowly but surely, Dianne soon found herself standing in front of the crystal as it shined brightly above her head.

    Looking around, Dianne noticed a lever under the crystal and an idea of what this gem was doing started to form in her head. Leading her to reach a single conclusion.

    ¡°Whoa!¡±

    Jumping through the air, I barely avoided one of the students swinging a sword at my legs. That student was none other than Flynn.

    Dealing with all this, I really wished I could use my expanded thinking right now.

    If I could, it¡¯d be easy to simply hit all these guys in their weak points and go take out the crystal. But since that wasn¡¯t an option, I had no choice but to fight the old fashion.

    So, dodging Flynn¡¯s sword once more, I slammed my metal hand into Flynn¡¯s stomach. Causing him to lose his breath and then I used wind magic to speed up my footing and smash my leg into Flynn¡¯s face. Sending Flynn flying.

    ¡°Sorry Flynn. I¡¯ll make it up to you later, promise!¡± I shouted as I took out another student before jumping into the air and searching for Hina who had escaped my sight.

    It was then that I noticed her sitting on a throne of student''s bodies as she looked up at me.

    ¡°Hah! You can¡¯t defeat me you commoner! This place is my domain now. And I¡¯ll make sure you die here!¡±

    After saying that, Hina snapped her fingers and the mass of students began collecting together forming what could only be described as a giant fist.

    ¡°Y-You gotta be kidding me,¡± I muttered as the fist came slamming down on me.

    ¡°Geez. I didn¡¯t wanna do this, but I guess I should try and put in a bit of effort,¡± I grumbled as my hand suddenly gained a metal coating and I clenched it tightly before bringing it toward the giant hand.

    ¡°HAAAH!¡±

    Then, as the ground shook beneath us the fist and I collided with one another.

    And then, a few moments later, the hand collapsed.

    ¡°H-How did you do that!?¡± shouted Hina in shock as she got off her chair and prepared to snap her finger once more.

    But before she got the chance to do that, I shot forward and smashed my fist into her face. Causing her jaw to get dislocated.

    ¡°Y¡­Youth bratf!¡± she screamed as she grabbed her scythe and swung it at my head.

    Ducking out of the way, I grinned at Hina.

    ¡°Sorry, but this is becoming a bit of a pain, so let me get serious for a moment.¡±

    After saying that, I created a ball of wind and slammed it into Hina¡¯s chest. Sending her flying into the wall behind herself.

    Confused as to what had just occurred, Hina took in a deep breath only for me to appear in front of her and send her flying once more.

    This time, she bounced off the wall and crashed into her pile of zombified students and they flew off into several different directions.

    Pushing herself to her feet, Hina tried to fight back.

    But as I slammed my hand into the ground, a stone pillar came flying forward and smashed Hina in the stomach.

    ¡°W-What isf happening rifht now!?¡± screamed Hina. Not understanding how she was losing.

    But before she could get an answer, I appeared in front of her and grinned.

    ¡°It¡¯s simple. You¡¯re done.¡±

    After saying that, I gave her one more hit in the face and she smashed into the wall before falling to the ground. Completely unconscious.

    Once that was done, I rested my hands on my hips.

    ¡°Alright. With that done, I think it¡¯s time I take care of that¡­¡±

    Before I could finish that sentence, I suddenly heard a loud whirring sound and a few moments later, the magic circle vanished from the sky and all the students collapsed at once.

    Confused, I returned to that clubroom to find none other than Dianne standing there.

    ¡°Um¡­I found out what was causing the problem,¡± she said with an awkward chuckle. Causing me to respond in kind.

    Then, without much thought to it, I sliced up the crystal. Making sure it wouldn¡¯t cause any more problems.

    Once that was done, we left the room to find everyone was waking up one after the other.

    ¡°Ugh. What happened?¡±

    ¡°Why does my leg hurt?¡±

    ¡°Can someone explain why my whole body is in pain right now?¡±

    It seemed like everyone was starting to come back to their senses. All the while Hina laid there unconscious.

    It looked like whatever that situation had been was finally over.

    After that, it was discovered that Hina had long since been infected by an undead and was simply posing as a student here at this school. Thus, she was expelled and sent off to be dealt with elsewhere. Meanwhile, I was enjoying some cotton candy on the roof of the school with Flynn, Dianne, and Roy.

    ¡°Once again, sorry about beating you up Flynn,¡± I said while scratching my head.

    ¡°It¡¯s alright. Since you bought everyone this cotton candy, I¡¯m willing to forgive you.¡±

    ¡°Heheh. Glad to hear it.¡±

    Thus, the weird Hallowscream festival came to a rather weird end and the four of us moved on with our lives. Little did I realize at the time though, just how drastic of a change I was about to go through.

 Chapter 32: Reincarnation Confrontation

    I was getting ready to head back to the girl''s dorm when someone walked up to my desk. Axel as well as a majority of the other students had already left the room, so I didn¡¯t know who needed to speak with me.

    But when I looked up, I found none other than Sir Riko standing there.

    ¡°Hey¡­can I talk to you for a second Miss Dianne?¡±

    ¡°Hm?¡±

    For some reason, his tone made my heart skip a beat.

    ¡°Um¡­Sure. Just give me a minute to pack up.¡±

    Taking a look to make sure I had everything, I followed behind Sir Riko and the two of us made our way through the school.

    While we were walking, I thought I spotted a figure that looked a lot like Axel hanging out on the school rooftop but decided to ignore it for the time being.

    Sir Riko continued guiding me through the halls before we stopped at a spot behind the school and he turned to me.

    ¡°Um¡­I guess you¡¯re wondering what I brought you here for.¡±

    I don¡¯t know why he worded it like that, but I was curious. I assumed he wanted to ask me something, but I wasn¡¯t aware of what.

    ¡°You see, I know I just got rejected by Xara¡­but¡­¡±

    Where was he going with this?

    ¡°I think¡­I might have¡­¡±

    ¡°Hm?¡±

    ¡°I think I¡¯ve fallen in love with you!¡±

    Hearing that nearly caused my heart to jump out of my chest.

    ¡°W-Whaaaaat!?¡±

    ¡°Er¡­I¡¯m sorry!¡± shouted Riko. Knowing how sudden this was.

    What the heck!? What was going on here?! Did he really just confess to me!? I admit that I¡¯d hoped to make him fall for me, but this was too fast!

    Trying to calm my heart, I looked at Riko.

    ¡°I-I don¡¯t know what to say. Why would you fall for me?¡±

    ¡°I¡­I just found it hard not to. You tried comforting me when I was rejected, you hung out with me when everyone else wouldn¡¯t give me the time of day, and you even decided to spend your precious time hanging out at that festival with me! I can¡¯t really explain it better than that. All I know is that I¡¯ve fallen for you! Please go out with me!¡±

    Feeling a sense of joy wash over me, I was ready to shout yes without a second thought. However, right when I was about to do so, Axel crossed my mind. Not the Axel now, but the one from then.

    Despite his slight personality change, I still found myself thinking about him. It was strange.

    Closing my mouth, I thought things over for a second.

    Now that I brought it to my attention, why was the day I saw Sir Riko rescue that kitten so impactful? Sure. It was an amazing gesture, but was that really enough to win my heart?

    Feeling conflicting emotions in my heart, I opened my mouth.

    ¡°I¡­I don¡¯t think I can.¡±

    Sir Riko looked surprised for a moment before tears entered his eyes.

    ¡°Yeah. I guess that makes sense. I¡¯m not worth it.¡±

    ¡°W-Well it¡¯s not that, it¡¯s just that¡­I feel like we should get to know each other better. So do you think we could just stay friends for now? At least until we know each other enough that I can give you a definite answer?¡±

    Clearly looking conflicted by my words, Sir Riko cleaned the tears from his eyes and tried to force a smile.

    ¡°S-Sure. I guess we can just stay friends for now.¡±

    I put on a smile to cheer him up.

    ¡°Thanks. I appreciate it.¡±

    With that, I took my leave and Sir Riko remained behind.

    After that, I made my way through the school building when I noticed the figure that looked like Axel was still on the rooftop. Seeing that, I came to a decision.

    As I watched the town below like I¡¯d done many times before, I heard footsteps behind me and turned around to find Dianne there.

    ¡°Hey,¡± I said casually with a wave before returning to looking out at the town.

    ¡°Hello. What are you looking at?¡±

    ¡°Just watching some of the sites. You can join me if you want.¡±

    ¡°That so? Then don¡¯t mind if I do.¡±

    Dianne walked up next to me and looked down at the town as an expression of amazement showed on her face.

    ¡°Pretty beautiful, right?¡± I asked.

    Dianne nodded.

    ¡°Yes. It¡¯s incredible.¡±

    I chuckled and then the two of us stood there in silence for a few minutes.

    Finally, I decided now was as good a time as any to bring up something that was on my mind.

    ¡°Hey, do you dislike me now?¡±

    ¡°Huh!?¡±

    Dianne looked at me, surprised.

    ¡°Where¡¯d this come from?¡±

    ¡°Well, you¡¯ve been distant since this morning. I figured it had something to do with how I was acting differently. Am I wrong?¡±

    Dianne clenched her fists nervously.

    ¡°In all honesty, I don¡¯t know how to feel around you. When we first met, you had an arrogant air around you. Like you thought of the world as a game you knew how to control.¡±

    ¡°Er¡­Is that so?¡±

    ¡°But then, when you came back from the dungeon, your air felt more calm and collected with just a hint of superiority. And it remained that way through everything. Even after you got a girlfriend, you still felt like someone I could easily interact with and have fun around.¡±

    Really? With how many people were saying I was acting differently once Xara and I got together, I figured everyone thought that way. But I guess Dianne saw it differently.

    ¡°And now, you have a strange air I can¡¯t seem to pin down. It¡¯s like a bit of your arrogance has returned, but not in the same way as before. It¡¯s less like you¡¯re looking down on people, and more like you¡¯re trying to push yourself up. But I still feel like you have a bit of that calm and collected side inside you and the whole thing has me conflicted. It¡¯s like your two sides are clashing with each other to create a new person entirely. And that¡¯s causing my feelings to become disoriented.¡±

    ¡°Does how I act really affect you that much?¡±

    ¡°Of course it does! Otherwise, I won''t know if I might''ve fallen for y-¡±

    ¡°Hm?¡±

    Dianne immediately shut her mouth. Was she about to say what I thought she was gonna say? Maybe it¡¯s best if I don¡¯t bring it up.

    ¡°I¡­Ignore what I just said! Anyway, I¡¯m just saying your new air makes it a bit hard for me to understand how I feel around you which makes me uncomfortable! I¡¯m sorry if saying that upsets you in any way!¡±

    ¡°No need to shout. I¡¯m standing right in front of you.¡±

    ¡°Er¡­I¡¯m sorry.¡±

    Sighing, I turned to face Dianne.

    ¡°I apologize if I make you uncomfortable. But I promise it¡¯s not worth being so stressed about. I still plan to treat you the same as before. I just decided to change my tone since I¡¯m sick of all the royal assholes here at this school.¡±

    You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

    ¡°Royal assholes?¡±

    Seeing Dianne have such an innocent look of confusion almost caused me to blush. She didn¡¯t know how cute she was being right now.

    ¡°Just a name I came up with for those jerks. You don''t need to think about it.¡±

    Deciding to stop the conversation there, I was turning my head to look back at the town again when Dianne decided to ask me a question.

    ¡°Do you think¡­you could tell me what happened while you were out there?¡±

    ¡°Hm? Sure.¡±

    ¡°That was a fast response! Wouldn¡¯t you be too traumatized to talk about something like that!?¡±

    ¡°Meh. I got over it already.¡±

    ¡°That quickly!?¡±

    I shrugged,

    ¡°How about I just tell you what happened?¡±

    ¡°Er¡­Yes Please.¡±

    After that, I talked with her about what occurred during the trip. From the other students beating the crap out of me, to when Lily kept me imprisoned on a ship for several days, and then how I broke out. However, I did keep the thing about being able to break through magic-blocking barriers quiet. Same as I did when I told the story to Roy and Flynn. It¡¯s not that I would hate mentioning I did something considered impossible, I''d just rather keep it a secret for now so I could rub in the face of those royal assholes later.

    By the time I finished, tears were already falling from Dianne¡¯s eyes.

    ¡°I can¡¯t believe you went through so much. And how horribly the royalty on that ship treated you. As well as how poorly that one girl acted.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s not a big deal. I told you before that I was already over it.¡±

    Taking a minute to collect herself, Dianne cleared away the tears and looked down at the city like I was doing.

    ¡°Even if you say it isn¡¯t a big deal, it still hurts to hear fellow royalty would treat you so poorly. I fail to wrap my head around why they would treat you like that.¡±

    ¡°Probably to gain a feeling of superiority. They¡¯re pathetic like that.¡±

    The two of us continued chatting for a few more minutes until Dianne began to walk away.

    ¡°I should get back to the dorms now. Thanks for talking with me Axel. It was fun.¡±

    ¡°Yeah. Same here. See ya.¡±

    I waved goodbye to her before looking out at the sky. When had it gotten so dark?

    Figuring it was time to head out myself, I began to turn around when I heard footsteps behind me.

    When I looked to see who it was, I found the MC standing there.

    ¡°Riko? What do you want?¡±

    Giving me a rather threatening glare, the MC opened his mouth.

    ¡°What were you talking about with Dianne? Were you trying to win her over too?¡±

    ¡°Huh?¡±

    What the hell was he talking about?

    ¡°Don¡¯t give me that confused face! You¡¯re trying to form a harem aren''t you!?¡±

    Where did this accusation come from!?

    I let out a sigh as I rubbed my eyes.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know what made you think that, but you¡¯re completely off base.¡±

    ¡°That so? Then how come Xara fell for you?¡±

    ¡°Why are you bringing Xara into this?¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re asking me why?¡±

    The MC clenched his fists in frustration.

    ¡°The answer should be obvious! Despite going through all her events, despite treating her exactly as the MC did in the game, she still fell for you! A stupid background character!¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    Silence hung over the two of us. Finally, I decided to speak. My voice gaining a serious tone.

    ¡°You¡¯re not from this world either, are you?¡±

    Instead of answering my question, the MC held out his hand.

    ¡°I call upon the steel of light. Please lend me your strength to slay my foes. Create a blade worthy of my hand. Blade Creation!¡±

    A bright light sparked in the sky before it flew down into the MC¡¯s hand and he caught hold of it. Swishing it through the air, the MC stood before me with a blade in hand.

    ¡°Haaaah!¡±

    Then, he charged at me. Ready for a fight.

    Arriving back at my dorm, I walked into my room and relaxed on my bed.

    Thinking back on the conversation I had with Axel, it might be weird to say this, but I actually had a lot of fun.

    In fact, it didn¡¯t feel any different from before.

    Still, he was different now. And after he told me what happened, I was somewhat able to understand his change in personality. I didn¡¯t get it completely, but I probably wasn¡¯t meant to. After all, I haven¡¯t had to face a single thing he has before.

    Resting an arm on my head, I let out a sigh.

    ¡°Maybe¡­I should get to know him a little better.¡±

    Up to this point, I¡¯ve only ever tried to just interact with him. I¡¯ve never attempted actually acting as a friend should. In fact, now that I think about it, I¡¯ve only ever just forced him to go along with my personal whims. I¡¯ve never asked him what he¡¯d want me to do. Isn¡¯t being a friend a give-and-take relationship?

    No. That can¡¯t be true. Many of the stories my Mother used to tell me had duos where one usually gave more than the other. So what kind of friend should I be to him?

    Not sure what to think, I decided to rest on it for now and got under my covers.

    I didn¡¯t know how things were gonna go from here on out, but at the very least, I know Axel will be there to greet me tomorrow.

    Axel dodged out of the way right before Riko¡¯s strike hit.

    ¡°What the hell man!? Are you trying to kill me!?¡±

    ¡°Shut up! You¡¯re the reason this story isn¡¯t going the way it¡¯s supposed to! If I get you out of the picture, then everything should return to its rightful place!¡±

    ¡°What kind of logic is that!?¡±

    Wind started to gather under Axel¡¯s feet.

    ¡°After all the suffering I went through in my previous life, I deserve my slice of happiness! So why is it when I¡¯m given a free ticket to a great future, some jackass with an edgy anime look takes everything away from me!?¡± screamed Riko.

    Jumping up into the air, Riko slams down his sword only for a wall of wind to knock him back.

    Crashing to the ground, Riko laid there for a few moments before getting up.

    ¡°You have no idea what I went through! This reincarnation was the best thing that could¡¯ve happened to me! So why¡­why do you wanna make my life so miserable!?¡±

    Axel looked like he was starting to get irritated.

    ¡°Are you seriously pinning this on me!?¡±

    ¡°Why shouldn¡¯t I? Until we met you, Xara and I were on a one-way trip toward the route of happiness! But now, she won¡¯t even get close to me! You destroyed my happiness!¡±

    Gripping his blade once more, Riko charged forward.

    ¡°I call upon the burning flames to bring my havoc! Flame Spread!¡±

    At that moment, Riko¡¯s sword became surrounded by flames as he tried to slash out at Axel once more.

    Clearly irritated, Axel summoned a shield of water and the sword dug inside and a loud hiss entered the air.

    ¡°Then there was Dianne! She inspired me to keep going, as well as move on! Since Xara left me, I thought she was the next best choice! But then, I saw how close she was to you! And now, I know she¡¯s going to fall for a disgusting womanizer like you!¡±

    ¡°Disgusting womanzier!? I don¡¯t want to hear that from someone who acts like women are routes in a videogame!¡±

    ¡°Shut up!¡±

    As the sword cooled down, Riko tried slashing through the water shield but Axel grabbed hold of the weapon with his metal hand. After that, he squeezed the sword hard enough that it snapped in half.

    ¡°Wah!?¡±

    Not giving Riko a chance to react, Axel grabbed hold of him by the shirt and lifted him off the ground.

    ¡°I¡¯m done hearing your spew this crap. If you have that much of a problem with me, then come at me with all you¡¯ve got. I don¡¯t have time to deal with this piss poor attitude of yours over such a petty issue.¡±

    ¡°Petty issue!? You ruined my life!¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t be stupid. I¡¯ve only ever lived my own life. And if that happened to lead to the way things are now, then that¡¯s that. Stop trying to make it sound like I''m some antagonist for you to defeat. I¡¯m done dealing with a weakling like you.¡±

    Tossing Riko to the ground, Axel began to walk towards the edge of the roof.

    Slightly bruised, Riko got back up to his feet.

    ¡°Hey! Get back here!¡±

    Axel turned toward him.

    ¡°I already said I was done here. If you still have a problem, then challenge me to a duel. Although, considering the last time, you¡¯ll probably just lose miserably again.¡±

    ¡°Bastard!¡±

    Not giving him another response, Axel walked off the roof before activating his wind magic and flew off back towards the school dorms.

    Watching him fly off, Riko clenched his fists as tears fell from his eyes.

    ¡°DAMMIT!¡±

    After that, Riko continued to cry as he fell to his knees and continuously slammed his fists into the ground over and over again all throughout the night.

    Arriving back to my room, I saw Vey was already asleep. Although, from the decorations surrounding the room, as well as the fact she was sleeping in a chair instead of her bed, it was clear she was probably setting up a surprise party. More than likely it was to celebrate my return after going missing for so long.

    But as I was still exhausted from what just happened with the MC, I thought it¡¯d be best not to wake her and just head to bed myself.

    Slipping out of my uniform, I put on a set of pajamas and laid down in my bed.

    Nia appeared next to me with a look of both concern and confusion.

    ¡°Master, what did that Riko guy mean when he said you ruined his life? He made it sound like he and that Xara girl were destined to be together.¡±

    I patted her on the head.

    ¡°It¡¯s no big deal. Don¡¯t worry about it.¡±

    ¡°You sure? It seemed like a pretty big deal to him.¡±

    ¡°Yeah. But I¡¯m sure it¡¯s nothing you need to worry about. So for now, let''s just get some rest.¡±

    ¡°Um¡­Okay.¡±

    The two of us got under our covers.

    Nia clung to my chest while I closed my eyes to get some sleep¡­or at least I tried to. But thanks to today, my mind struggled to take in everything that happened.

    From the way the MC talked to me, it sounded like things weren¡¯t going well with Dianne. Weird. I figured she¡¯d be all over him by now with how enthusiastic she was about him before.

    I mean, the two of them barely hung out before now, so I guess that could be a reason. She had spent the majority of her time with me up to this point so maybe he thought she¡¯d fallen for me or something. That¡¯s not a hard conclusion to reach, but why does he make it sound like she has her eyes set on me? Does he not realize how obsessed she sounded while talking about him?

    Eh. Guess it isn¡¯t my business to dive into their personal lives.

    But still, it¡¯s crazy to think he¡¯s someone who reincarnated into the body of the MC. Meaning he¡¯s just as aware of this world as I am. But even if that¡¯s the case, I still can¡¯t respect someone of pitiful as him. So I won¡¯t bother letting his words get to me.

    Thus, not wanting to think about it any further, I closed my eyes and let sleep overtake me.

 Chapter 33: An Unfair Rematch

    Before I knew it, four weeks had passed.

    I haven¡¯t had any run-ins with the MC, but I got the feeling he was up to something so I decided to keep my guard up. Also, the school year was almost at an end. In fact, once this week was over, we¡¯d get a two month break before returning to school for the new year.

    What am I going to do during the break?

    Not much. The only things I really had planned was having Sirin set up a few things on the island as well as going on some dates with Xara.

    In short, nothing too eventful.

    However, there is that one thing I had asked for Xara and the MC¡¯s help with in exchange for us helping them out during the Hunter Games.

    It¡¯s nothing too big. In fact, it¡¯s actually quite small. But I figured it¡¯d be better safe than sorry so I asked for their help. But that¡¯ll be a story for another time.

    Oh. I almost forgot to mention that Lily¡¯s family sent me even more compensation for my troubles with their daughter.

    I didn¡¯t need more than what they offered, but apparently, the king had asked for them to do it so they had to comply.

    If I had to guess, that was probably thanks to Dianne. Meaning now I have enough to last me probably for a solid twelve years.

    Also, I was informed that since Lily¡¯s parents were so ashamed of her actions, they sent her off to get married to some lower-ranked noble in order to teach her a lesson about humility.

    All I can say is that I hope whoever the groom is, they can handle a stuck-up brat who¡¯s both manipulative and cruel.

    But that thought aside, it looks like Lily¡¯s finally getting the punishment she deserves.

    Speaking of punishment, I finally learned what happened to those guys who sabotaged me and Dianne during the Hunter Games.

    As per the order of the principal, they were all sent off to study abroad in foreign lands that didn¡¯t contain things like nobles and royals. Meaning they¡¯ll probably get a good lesson in how to stop looking down on others. Not the punishment I would¡¯ve gone with, but I guess it¡¯ll suffice.

    And that¡¯s about everything that I either learned about or went through during these last few weeks.

    Overall, they weren¡¯t that eventful. Well, besides having gotten the chance to go on a date with Xara. It wasn¡¯t anything worth going over though since mostly all we did was go around food stalls.

    Although we did get to stop at Dave¡¯s Diner to grab some cheeseburgers which, while still food, was a highlight during the date¡­at least for me.

    But yeah. I guess that¡¯s all. And since this is the last week of school, I think I can finally take some time to relax...

    ¡°Duel me Axel Savoncho!¡±

    Feeling something hit my chest, I look down to find a glove there.

    Looking up to see who threw said glove, the MC was standing in front of me with a determined look in his eye.

    ¡°And why should I do that?¡±

    I wasn¡¯t against beating him up again, but why in a duel? He just attacked me head-on before.

    ¡°You said before that if I wanted to challenge you, I should do it through a duel! So this is my challenge to you! I promise you this time that I will defeat you!¡±

    Did I say that? It¡¯s been a while so I kinda forgot what I said to him that day.

    Still, I wasn¡¯t against taking on anyone who wanted a beatdown, so I didn¡¯t see any issue with this.

    ¡°Fine. I¡¯ll accept your duel.¡±

    I picked up the glove.

    ¡°Good. In that case, the battle will be a one-on-one fight in the school arena the day after tomorrow. Be prepared!¡±

    Having said what he needed to, the MC walked off and left the students walking the halls murmuring amongst themselves.

    Once I got to class, everyone was already talking about the duel. It reminded me of the last time the MC challenged me. The one where I beat him in mere seconds, much to the crowd''s dismay,

    Dianne walked over to me.

    ¡°I heard about the duel. Are you going to be okay?¡±

    I grinned.

    ¡°Of course! I¡¯m not some weak pipsqueak who can¡¯t take a hit.¡±

    ¡°I¡­guess that¡¯s true.¡±

    ¡°Besides, I¡¯d be more worried for Riko than me. He¡¯s probably gonna get absolutely slaughtered.¡±

    ¡°Er¡­Is that so?¡±

    ¡°Actually, why are you so concerned about me? I figured you¡¯d be trying to cheer on the guy you like.¡±

    A stiff smile appeared on Dianne¡¯s face.

    ¡°Right¡­I guess it¡¯d be weird for me to think of you more than him. Y¡¯know¡­because he''s the guy I like.¡±

    ¡°Why does it sound like you¡¯re forcing yourself to say that?¡±

    ¡°No¡­reason.¡±

    A bit confused by Dianne''s words, I tried to shrug it off as a voice came from nearby.

    ¡°So you¡¯re in another duel ey Axel? You better win!¡±

    Dianne jumped in surprise as Roy appeared from behind her with a grin.

    With a smile of my own, I pumped my fist upward.

    ¡°You know I will!¡±

    With that, I went up to my normal seat. Thankfully, I¡¯ve caught back up to everyone else with our lessons, so I was able to pull out my grimiore and get back to reading like I normally did. And as class was about to begin, I pondered what awaited me during the duel

    Before I knew it, the day of the duel had arrived. In fact, I was making my way to the stadium right now.

    Letting out a yawn, I stretched my arms toward the sky.

    ¡°Looks like today¡¯s perfect butt-kicking weather.¡±

    The sun shined brightly above as the wind blew past my face. It felt amazing.

    Seeing the stadium up ahead, I grinned.

    ¡°Alright. Let¡¯s do this.¡±

    Ten minutes later, I reached the stadium and was currently standing in a room where I found myself dressed up in the same outfit I¡¯d worn during my and the MC¡¯s last duel. The design consisted of a crimson red cloak, a silver chest plate, as well as a black t-shirt, dark grey pants, and dark brown boots.

    ¡°You still look absolutely ridiculous in that.¡±

    ¡°Oh put a sock in it.¡±

    Moving past Nia¡¯s comment, I finished preparing the last of my outfit and looked in a mirror.

    Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

    I personally thought I looked good.

    Just then, I heard a knock on the door.

    ¡°Who is it?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s Xara. Can we talk for a bit?¡±

    ¡°Sure. Come on in.¡±

    Xara walked into the room with a look of concern on her face.

    ¡°I-I¡¯m sorry. I wasn¡¯t able to convince him to back down," she said as Xara slumped her shoulders.

    ¡°It¡¯s fine. I appreciate you trying.¡±

    I had asked Xara to talk with the MC about stopping this duel, but I guess it didn¡¯t work out.

    Now before you misunderstand, I didn¡¯t want him to reconsider because I thought I¡¯d lose. I just figured I¡¯d save him the humiliation of being beaten to a pulp in front of a live audience. But oh well. Guess that¡¯s just how this is gonna go.

    Holding my grimoire with one hand, I used the other to pat Xara on the head.

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry. I¡¯ll be fine.¡±

    ¡°I know. I¡¯m just confused as to why Riko wanted to duel you in the first place. This feels so sudden.¡±

    I mean, I already knew the reason. He¡¯s angry at me for ruining his original plans of being the MC from the game. But I couldn¡¯t exactly tell Xara that. Mainly because she wouldn¡¯t understand, but it¡¯d also be a pain to explain.

    ¡°It¡¯s best not to worry about that.¡±

    ¡°Are you sure?¡±

    ¡°Yeah. For now, just focus on rooting for me during the match.¡±

    ¡°Um¡­Yeah. You got it.¡±

    Patting her head one more time, I left the room and began making my way toward the arena in the middle of the stadium.

    When I walked into the arena, I was met with the booing of several students who had come to watch the fight.

    Irritated, I tried to mess with them by sending some wind behind their backs to give them a scare. But when I attempted to do so-

    ¡°...Huh?¡±

    -my magic vanished into thin air.

    ¡°What the hell?¡±

    I tried casting a few more spells, but nothing worked.

    ¡°Master. Take a look around.¡±

    Listening to Nia, I glanced around at my surroundings just as the MC stepped into the ring.

    ¡°Magic blocking barriers, huh? Kinda cheap, don¡¯t you think?¡±

    The MC grinned.

    ¡°It¡¯s just to put us on an even playing field. I hope you don¡¯t mind.¡±

    ¡°Even my ass. I know the MC¡¯s main trait is that he¡¯s really good in physical combat as well as magic. Making this about as even as weighing a watermelon to an orange.¡±

    The MC scoffed at my comparison.

    ¡°Whatever. Just come and face me.¡±

    I rubbed my eyes. This was gonna be a pain.

    Xara watched Axel from the stands. She couldn¡¯t help but get angry when she saw the magic-blocking barrier Riko had no doubt put up to push things in his favor. How was Axel going to win at this point?

    Xara waited to see what Axel¡¯s reaction would be, but all he did was rub his eyes before attempting to cast some magic.

    ¡°Why? Why is he still trying to cast magic within a magic-blocking barrier?¡± Xara found herself wondering.

    Not giving Axel any more time, Riko charged at Axel. He didn¡¯t have a sword in hand, but he was wearing gloves that looked like they¡¯d pack a punch.

    Using his momentum, Riko jumped into the air and brought his fist down on Axel who dodged out of the way right before the attack made contact.

    Weirdly enough, Axel was still trying to cast magic. But every time he did so, it fizzled out instantly.

    ¡°How stupid can you be trying to use magic while a magic-blocking barrier is up?¡±

    ¡°Maybe he has a screw loose.¡±

    ¡°What a stupid commoner.¡±

    Xara couldn¡¯t help but get angry at the words of those around her. She hated how these people continued to look down at Axel even after everything that''s happened to him.

    And while it¡¯s true she once thought of him as a commoner the same as everyone else, once she actually met and hung out with him, she realized just how great of a person Axel was. But in the end, there was only so much she could do. So she tried to simply sit there and see how things would play.

    While she was doing that, Riko continued swinging at his enemy as Axel kept trying to cast spells time and time again.

    Keeping her eyes on him, Xara could swear Axel was muttering ¡°Not that one either. Maybe this one then?¡± several times as he dodged Riko¡¯s attacks. What was he up to?

    Riko seemed to be growing irritated.

    ¡°Stop dodging you weakling!¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re the last person who should be calling me a weakling!¡±

    ¡°Just shut up and take my attacks like a man!¡±

    ¡°Are you crazy!? Only a total masochist would say taking an attack is something manly!¡±

    ¡°I said shut up!¡±

    ¡°Stop telling me what to do!¡±

    Axel and Riko continued to shout at each other as the battle continued. Before Xara knew it, almost eight minutes had passed. Some students were growing bored, while others started getting up to leave.

    Gazing down at the arena below, both Axel and Riko were clearly exhausted.

    ¡°Just let me hit you¡­¡±

    ¡°Like hell I¡¯m gonna do that¡­¡±

    They were both out of breath. Despite that, Axel was still trying to cast spells.

    Clearly done with this situation, Riko took in a deep breath and sunk his feet into the ground as if ready to charge.

    ¡°Haaaah!¡±

    Pushing himself forward, Riko tried going in for a swing in an attempt to finish Axel with a single strike.

    Scared he wouldn¡¯t dodge in time, Xara grabbed the rim in front of her seat. As she did so, Riko continued to draw even closer. All the while, Axel was continuously failing to cast a spell. After another moment, Riko was right in front of Axel. Terrified, Xara opened her mouth.

    ¡°Axel!¡±

    ¡°...Found it!¡±

    Right as she said his name, a wind began to pick up around Axel and he was sent flying into the air.

    Riko stared at him with his eyes wide. As did the other students.

    Landing on the ground behind Riko, a fireball appeared in Axel¡¯s hand and he launched it at Riko who barely blocked the attack with his gloves.

    ¡°Did he just¡­cast magic?¡±

    ¡°He did. But aren''t they in a magic-blocking barrier?¡±

    ¡°Yeah. How is he doing that?¡±

    The crowd whispered among themselves in confusion.

    As they did so, Axel let out a laugh.

    ¡°Now that¡¯s what I¡¯m talking about!¡±

    Confused as the rest, Riko checked to make sure his barrier was still up. After seeing it was active, he glared at Axel.

    ¡°How are you doing that?¡±

    ¡°Hm? You mean this?¡±

    Instantly, a giant ball of water dropped down on Riko¡¯s head and soaked his entire body.

    ¡°What the-!?¡±

    Not giving him any time to react, Axel vanished from Riko¡¯s view.

    Riko looked around, but Axel wasn¡¯t anywhere in sight. Then, a sinister laugh entered the air.

    ¡°Honestly. Did you really think setting up a barrier like that would be enough to stop me? How stupid can you be!?¡±

    Clearly, Axel had grown rather cocky.

    ¡°Grrr. Show yourself! Only cowards hide from a fight!¡±

    ¡°Haha! Do you really believe that crap? That was just some lame excuse an old guy made up in order to make sure he could always keep track of his opponent.¡±

    ¡°You dare insult a fair battle with such words!?¡±

    ¡°Fair battle? Haha! You¡¯d have to be a madman to say this battle¡¯s fair!¡±

    Growling in frustration, Riko continued looking around.

    ¡°Show yourself! If you¡¯ve left the ring, then you¡¯re disqualified!¡±

    ¡°Who said I left the ring?¡±

    ¡°What?¡±

    ¡°Look up.¡±

    Confused, Riko and the students watching looked up to see a giant ball of wind rapidly falling from the sky.

    ¡°What the-!?¡±

    Before Riko had any time to react, the ball of wind smashed into him and sent him crashing into the ground.

    A cloud of dust picked up from within the stadium and people struggled to see the arena.

    Worried, Xara tried to squint her eyes enough to see, but it was too thick to make out what had happened.

    When the dust finally cleared, Axel stood there posing in a rather unique manner that was apparently reminiscent of a character from a Japanese manga series he¡¯d read with Riko lying on the ground both battered and unconscious.

    The referee, who¡¯d been standing off to the side trying to block out the dust from hitting his eyes, saw the sight and declared the verdict.

    ¡°R¡­Riko Toyazoto has been knocked unconscious! The winner of this duel is Axel Savoncho!¡±

    As he uttered those words, everyone else was speechless. They were all still in shock at what had just occurred. But with that, the rematch between Axel and Riko officially came to a close.

    Seeing the result of the battle, a woman with long white hair watched from one of the stands.

    Unlike everyone else who had expressions of shock on their faces, she had a calm and composed look as she began to write something down on a notepad in her hand.

    ¡°I see. So these are the kinds of powers Axel Savoncho has. How intriguing.¡±

    Closing the notepad, the girl got up from her seat and left the stadium. Completely ignoring the looks of shock still on the other student''s faces.

 Chapter 34: A Strange Question

    Today was the last day of school, and things were still abuzz thanks to the duel.

    Some were talking about things such as the power of the spells I used, but the majority were just discussing how I¡¯d somehow cast a spell within a magic-blocking barrier. I mean, it made sense. After all, in this world, magic-blocking barriers are the key to defeating a magic user.

    But if someone managed to get past them, it could destroy the whole system that took years to create. And I didn¡¯t even hesitate to show I could do it. Do I regret doing so? Not at all. After all, if I hadn¡¯t, the MC would¡¯ve beaten me to a pulp. I did that as a way of self-defense.

    So what if I just did something most people considered to be an impossibility? You don¡¯t see me whining about it.

    But moving past that, I arrived for the last day of class and made my way up to my seat as all the students watched me with fear in their eyes. Hah!

    Roy and Dianne didn¡¯t seem as scared as the others though. In fact, they both had looks of curiosity on their faces as they stared at me. Guess they were interested in learning how I managed to do it.

    Taking my seat, I sat there quietly as the teacher walked in and explained what we were doing today.

    Apparently, since this was the last day, all students would be released after second period. However, rather than going to our regular second period, we were meant to make our way to the gymnasium we went to for the entrance ceremony at the beginning of the year. There were a few smaller things that were mentioned as well, but they weren¡¯t that important.

    Once first period ended, Roy, Dianne, and I decided to chat in one of the school''s gardens until it was time to make our way to the previously mentioned gymnasium which also acted as the same place for the opening ceremony we had at the start of the year.

    Xara and Flynn joined us a few minutes later and I talked about random stuff with them while Xara was grabbing my arm with a grin on her face.

    Soon enough, it was time to make our way to the gymnasium.

    As the others still had to pack away their stuff, I decided to head out ahead of them and used some wind magic to fly towards the gymnasium.

    Looking below, I spotted several students going in the same direction as I flew past them.

    When I finally arrived, there was already a large group of students trying to make their way inside so I floated down far away enough that I wouldn¡¯t crash into anybody.

    Walking up to the crowd, I looked around and tucked my hands into my pockets.

    Slowly, the number of students began to decrease as they had all managed to make it into the gymnasium.

    Still waiting outside, I took a look at the sky. It was a beautiful sunny day.

    ¡°There don¡¯t appear to be many clouds out today.¡±

    Suddenly hearing a voice beside me, I turned to find a girl who looked a little older than me standing there.

    She had long white hair, light blue eyes, and a nice figure. However, she had an expressionless look on her face.

    ¡°You think so?¡±

    To me, it looked like there were plenty. Maybe it was different for this girl?

    ¡°Yes. Not many at all.¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    The two of us stood in silence for several minutes. Neither bothered to start a conversation.

    ¡°Say, can I ask you something?¡±

    ¡°Hm? Sure.¡±

    Maybe feeling awkward about the silence, although, with that blank expression, it was kinda hard to tell, the girl decided to speak up.

    ¡°If you saw a puppy lying out in the rain, what would you do?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s a weird question.¡±

    ¡°Is it? I see. Please still answer it.¡±

    I thought about it for a moment.

    ¡°I guess¡­I¡¯d see if anyone¡¯s willing to take it in.¡±

    ¡°And if no one does?¡±

    ¡°Then I¡¯d just leave it off somewhere safe and be on my way.¡±

    ¡°You wouldn¡¯t take it in yourself?¡±

    ¡°Nah. I¡¯m not softhearted enough to raise an animal.¡±

    Not to mention it¡¯d be way too much work. I already have my hands full with Vey. I doubt I could bring an animal into the picture.

    ¡°I see. Thank you for answering my question.¡±

    ¡°Sure. No problem.¡±

    We stood in silence once more.

    ¡°...¡±

    The air of awkwardness pushing me forward, I decided to start another conversation.

    ¡°Say, aren¡¯t you¡­?¡±

    Before I had the chance to finish, I sensed someone behind me and ducked right before a kick flew over my head.

    The person delivering said kick looked at me in surprise before pulling their leg back and glaring at me.

    ¡°Stay away from Haiko you pervert!¡±

    Pervert!?

    The one who was trying to kick me into next week was a girl. She had long, crimson-colored hair, green eyes, and short, pointy ears.

    ¡°Wait a minute Talia. It¡¯s okay,¡± the white-haired girl tried to assure this person named Tailia that everything was fine. But Talia wasn¡¯t having it.

    ¡°Why are you acting so calm!? It was painfully obvious this pervert was trying to get to you. I could tell it from the look in his eye!¡±

    Hearing that, a vein began to form on my head.

    The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

    ¡°Oh? Is that so? I didn¡¯t know you had the ability to see people''s eyes from behind. Are you some kind of all-seeing wizard?¡±

    In response to my provocation, Tailia¡¯s gaze turned murderous as she glared at me.

    ¡°Shut up pervert!¡±

    ¡°Stop calling me a pervert you jackass! If you don¡¯t, I won¡¯t hesitate to shut you up.¡±

    Talia scoffed.

    ¡°As if you can do anything. I¡¯ll have you know that I¡¯m the head of the disciplinary committee. If you lay even one finger on me, I won¡¯t hesitate to report you and get you expelled.¡±

    This bitch!

    I almost felt like shouting again, but instead, I chuckled.

    ¡°Oh? So I just can¡¯t lay a finger on you? That can be arranged.¡±

    Suddenly, the wind around us began to pick up. Talia held up her arm to block it and failed to notice a rather sharp wind blow from under her that swept her off her feet.

    ¡°Whoa!¡±

    Talia crashed to the ground butt first and let out a squeak of pain.

    After taking a moment to recover, she glared at me so hard that if looks could kill, I¡¯d already be dead.

    ¡°What did you do just now!?¡±

    ¡°Who? Me? Couldn¡¯t have been. After all, I didn¡¯t lay a single hand on you. I guess the wind just works in mysterious ways.

    ¡°You little-!¡±

    Getting up, Talia looked like she was about to murder me. However, the girl she called Haiko grabbed hold of her. All the while, still keeping a blank expression.

    ¡°Talia. If we don¡¯t hurry, we¡¯ll be late.¡±

    Hearing that, Talia let out a growl of frustration as she kept her eyes trained on me before letting out an irritated sigh.

    ¡°You¡¯re right. Let¡¯s get going.¡±

    With that, the two girls left me by myself and I turned around to see almost everyone had made it into the gymnasium.

    Rubbing my eyes, I decided to forget the event that just occurred for now and get where I needed to go.

    Taking a moment to look back, Haiko glanced at Axel as Talia let out a huff.

    ¡°That jerk. I don¡¯t know how he did that, but I swear I¡¯ll make him pay for it.¡±

    Haiko ignored Talia¡¯s words as she muttered something to herself.

    ¡°So that¡¯s Axel Savoncho huh? Intriguing.¡±

    After saying that, Haiko continued walking. All the while, she let Talia rant about how angry she was.

    Once inside, I saw Dianne and Xara who had apparently passed me and I took a seat between them.

    As we waited for whatever was supposed to happen to start, we chatted amongst ourselves.

    Finally, someone walked up on stage. It was none other than the girl I¡¯d met earlier. The girl named Haiko.

    ¡°Hello everyone. As student council president, I¡¯d like to congratulate you for all making it through to the end of your first year.¡±

    So that really was her. Haiko Ariyama. One of the previously mentioned heroines.

    Next to her was the rather annoying girl named Talia. She was also a heroine.

    While Haiko was the student council president, Talia was the leader of the disciplinary committee.

    I didn¡¯t mind Haiko, but Talia really pissed me off.

    She wasn¡¯t that rude to the MC, but she was a complete jackass to every other boy which led me not to like her. And now that I¡¯ve met her for real, I hate her even more.

    ¡°With how much all of you have done over the course of this year, I¡¯m positive you¡¯ll all go places. Just a little more work and I¡¯m certain you all will achieve your dreams.¡±

    Haiko had been giving this speech in such a bold tone, I almost thought she was a different person from before. Her voice and expression hadn¡¯t changed, but she said these words with crazy confidence. Still, the lines she was using sounded pretty bland. Almost kind of cringe-worthy.

    Unsure if everyone else shared the same sentiment, I decided to find out.

    ¡°Hey. Are all the speeches here this cringe-huh?¡±

    Turning to my left, I found Dianne clearing a tear away from her eye.

    ¡°This is such an amazing speech. I can definitely see how she managed to gain the role of student council president.¡±

    What?

    Looking to my right, I saw Xara trying to hold back tears of her own.

    Wait¡­Was I the only one who thought this sounded kinda dumb?

    Glancing around, I saw several other students were getting emotional as well.

    I kept looking to see if I could find someone who shared my sentiment until my eyes landed on someone who was just staring up and watching Haiko without much reaction.

    That person was none other than the MC. I¡¯m kinda surprised to even see him here.

    After our match, he was immediately rushed to the hospital. I thought I¡¯d roughed him up pretty bad, but he looked to be in fairly good condition. Guess he had a good doctor.

    A few minutes later, Haiko finished her speech and we were all dismissed.

    After we finished grabbing all our stuff, Xara, Dianne, Roy, Flynn, and I left the gymnasium. Once we were outside, I spotted Vey standing there waiting for me.

    ¡°Greetings Sir Savoncho.¡±

    ¡°Hey there Vey. What¡¯re you doing out here?¡±

    ¡°I came here to discuss something with you.¡±

    ¡°Hm?¡±

    Seeing her standing there awkwardly, the others seemed to get the message and said they¡¯d wait for me near the school entrance so we could go celebrate the end of the school year down in town.

    Once they were gone, Vey started talking.

    ¡°As you know, the squire event is only a requirement during the school year. That means I¡¯m free to do anything I want during the break.¡±

    ¡°That makes sense. So what¡¯s your point?¡±

    Did she think she needed my permission or something to go places?

    ¡°Well, I wonder if, after I go meet with my parents to tell them about how the year went, you¡¯d be willing to¡­let me work on your island for the rest of the break.¡±

    ¡°Huh?¡±

    She wanted to work on my island.

    ¡°It¡¯s just¡­I don¡¯t really have much to do back home. And even if you don¡¯t like it, I¡¯ve really enjoyed serving as your squire. Because of that, I was hoping to work under you during the break under the pretense of caring for your island.¡±

    I see. So she just wanted to continue serving me. I wasn¡¯t too keen on such an idea, but there were things that Sirin couldn¡¯t do that only a living, breathing human could do, so it didn¡¯t sound like a horrible idea.

    ¡°If you have time, you¡¯re more than welcome to come visit.¡±

    Vey¡¯s eyes sparkled.

    ¡°Thank you so much!¡±

    She bowed to me and I scratched the back of my head awkwardly. Why did she look so excited to do work? This girl was quite a unique character.

    Joining the others at the gate, Xara, Vey, Dianne, Roy, Flynn, and I all made our way down to town and had the time of our lives.

    We went to several fast food stands and ended the day¡¯s events at a juice station that contained all kinds of different juice flavors. Some of them didn¡¯t even exist in my old world!

    Once things were over, I waved goodbye to Dianne, Roy, and Flynn who all had to leave before deciding it might be best for me to head back home myself.

    Flying into the air, I waved goodbye to Vey after providing her with a map to guide her to my island based on where it was flying right now so when she was done meeting with her parents, she could come right over and I began flying off back to my island which as of right now, wasn¡¯t too far off from the capital.

    But then, sensing someone behind me, I looked back to see Xara flying close by.

    ¡°Hey, Xara. What¡¯s up?¡±

    ¡°Are you seriously just gonna leave your girlfriend behind like that?¡±

    ¡°Huh? You mean you aren¡¯t going back to your parent''s house?¡±

    Xara shook her head.

    ¡°I¡¯ve already told them I¡¯ll be hanging out with my boyfriend for the summer. That¡¯s okay with you, right?¡±

    I chuckled.

    ¡°I guess so. Well, come on then. Let¡¯s get back to my island.¡±

    ¡°Yeah!¡±

    Pushing her wings forward, Xara flew close to me with a big smile on her face that shined brightly in the light of the setting sun and I couldn¡¯t help but blush when I looked at her. Seeing her like that reminded me of just how lucky my life was right now. And even if the way things led to this was full of messes and complications, I¡¯m still quite happy with how things turned out.

    Thus, my summer vacation was about to get started!

 Chapter 35: Alternate Perspective

    ¡°Damien! How dare you score so low on such a massive test!¡±

    ¡°How is a kid of mine this stupid!?¡±

    ¡°I can¡¯t believe this guy is meant to be related to me. Such a disgusting disappointment.¡±

    My name was Damien Yuvonco. I had been born into a family of large standing in the U.S. and was originally set to become one of the leading names of my family''s company. But after getting a single mediocre test score, my family tossed me to the side. Thinking I had somehow been broken.

    They kicked me out right after I graduated and made it so that I couldn¡¯t find any work past a job in the fast food industry.

    Even though I¡¯d made plenty of friends in school, none of them stepped up to help me whenever I was in a pinch. They just said things like ¡°It¡¯d be a waste to spend my money on someone who isn¡¯t even close to my standing¡± or ¡°Friends aren¡¯t a bank. Make your own money.¡±

    At the sharp age of forty, my life was a complete misery. Things were so bad, that I was almost ready to take my own life if it meant I¡¯d finally be free.

    But then, I find out about dating sims.

    Since all my relationships with real women had always failed, I¡¯d never gotten the chance to have a real girlfriend. But thanks to these dating sims, I was able to put myself in another''s shoes and let them create my happiness for me.

    It was such an amazing feeling.

    Then, I came across my favorite dating sim of all time. That being the Medieval Fantasy Series.

    Each girl had such a unique and different story, I couldn¡¯t help but love each and every one of them.

    Before I knew it, I¡¯d already played through every single game in the series. All that was left was to play the fan discs.

    I was so excited to play those fan discs, that I ended up rushing out to a store in order to buy a limited edition golden-plated copy of the first volume that contained the fan disc. Sure I could¡¯ve just bought a digital copy, but that wasn¡¯t fun at all.

    Making my way into the store, I bought the game and then left. That was when it happened.

    As I looked at the beautiful game in my hand, the sound of a loud horn shot into my ear and I turned just as something slammed into me.

    Everything suddenly grew blurry.

    Looking at the ground, I saw a giant pool of blood forming around my body.

    Everything was starting to grow cold.

    While it did so, memories of pain and suffering started flooding into my mind.

    Taking a look up at the people around me, all they were doing was taking pictures and muttering among themselves. No one bothered to call for an ambulance.

    I wanted to clench my fists in frustration. This reminded me of those days. The days when my parents and siblings looked down on me just for failing a single test.

    Next to me, the game I¡¯d bought gleamed brightly thanks to its gold plating.

    Dammit. Nothing like this ever happened to the protagonists in dating sims. Why do they get such easy lives?

    To be honest, while I enjoyed playing as the main character in most games. But when it came to Medieval Fantasy, he was the one thing I hated. He was both pathetic and a wimp. I had wanted to punch him in the face plenty of times because of his stupidly nice nature.

    If only I¡¯d been the protagonist. If I had been, I could¡¯ve easily won all those girls over and made an easy life for myself¡­yeah¡­if only I¡¯d been the protagonist.

    A moment later, everything went black.

    ¡°Wish registered. Reincarnation process activated.¡±

    Huh?

    Suddenly, my vision filled with light. A moment later, my sight began to return to me and a woman''s screams entered my ear.

    After another moment, I was faced with a strange-looking man. What was going on?

    I didn¡¯t realize it at the time, but I had been reincarnated in none other than the world of Medieval Fantasy as its protagonist Riko Toyazoto.

    It¡¯s been sixteen years since I reincarnated. Now, I was looking up at the classroom assignment board. Up to that point, everything had been going the same way it had been during the game. I met up with Xara who said I had a nice scent, and I had planned to follow the rest of the story until I¡¯d met all five heroines as well as the secret heroine. Now that I¡¯d taken Riko¡¯s place as the protagonist, I just had to follow the game''s story up to the point where I could have my pick of which girl I wanted.

    However, all that went out the window when I saw the board.

    In the spot I¡¯d expected myself to be, instead, it said ¡°Axel Savoncho - Class 1-S¡±

    Who was Axel Savoncho? I¡¯d never heard a name like that throughout any game in the series. The closest one would be girl named Alexa Sagoro who was a character that wasn¡¯t even in this part of this storyline.

    Lost, I eventually found my name which was in the same class as Xara. It sadly meant I wouldn¡¯t be meeting Dianne anytime soon, but for now, I figured I¡¯d work on Xara.

    After spending months going through the normal game events, everything seemed to be proceeding smoothly. That was until Xara decided we should check out the student who was apparently a commoner before coming here.

    At first, I wasn¡¯t too sure about meeting him, but then I learned that said person was none other than this Axel Savoncho guy.

    Deciding to risk interacting with him, Xara and I met him outside his classroom.

    From what rumors said, he¡¯d actually been trapped and left for dead by some other royalty, but then managed to escape and had changed into a completely different person.

    When Xara talked to him, I looked him over and spotted something that caught me by surprise.

    Around a chain on his belt, was none other than the first of the three grimoires I was meant to collect as well as the key to the sixth secret heroine.

    Thinking it was probably that grimoire that helped him escape, I decided to think it was just a coincidence that he managed to find it.The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

    But then, I was immediately caught off guard when he closed in on Xara and nearly kissed her on the lips.

    Acting as fast as I could, I put a stop to it, but he just smiled at me and made me wonder if he was alright in the head.

    Xara and I immediately left him behind after that and I¡¯d hoped that would be the last we¡¯d see of him. But then, while I was running an errand for a teacher, I saw him pin Xara to a tree and immediately took action by challenging him to a duel.

    However, when we fought, he beat me instantly. This frustrated me to no end. But trying my best to move along with the story, I went on the school trip. That was when I finally made contact with another one of the heroines. The one called Kimichi Romaiyozu.

    We actually hit it off pretty quickly. But then, while we were out collecting wood for our group''s campsite, we ran into a horrifying creature that attacked us. And as much as I hated it, we ended up getting saved by Savoncho.

    When everything was finally done, I was hoping to get back in contact with Xara only to find out she¡¯d been in the same group as Savoncho. And when I tried to pull her away from him, she got angry at me and tried to distance herself.

    Life was pretty rough after that. Since she wasn¡¯t there to watch out for me, I got treated pretty badly by the other students at our school. They had already bullied me quite a bit after my loss to Savoncho, but things moved up a whole other level once Xara wasn¡¯t there to protect me.

    Then, Xara asked me to participate with her in the Hunter Games event. I was overjoyed to hear her ask me that. Back then, I thought things were finally starting to get back on track.

    However, things quickly grew difficult as we came across an item that we were unable to obtain for almost the entire week.

    Having no idea what else to do, we had to turn to Savoncho who surprisingly ended up teaming with Dianne. When I saw them together, I started creating a theory in my head. A theory that maybe Savoncho was a reincarnate like me.

    I wanted to make a move to confirm this, but I could never get the two of us alone for me to confront. And even if I got a chance, there was something else weighing on my mind so it was hard to think about a confrontation.

    That something was about Xara.

    Despite reaching the part in the story she¡¯d normally take me out to her favorite spot and confess to me, she had yet to do so. It was then that I noticed how she was looking at Savoncho.

    Scared he¡¯d take her away from me, I took the advice Dianne gave me and confessed my feelings to her.

    In truth, I actually grew rather fond of Xara. So if this confession was enough to keep her at my side, then I was perfectly fine with taking her as my heroine.

    However, when I confessed, she shot me down. Frustrated, I tried my best to hold back the tears of disappointment until she was gone.

    Once she left, I let the tears flow until someone came around and cast a sleeping spell on me in order to bring me back to my dorm.

    The next day, I learned that apparently right after my confession, Xara was confessed to by Savoncho and she said yes.

    Hearing that made me feel bitter as hell. So bitter that I couldn¡¯t even congratulate them.

    Having Xara taken away from me only made me hate Savoncho even more.

    Because of what he¡¯d done, I was unable to look Xara in the eye and ended up avoiding her. Knowing my feelings, I¡¯d probably burst into tears had I stood around her too long.

    Knowing I had lost my chance with Xara, I tried my best to suck it up and move forward.

    Little did I know, Savoncho was about to take so much more.

    After having given up on Xara, I decided my next route choice would be Dianne. She was a nice enough girl, so I didn¡¯t mind taking her as my own.

    Following the formula of the game''s story, I waited for a rainy day to come and picked up a stray kitten trapped in the rain and took it in.

    I didn¡¯t know a thing about raising a cat, but if it helped me get Dianne¡¯s route, I was all for it.

    Over the course of a few weeks, I mentally prepared myself to win over Dianne.

    However, I was quite surprised to find that once we set off on another trip event, I¡¯d somehow wound up on the same ship as Dianne.

    During the trip, the two of us got quite close to one another, and I thought things were going well. That¡¯s when I decided to make my confession to her once we got back to school.

    We may have only spent a little time together, but I couldn¡¯t risk Savoncho taking another girl away from me.

    However, once we got back, it turned out that Savoncho had gone missing. Upon hearing that news, Dianne seemed to be in a pretty depressed mood and ended up having to skip school for a few days.

    Sensing now wouldn¡¯t be a good time, I had planned to hold off on confessing until her emotions were steady. But when I finally felt like it was time, Savoncho appeared with what was apparently a small ship that floated above the school building which looked more like a floating island than anything else.

    Seeing her relief later that day caused fear of rejection to well up inside me again. But with my plan already prepared in my head, I took a step forward and confessed to her.

    But just as I feared, I was rejected. Though, she did say we should get to know each other better. I¡¯d hoped that meant she was at least interested so I kept myself in good spirits.

    Then, I saw her talking with Savoncho on the school roof and looking like she was enjoying herself way more than she ever was with me. Seeing that caused my anger to bubble over and after Dianne had left, I finally confronted Savoncho.

    I tried to remain calm as I asked him a few questions, but soon my patience reached its breaking point and I charged at him before getting dealt a frustrating defeat.

    Once he left, I vowed I¡¯d do everything in my power to take him down. Because maybe, just maybe, if I took him out of the picture, things would get back on track and the game''s story would continue as normal.

    With that, a plan began to form in my head.

    A few weeks later, my preparations were complete. I¡¯d spent a load of the money my family sent me on stones that set up a magic-blocking barrier and then challenged Savoncho to a duel.

    After he accepted, I set up the stones all around the arena we were to fight in and waited for the day to arrive.

    Before I knew it, the time had come.

    I slipped on the outfit I¡¯d worn when I fought against him with the confidence I wouldn¡¯t lose.

    Why was I so confident? Because after watching Savoncho on multiple occasions, I had a theory his skills relied less on his physical capabilities and more on his magical abilities.

    If this theory was correct, he¡¯d be helpless before me. And considering how much everyone hates him, I¡¯m certain people would be fine with the barrier.

    Excited to see the look of horror on his face when he realized he couldn¡¯t use magic, I made my way toward the arena.

    When I reached it, however, I was caught off guard when I saw him just glancing around with a look of annoyance rather than fear.

    After another minute or so, our duel began.

    I immediately brought out a barrage of attacks in hopes of taking him out swiftly. But to my surprise, he dodged out of the way right before I made an impact. He continued to do this as I thrust attack after attack on him. Weirdly enough, throughout the match, he kept trying to cast spells. Did he forget a magic-blocking barrier was up?

    This continued for almost ten minutes. By that point, we were both completely out of breath.

    Frustrated, I dug my feet into the ground and tried to hit him with one final charge. When I did so, however, his hands started to glow and he vanished from the ring.

    Looking around confused, I didn¡¯t remember much else after that. I recall shouting out in anger for several moments before a loud crash entered my ear and my world went dark.

    Waking up later that day, I was in the hospital. Apparently, Savoncho managed to somehow cast magic within my magic-blocking barrier and pummeled me into the ground.

    As frustrated as I wanted to feel upon hearing that, I was too busy wondering how he managed to use magic. Isn¡¯t that barrier meant to block the magic of anyone and everyone?

    I thought even the most powerful of wizards were helpless inside a barrier. How did he do it?

    I pondered this question for so long, that I didn¡¯t even realize how fast my wounds seemed to heal.

    Leaving the hospital the next day, I returned to school and tried my best to figure out how Savoncho broke my barrier.

    I had a theory that maybe the whole thing was a fluke, but when I went to collect my stones from the arena, I was able to confirm they were all working fine and it shouldn¡¯t have been possible for him to cast any magic.

    Still unsure how he did it, I flew through the last two days and before I knew it, school was over.

    Deciding to return to my home, for now, I left the school in hopes of sorting out all the stuff getting jumbled up in my head.

    All the while, Savoncho¡¯s head kept flashing through my mind and angering me to no end.

 Chapter 36: A Meeting of Wizards

    Among the thousands of magic users throughout the world, there are six which stand above all others. These magic users were known as the Wizardly Six. A group that aims to play a role in the worlds growth. And so strong that even the mightiest magic user around would struggle to stand against even one of them. So what exactly are these six doing now? They are holding a meeting. Talking about something of great importance.

    In a hidden room near the high school of magic and swordsmanship, in a chamber covered in rare materials and beautiful artifacts, five men sat around a long oval-shaped table arguing with one another.

    ¡°He¡¯s too dangerous I tell you! Not only can he cast magic without an incantation, but he¡¯s survived the impossible time and time again. He needs to be disposed of before he becomes even more of a danger!¡±

    ¡°I understand your concerns, Elbrick. However, as he hasn¡¯t tried anything yet, we are unable to make a move. As he is right now, Axel Savoncho isn¡¯t permitted to be labeled as a threat.¡±

    ¡°How can you act like he¡¯s innocent Royil!? He¡¯s literally cost us tons of silvr in damages thanks to his antics around the school!¡±

    The two men named Elbrick and Royil continued to bicker with one another before another man spoke out.

    ¡°Don¡¯t fret over it so much Elbrick. As I said before, I will take cover of any damages he inflicts. after all, he makes the school more fun."

    Elbrick scoffed.

    ¡°Yeah. I know you said that Fruis, but he¡¯s already cost us almost four hundred thousand silvr in damages. That¡¯s not cheap. The least he could do is pay the school for his antics.¡±

    The man named Fruis sipped on a cup of tea in front of him.

    ¡°Look Elbrick, I want to make him pay as much as you do, but if Fru here wants to take responsibility, then you should let him."

    ¡°That¡¯s rich coming from a cheapskate like you Durio.¡±

    The man named Durio shrugged.

    ¡°Call me a cheapskate all you want, but my little mansion doesn¡¯t take half as much time to get through as you all with your massive mountain-like mansions. That¡¯s just how I roll.¡±

    ¡°Can we just get back to the topic on hand?¡± suggests Royil.

    Fruis put down his cup.

    ¡°I concur. We have gotten completely off-topic.¡±

    Elbrick crossed his arms and Durio leaned back in his chair.

    Fruis sighed.

    ¡°Perhaps it would be best to ask for the headmaster''s opinion.¡±

    Everyone¡¯s heads turned towards the man who¡¯d remained silent throughout this meeting. He looked to be around the age of forty with slick orange hair, purple eyes, and a dark blue robe that fell all the way down to his legs.

    ¡°Headmaster Alister, what are your thoughts?¡±

    The man rested his hands down on the table surrounding the group of men. This man was Alister. The head of the whole school, as well as the creator of magic. So what exactly would he think about this situation?

    Waiting to hear his response, everyone waited patiently. Then, he let out a deep breath and finally opened his mouth.

    ¡°Honestly, I don¡¯t really care about any of this.¡±

    The other men at the table cartoonishly lost their composure.

    ¡°Headmaster please take this more seriously!¡± Fruis shouted.

    The man named Alister held up his hands to defend himself.

    ¡°Sorry. Sorry. I¡¯ve just had waaay too much on my plate lately. It¡¯s been so stressful lately to the point I feel like I can¡¯t be bothered to deal with this situation right now.¡±

    Elbrick sighed.

    ¡°We¡¯ve told you before Headmaster, if you need to take a break, then take a break. We can handle things here at the school while you¡¯re out.¡±

    Alister chuckled.

    ¡°And I appreciate that. But I¡¯ve already taken my vacation for the year. If I were to go on another, I¡¯d risk endangering my school.¡±

    ¡°I guess that¡¯s a fair point,¡± admitted Elbrick.

    ¡°Plus...¡±

    ¡°Hm?¡±

    Alister smirked at the five facing him.

    ¡°This has probably gotta be the most interesting year our school¡¯s ever had. How could I just pack up and leave without seeing what¡¯s to come?¡±

    Rubbing his temples, Elbrick couldn¡¯t help but let out a groan.

    Despite all their respect for Alister, many members of the wizardly six question his carefree attitude.

    You¡¯d think someone as powerful as Alister, the man who created magic would take his job seriously. However, he simply does what he desires on a whim. Making it harder for everyone else who wanted to try their best to maintain order in the world.

    But at the end of the day, they couldn¡¯t complain. Since while it was true that Alister was quite carefree, that didn¡¯t change the fact that he created magic. And because of that, they knew just how strong he truly was.This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.

    As a matter of fact, with the exception of two, if the rest of the magic users in this room had tried to jump him at the same time, they would no doubt be wiped out in seconds. That was just how powerful Alister truly was.

    ¡°So you want us to leave the boy be, for now, correct?¡± asked Elbrick, hoping for some clarification. To which Alister nodded.

    ¡°Yep! I wanna see just what this kid will do with his time here at this school. Will he waste the rest, or will he take the reigns and show he has what it takes to stand at the top? We won¡¯t know unless we give him a chance.¡±

    Seeing Alister talk like this, Elbrick couldn¡¯t do anything but let out a sigh.

    He wanted to keep arguing the issue, but considering this wasn¡¯t the first time Alister pulled something like this, Elbrick figured the best thing to do was allow Alister''s decision and step in if things with this Savoncho boy went south.

    Thus, he simply sat back in his seat as Durio grinned. Thinking about how funny it was seeing Elbrick give up. To which he got an angry glare from Elbrick which he happily ignored. Knowing that Elbrick couldn¡¯t do a thing to him.

    Royil, who had listened to it all, decided to simply remain silent while Fruis, the man who hadn¡¯t spoken up at all during the latter part of the conversation, stared at the empty chair where the sixth and final member of their group, Yamito Hagana would normally sit.

    However, due to personal business, she was unable to make it to the meeting. Leaving the rest of the members to discuss things without her.

    This wasn¡¯t an uncommon occurrence, so while it annoyed Fruis slightly, he was able to leave it be and figured he could just discuss it with her later.

    Before long, everyone decided to abide by Alisters decision and in the end, the discussion on Axel Savoncho was put on hold. At least, until they saw what he might do in the future.

    ¡°Well with that out of the way, what do we need to discuss next?¡± asked Alister. To which Royil pulled up a paper.

    ¡°Next, we need to talk about the request you received from the school''s student council president.¡±

    ¡°Ah. That. I see.¡±

    Alister, who had completely forgotten about the request tried to play it off as if he knew what Royil was talking about.

    Picking up on this immediately, Royil decided to leave it be and began reading what the request said.

    As he did so, Elbrick went wide-eyed.

    ¡°You can¡¯t be serious!¡± he shouted while slamming his hand on the table.

    ¡°I assure you that¡¯s what the request said. Would you like to read it for yourselves?¡±

    Royil held out the paper to Elbrick who grabbed it and read it over before scratching his head with an annoyed groan.

    ¡°And just when we finished our last discussion. This is ridiculous.¡±

    Taking the request from Elbrick, Alister read it over and it was only then that he finally remembered what he was reading.

    Once he was done going through it, he put the paper down on the table and faced the others. And as he opened his mouth, everyone else waited for his response.

    ¡°Sounds fun. Let¡¯s give her the go-ahead.¡±

    Hearing that, the other couldn¡¯t help but let out a collective groan of frustration.

    ¡°You can¡¯t keep agreeing to stuff simply because it¡¯s fun. You need to take these decisions seriously,¡± said Royil. Trying to give Alister some advice. To which Alister frowned.

    ¡°But I do. I thought things over and thought it¡¯d be fun. Do I really need to think much harder than that?¡±

    Hearing this caused Royil to get a headache. He still couldn¡¯t believe this was the man who created magic.

    ¡°Besides, this¡¯ll be a good opportunity.¡±

    As Alister said that, the other turned to look at him with his usual goofy smile.

    ¡°It¡¯ll show us just what our students can do at this school. As well as show how they can handle themselves with things they aren¡¯t familiar with. Doesn¡¯t that sound like a good thing?¡±

    Frustrating as it was, Alister made a good point.

    Because of that, no one said anything.

    ¡°So I guess it¡¯s settled then. That is, unless anyone has a last-minute objection?¡±

    Everyone continued to remain silent. Leaving Alister to assume that was them saying they were fine with it.

    Thus, Alister returned the paper to Royil and that brought an end to the conversation.

    While it may not have been the outcome the others would¡¯ve desired, they knew it would be pointless to object now.

    Thus, the conversation was brought to a close and the meeting continued onward.

    As the talks continued, they went from discussing issues with the budget to things involving student feedback while excluding Elbrick''s demands for Axel¡¯s expulsion.

    Before long, everything they needed to talk about was finished, and because they didn¡¯t have anything else to discuss, the group continued idly chatting amongst themselves for a while until a knock came on the door and a man who appeared to be in his sixties came in.

    ¡°Pardon my intrusion Wizardly Six, but I have something to report to Sir Royil regarding my research.¡±

    Royil gave him a look of curiosity.

    ¡°You mean you¡¯ve finally returned to your studies?¡±

    The man shook his head.

    ¡°Not yet. However, I get the feeling that soon enough, my guinea pig will return and I can continue my research.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s good to hear. Thank you for informing us. You may leave now Sir Ariyama.¡±

    The man gave the group a bow before leaving the room.

    ¡°What was that all about?¡± Alister asked.

    ¡°Pay it no mind, Headmaster. He¡¯s just someone who works under me. It¡¯s none of your concern.¡±

    ¡°...I see.¡±

    Alister wanted to believe that, but while he couldn¡¯t really explain, he could feel something off about that man.

    Still, it wasn¡¯t his problem right now, so unless that man did something he couldn¡¯t ignore, he¡¯d be willing to let the man be for now.

    After that, the group continued to talk with one another.

    And as the man referred to as Sir Ariyama left them behind, a creepy grin began to spread across his face.

    He hadn¡¯t wanted to show that face to the strongest wizards in the world, but now that he was on his own, he couldn¡¯t hide his glee as he thought about one person in particular. A person he hadn¡¯t seen in a long time. And since he was gonna get the chance to see them again, he couldn¡¯t help but let a small chuckle escape his lips while he imagined how things would go down.

    ¡°I¡¯m looking forward to seeing you again¡­my little guinea pig.¡±

    As those words left his mouth, he walked through the halls of the building. Ecstatic about the idea of finally getting to finish an experiment he long since abandoned. Something that wouldn¡¯t just change his life, but the life of everyone in this world. And all he needed was one singular person. A person he knew that before long, would be in his clutches once more.

    And as he thought about it, he continued to chuckle until he made it out of the building and out toward his workspace.

    No one could¡¯ve guessed that when summer break came to its end, an event would occur that would shake not only the lives of those at the school of magic and swordsmanship but the lives of everyone and everything living in this world.

    And at the center of it all, a single girl, as well as Axel Savoncho would have to change the fate of the entire world.

    But that¡¯s a story for another time.

 Chapter 36.5: An Undesired Birthday

    ¡°Hey Axel, when¡¯s your birthday?¡± I asked casually. Making small talk with my boyfriend as we flew toward his island.

    ¡°If I remember, it¡¯s about a week from now. Why do you ask?¡±

    ¡°...Wha!?¡±

    Stopping in my tracks, I stared at Axel.

    ¡°Your birthday was that close and you didn¡¯t tell me!?¡±

    ¡°Uh¡­Was I supposed to?

    Axel looked confused which was cute in a way, but not important right now.

    ¡°W-We need to celebrate! We need to have a massive party with presents, streamers, and cake and-¡±

    ¡°Actually, I don¡¯t celebrate my birthday. Sorry, Xara.¡±

    Hearing that, I turned to Axel.

    ¡°But why not? I mean, isn¡¯t it nice to celebrate the day you were born?¡±

    ¡°I guess. But I¡¯d rather not. Sorry.¡±

    After saying that, Axel flew forward and I trailed behind him a bit. Slightly disappointed by how this conversation was going. As well as pondering why Axel wasn¡¯t interested in a birthday party.

    But now that I knew about it, I felt like it¡¯d be rude not to throw one. Who knows. Maybe Axel actually wants me to throw a party and is pretending he isn¡¯t interested. Yeah. That must be it.

    ¡°Hm? Are you good back there?¡± asked Axel. Making me realize how far behind I¡¯d gotten.

    ¡°Y-Yes! One second!¡±

    I quickly sped up until we were side by side again all while an idea started to form in my head.

    ¡°I see. So you want to throw my Master a surprise birthday party, correct?¡± asked Sirin in confirmation. To which I nodded.

    ¡°Yeah! I wanna give him an awesome party that will blow his socks off!¡±

    ¡°I see. In that case, I can keep my Master occupied until you¡¯re ready. That way he won¡¯t notice your plans.¡±

    ¡°Really!? You mean it!?¡±

    ¡°It sounds like this party will be quite a treat for him, so yes.¡±

    ¡°T-Thank you so much!¡±

    I bowed my head to Sirin and while she went off in search of Axel, I left the island in order to make the preparation.

    Now there were three things that I needed for this party. First, was a cake. Because you can¡¯t have a birthday without cake. And second, guests. This means I¡¯ll need to get in contact with Axel¡¯s other friends and see if they¡¯ll come.

    Third, I¡¯ll need to get some presents that Axel might like which will hopefully be managable. And finally fourth, I need to finds means of entertainment in which everyone can participate in. And I think I knew just who to ask.

    With all this in mind, I flew off the island in search of what I required.

    My first stop was my family''s favorite bakery. The place where I got my birthday cakes every year and had the best frosting of any bakery nearby.

    Walking inside, I was met with a familiar face.

    ¡°Well well well. If it isn¡¯t one of my best customers. What can I do for Xara?¡±

    In front of me was a buff-looking woman with long pink hair that flowed down to her waist with skin that was lightly tanned. This woman was Ruru Tozona. Someone who lived in a village where only women were allowed.

    But even so, her dishes were divine and my mom and I stopped by her cafe within the village fairly often.

    ¡°Hey there Ruru! I¡¯m here to order a cake from you!¡±

    ¡°A cake? Is it that time of year already? How old does that make you now?¡±

    I shook my head.

    ¡°No. This time I¡¯m here to order a cake for a friend of mine!¡±

    ¡°Oh, I see. If you¡¯re coming to me, this guy must be pretty special.¡±

    ¡°I-I never said anything about it being a guy!¡±

    ¡°Trust me Xara, I may have grown up in a women-only village, but I can see from the look on your face that you¡¯re a maiden in love.

    ¡°R-Really? Well honestly, it¡¯s actually for my boyfriend. I wanna throw him an amazing party and wanted to get him a special cake.¡±

    ¡°Heh. I figured as much. So what are you looking for?¡±

    ¡°Something that really screams love and care. In order to show him that he has people who care about him. Or at least that I really care about him. Do you have something like that?¡±

    ¡°Hm. Let me take a look.¡±

    Heading off to the cooking area of her cafe, I could hear the sound of clanging pans and pots and before long, Rura came out with a bright blue cake that was covered in an array of white clouds, and on top of it all was a group of people standing together in such detail, you¡¯d think it was printed on.

    ¡°How about this one? It represents the freedom and happiness of the skies above with caring friends all around.¡±

    ¡°Hm¡­That¡¯s a good one. But I think we should go for something in a more greyish-white color along with some crimson red.

    ¡°I see. I think I have just the thing.¡±

    Leaving once more, Rura returned a little bit later with a new cake in her hands.

    ¡°This is one of my newest recipes. I call it Strawberry Support Supreme!¡±

    I looked up at the giant cake in awe.

    The frosting was a greyish white and according to Rura, the inside was red velvet cake colored to be crimson red.

    And along with the greyish-white frosting, there were detailed drawings of people and if I requested it, Rura said she could customize the people to look like me and Axel¡¯s other friends.

    In the end, I felt like this was the perfect cake and turned to Rura.

    ¡°I¡¯ll take this one!¡±

    ¡°Great! Now if you want the people customized, make sure to show me some sort of photo for reference. Or if they¡¯re a girl, simply have them stop by. But in the meantime, I¡¯ll prepare the rest of the cake for delivery.¡±

    ¡°Thank you so much Rura! And I¡¯ll be sure to stop by with the photos soon!¡±

    With a wave, I said goodbye to Rura and left to quickly borrow a camera from my parents to get photos of the people I wanted on the cake.

    In order to get everyone¡¯s photos quickly, I sent out invitations as fast as I could to the people I knew Axel seemed to get along with.

    That consisted of Dianne, Roy, Flynn, and myself.

    Once that was done, I patiently waited for responses as Axel¡¯s birthday crew ever closer.

    And before I knew it, I finally got what I was waiting for and just as I had hoped, everyone was willing to come by and get their photos taken, as well as join in for the party. Making me happy everything was going so smoothly.

    After that, everyone arrived and I quickly got a picture of each and every one of them.

    Once I was confident I had everyone''s pictures, I was about to fly off when I heard a voice behind me.

    ¡°Hey, are you sure a surprise party is a good idea?¡±

    Turning around, I found Flynn standing there walking up to me.

    ¡°What do you mean?¡±

    ¡°Well, I haven¡¯t known Sir Savoncho long, but he doesn¡¯t seem like one who would appreciate something like this.¡±

    Hearing that, I frowned.

    ¡°It¡¯s that kind of negative thinking that ruins surprise parties. So just go along with it and trust me, okay? I promise Axel will love it!¡±

    ¡°...Well if you¡¯re sure.¡±

    After listening to my response, Flynn walked off and I flew into the sky before making my way to Rura¡¯s cafe in order to get all the faces painted onto the cake.

    With the cake and invites done, the next thing I needed to work on was the presents.

    Now, while I was sure everyone else would attempt to get him at least a gift or two, I wanted to show Axel how much I cared about him by giving him as many gifts as I could.

    So, after checking my money balance, I flew off toward the kingdom below the High School of Magic and Swordsmanship and began looking around for presents. But as soon as I did so¡­

    ¡°Wow. What¡¯s that amazing aroma?¡±

    Letting my nose guide me, I was met with a delicious-looking steak cut up into slices and put on a stick.

    Trying to stop myself from drooling, I quickly bought one and dug my teeth into it.

    ¡°So goood!¡±

    I chewed through the rest in an instant before remembering what I was supposed to be doing and tried to get back on track.

    But as soon as I did¡­Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

    ¡°What¡¯s that smell?¡±

    I was immediately distracted by another tasty aroma and found myself standing in front of a stand selling something called corndogs.

    Like before, I munched through it incredibly quickly and lost track of what I was supposed to do. And this continued time and time again as every time I tried to focus, a new aroma entered my nose and caused me to lose focus.

    ¡°...I lost all my money.¡±

    Before I knew it, the day was over and all my money was gone. And I ended up only being able to buy a few small things I thought he¡¯d like.

    It wasn¡¯t the best, but I still hoped he might like something I got.

    After that, I returned to Axel¡¯s island and rested there for the night and the next morning, it was only a couple days away from Axel¡¯s birthday.

    With that in mind, there was still one thing I needed. And that was the entertainment.

    Now, normally this would take some time. But I knew just who to ask.

    ¡°So do you think you could help me, Valentina?¡±

    Speaking to the leader of my club who hadn¡¯t left the school yet due to her work as the club leader, she put her hand to her chin and thought about my request.

    ¡°I think I might have some ideas. But I¡¯ll need your help setting them up.¡±

    ¡°Of course! I¡¯ll help however I can!¡±

    ¡°Well then, here¡¯s my idea.¡±

    After that, I listened to Valentina and began making preparations,

    To summarize what I was told, Valentina said that if I wanted to make things fun for everyone, she recommended a few small party games. Like one where people have to move their bodies across a small mat without falling, and this game she called Air Ball when you have to see how long you can keep a ball in the air.

    But the one she requested my help with was this game where you have to build a big tower made of blocks and when the game starts, players have to remove each block one at a time and the one who makes the whole thing fall loses.

    A part of me wondered why it needed to be so big, but I was willing to work with it if the game made Axel¡¯s party more fun. So, I got to work on setting it up and finished just in time for the day of the celebration.

    So, with everything in place, I got everyone together and we prepared for Axel¡¯s big surprise party.

    ¡°Hm? You need me to go somewhere?¡±

    Hearing Sirin make that request, I gave her a look of confusion. But she simply nodded her head.

    ¡°That¡¯s correct. It was by Miss Femashito¡¯s request.¡±

    Xara¡¯s huh? Come to think of it, I haven¡¯t really seen her much this last week. I wonder why.

    Getting up from my bed, I got dressed and walked out my bedroom door. Following behind Sirin as she guided me through the halls.

    ¡°Say, if you just told me where she was I could just teleport there. We don¡¯t have to walk.¡±

    ¡°Negative. She asked for you to be walked there.¡±

    ¡°Huh? Why would she ask you to do that?¡±

    Despite asking that question, Sirin didn¡¯t give me any response. Making it clear she wasn¡¯t planning on spilling the beans.

    Thinking things over, I was starting to feel a bit nervous. Was what Xara really that serious? Was it because she wanted to break up, or maybe she was pregnant? Actually, scratch that last one. If that were true, then there¡¯d only be one explanation. And I¡¯d rather avoid such a horrible outcome which would probably end with someone getting killed.

    But moving past that, why exactly was Xara doing all this?

    Scratching the back of my head, I continued following behind Sirin until we arrived in front of a room.

    ¡°She should be right behind this door.¡±

    ¡°Got it. Thanks, Sirin.¡±

    She nodded her cubed head and then vanished from sight as I pulled the door open. Nervous about what I was about to hear.

    Hearing Axel open the door, Xara and everyone else got into position.

    The cake was set, the games were prepared, and all the guests managed to make it without issue.

    Honestly, it had gone so smoothly, Xara was nervous that something might happen to ruin it.

    But as the door opened, Xara could feel those fears fading as Axel walked into the room and everyone got into position.

    ¡°Hello? Are you in here Xara?¡± Axel asked. Confused why it was so dark.

    But then, the lights immediately turned on and everyone shouted in unison.

    ¡°Surprise! Happy Birthday!¡±

    Cheers filled the air as Axel took a step back.

    Confetti soared through the air and as everyone turned to Axel, he looked at the scene with an expression of shock.

    Figuring that would fade in a moment, Xara giggled and grabbed Axel a piece of cake before walking over to him.

    ¡°Hey, Axel. I know what you said, but I really wanted to celebrate with you so I thought I¡¯d get everyone together and¡­Axel?¡±

    She had expected him to calm down. But instead, his breathing grew rapid.

    Axel¡¯s eyes darted around the room as goosebumps formed on his skin. He took one step back, and then another, before darting out of the room.

    ¡°A-Axel!¡±

    Confused, Xara tried to give chase only for Axel to slam the door shut with wind magic.

    Leaving everyone in the room completely lost on what just happened.

    Bursting into my room, I had to hold back the sensation of puking as I lied down next to my bed as memories flashed through my mind. Memories I wanted to forget.

    Feeling my breathing growing more and more rapid, I tightened my fists and let my eyes fly around the room at a rapid speed without thinking about where I was looking.

    ¡°Hey¡­Master?¡±

    Falling to the floor, my heartbeat never slowed down and only seemed to be getting faster and faster. I couldn¡¯t think straight at all.

    ¡°Master!¡±

    Grabbing my chest, I felt those horrible memories flashing through my mind over and over again and it made me want to puke like crazy as my palms grew bloody from how tight I¡¯d been clenching them. I honestly wasn;t able to think straight any mo-

    ¡°MASTER!¡±

    Suddenly feeling a light slap against my cheek, I turned to see Nia there looking down at me with a look of concern as Sirin floated nearby watching and reading the situation.

    ¡°It seems Master''s heart rate just keeps rising. May need medical support.¡±

    Grabbing my palm, Nia held it gently and looked down at me.

    ¡°Look at me, Master. Look at me and calm down.¡±

    Trying to do as she said, I looked at Nia and found myself staring into her eyes.

    They had a unique texture to them. Despite being crimson red like mine, her pupils were the shape of diamonds and gave off a sense of gentleness and kindness. And the longer I stared at her eyes, the more I started to calm down.

    ¡°Master''s heart rate is slowing down. It should return to being steady soon.¡±

    Hearing Sirin say that, Nia breathed a sigh of relief and turned back to me.

    Forcing myself up, I let my palm rest in Nia¡¯s hands as I took in several deep breaths to calm myself and relax a bit.

    ¡°Hey, are you okay? You seemed pretty stressed out when your friends surprised you back there.¡±

    ¡°I-It wasn¡¯t the surprise of my friends that stressed me out.¡±

    ¡°Really? Then what was it?¡±

    ¡°T-The birthday thing.¡±

    ¡°Huh? How could someone get stressed over their birthday?¡±

    I went silent for a bit after Nia asked that. But then I took a deep breath and explained.

    ¡°On my birthday, there was a certain¡­accident that occurred. Something that changed who I was and altered my life as I knew it. And because of that¡­I¡¯ve grown to hate my birthday.¡±

    ¡°So that¡¯s it. That¡¯s why you told that Xara girl not to bother about your birthday.¡±

    I nodded my head.

    ¡°If I told her straight, she would¡¯ve felt sorry for asking and I didn¡¯t want that to happen. So I tried to be discrete about it. But it looks like that backfired on me.¡±

    Getting up onto my feet, I could feel my heart returning to its normal pace and turned my attention to Nia.

    ¡°Thanks for snapping me out of that situation Nia. I don¡¯t know what would¡¯ve happened if you weren¡¯t here.¡±

    ¡°Heh. You¡¯re welcome. I¡¯m just happy you¡¯re okay.¡±

    Having been brought back to my senses, I took in a deep breath and left my room as Sirin vanished and Nia returned to the grimoire. It was time to return to the others and share my thoughts about this whole thing.

    When I returned, the atmosphere was heavy. Like someone had sucked the fun out of it.

    And while the sight of the cake and other party stuff left me feeling tense, I took in another deep breath and stepped forward.

    ¡°Everyone¡­¡±

    They all turned to me, nervous about what I had to say.

    ¡°I¡¯m aware that my reaction just now was a bit¡­weird. And it was wrong of me to ruin the mood like that. So I¡¯m sorry.¡±

    I bowed and Xara stepped forward.

    ¡°N-No. We¡­I didn¡¯t think about how it would make you feel. I¡¯m the one who should be sorry.¡±

    I shook my head.

    ¡°No. You were just trying to do something nice for me. And I really appreciate it. It¡¯s just¡­birthdays are a bit of a sore subject for me. So I tend to be a bit sensitive when it comes to them.

    ¡°...I see. I¡¯m truly sorry for not listening to what you were saying before.¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s done is done. And with that in mind¡­¡±

    I turned to face everyone.

    ¡°I don¡¯t want spirits to be down. So how about celebrating my birthday, we treat this as more of a fun get-together with friends. Is that okay with everyone?¡±

    In response to my question, everyone quickly nodded their heads to agree and I smiled.

    ¡°Thanks. I really appreciate it. Now then, who''s ready to get this get-together started?¡±

    Realizing I still wanted a party of sorts, everyone relaxed and things got started.

    From playing games to enjoying a cake without any meaning to it, to opening gifts that definitely didn¡¯t have any birthday-like meaning behind them. And among them was a rather odd gift from Xara who gave me a key chain and a free kiss coupon which made me wonder if she spent all her money before getting me a gift.

    Before I knew it, hours had passed by and when the day came to an end, everyone waved goodbye and went on their way.

    Soon enough, the only two left were Xara and I. And when I turned to her, I could see she was feeling a bit guilty about this whole thing.

    ¡°I really am sorry about all this Axel. I didn¡¯t want to hurt you. I was just too focused on the idea of celebrating your birthday and refused to think that maybe it¡¯d be a sore subject for you.¡±

    I shrugged my shoulders.

    ¡°What matters is you wanted to give me something special. And that''s something I can really appreciate. Though next time, please try and avoid birthdays. Please.¡±

    ¡°U-Understood.¡±

    Looking to the ground, Xara still looked a bit down in the dumps.

    Thinking of what to do, I dug my hand into my pocket.

    ¡°Hey. Mind if I use this?¡±

    To Xara¡¯s surprise, I pulled out the free kiss coupon she had handed me earlier.

    ¡°A-Are you sure?¡±

    ¡°What guy wouldn¡¯t want to kiss his girlfriend?¡±

    When she heard that, tears started welling up in Xara¡¯s eyes, and nodded her head.

    ¡°Heheh. Yeah. I guess you¡¯re right.¡±

    After that, Xara brought her face close to mine and then, our lips pressed against each other.

    Despite being only a moment, this kiss felt like true bliss and when we parted lips, I was struggling not to go in for another.

    Xara seemed to be thinking the same as she started leaning in once more. However¡­

    ¡°Caaww!¡±

    Hearing a crow above us, Xara and I looked up to see said crow flying down and landing on Xara¡¯s shoulder and handing her a paper.

    She took said paper and opened it up.

    When she did so, her smile turned to a frown as she threw the paper to the ground.

    ¡°You gotta be kidding me!¡±

    Confused, I grabbed the paper and opened it back up.

    Put simply, it was a letter written by Xara¡¯s mother asking her to come back for a bit to help out with some family matters. Meaning Xara would have to be away from the island for at least a week or so.

    Putting away the paper, I looked at Xara who looked like she was ready to scream she wasn¡¯t going. However, I patted her on the shoulder.

    ¡°Just get going. Don¡¯t worry. I promise the island will be here when you get back. Then we can spend the rest of our break together.¡±

    Xara looked conflicted about the whole thing, but in the end, she let out a sigh and nodded.

    ¡°Please wait for me, okay? I promise I¡¯ll be back soon.¡±

    I nodded.

    ¡°I¡¯ll be waiting.¡±

    She smiled and spread out her wings. Flying off back to her home while I rested my arms on my hips.

    ¡°Looks like I¡¯ll be alone for a little while.¡±

    ¡°Uh¡­Aren¡¯t you forgetting about me?¡±

    ¡°Oh yeah. Sorry about that Nia.¡±

    ¡°Hmph!¡±

    With that, it looked like this summer vacation was off to an interesting start. And I was curious about what exactly would happen next.

 Chapter 37: Summer Vacation Begins

    ¡°Hey. Wake up already! She¡¯s gonna be here soon!¡±

    Hearing a voice nearby, I let out a loud groan and opened my eyes to find Nia looking down at me.

    ¡°Hm? What?¡±

    Sitting up I looked around the room as I collected my thoughts.

    My room, despite being massive, didn¡¯t have much going for it.

    There was a desk that I never really used, my dresser where I stored my clothes, a mirror that I primarily looked into in order to make sure I was fine with what I was wearing, my bed which was big enough to fit at least three or four people, and a door that lead to a bathroom that had both a massive tub as well as a shower.

    Other than that, the only thing that really stood out about this room was the giant windows that brought in the morning light.

    Stretching my arms, I got up and turned to Nia who was still sitting on my bed.

    ¡°So why¡¯d you wake me up so early? It¡¯s summer vacation. I should be able to get as much sleep as I want right now.¡±

    That¡¯s right.

    With my first year at the High School of Magic and Swordsmanship finally done, I had three months to spend my time however I saw fit. And there was nothing that would stop me from enjoying it. So why was Nia forcing me to get up so early?

    ¡°What do you mean? You told me to wake you up this morning.¡±

    ¡°I did?¡±

    ¡°Yeah. Because your girlfriend will be arriving in not too long.¡±

    ¡°...Oh yeah. I guess I did ask you to do that.¡±

    I¡¯d almost forgotten that was today. Not because I wasn¡¯t excited to see my girlfriend, but because I¡¯d been so busy with making sure things looked neat and tidy lately for when she got here that I tried pushing the time of her arrival to the back of my mind. Had I made that my primary focus during the clean-up, I¡¯d be too nervous to get any work done. Though, I guess Sirin was the one who did most of the work.

    Letting out a yawn, I walked over to the dresser and looked through my clothes.

    ¡°Hey, Sirin.¡±

    ¡°Yes, Master?¡±

    Appearing in her cube form next to me, Sirin waited for my orders.

    ¡°Are you able to pinpoint when Xara will be here?¡±

    ¡°Of course.¡±

    ¡°Good. Then give me an estimate once I¡¯m done changing.¡±

    ¡°Understood.¡±

    Digging through my clothes, I pondered what I should wear today.

    I was so used to wearing my school uniform or adventuring outfit, that casual clothes weren¡¯t exactly something I thought about very often.

    Picking something I thought looked fine enough, I walked off to the bathroom and got changed while Nia relaxed on my bed.

    Once I was done changing, I looked at myself in the bathroom mirror.

    I was wearing a simple black t-shirt along with some light grey jeans which were then finished off with some black shoes that I¡¯d purchased recently.

    It wasn¡¯t anything swanky, but it would have to do.

    Quickly brushing my teeth, I walked out of the bathroom and headed over to Sirin who was waiting for me in the spot I¡¯d left her.

    ¡°Well?¡±

    ¡°According to my data, she should be here in approximately forty minutes.¡±

    ¡°That should be manageable. Make some food for when she arrives. I don¡¯t know if she¡¯s had breakfast or not so it¡¯s better safe than sorry.¡±

    ¡°Understood, Master.¡±

    Sirin disappeared after that and I turned to Nia who was frowning for some reason.

    ¡°What¡¯s up?¡±

    ¡°You didn¡¯t even thank me for waking you up. And I¡¯m gonna have to spend all that time in the grimoire while you two are having fun.¡±

    ¡°Aren¡¯t you in the grimoire pretty much all the time though?¡±

    ¡°Yeah! And it gets boring when all I can do is watch! I like moving around in my physical form sometimes!¡±

    ¡°I¡­see. Well, you¡¯ll just have to bear with it for now. Sorry.¡±

    ¡°Hmph!¡±

    Without saying another word, Nia returned to the grimoire and I let out an awkward chuckle. This girl could be quite childish sometimes. Which is weird considering she¡¯s technically older than both the current me and old me combined. But maybe spirit time works differently than human time. Who knows?

    Moving past that for now, I left my room and prepared for Xara¡¯s arrival.

    ¡°Axel! Hey!¡±

    Waving at me as she landed on the ground, the wings on Xara¡¯s back vanished into thin air as she smiled at me. It reminded me that she was indeed a succubus since I don¡¯t know any other species with such oddly shaped wings.

    Well anyway, I waved back to her only for her to hug me tightly. Nearly crushing my back.

    ¡°I missed you so much!¡±

    ¡°W-We were only apart for a few days.¡±

    ¡°Yeah! But that¡¯s still a long time!¡±

    A few days is a long time? Weird. I don¡¯t feel like it¡¯s been that long at all. It makes me wonder what¡¯s going on in Xara¡¯s head.

    Finally releasing me from her grip, Xara¡¯s bright smile caused me to grin in response.

    ¡°Well, it¡¯s good to see you again Xara. Want me to show you to my mansion?¡±

    ¡°Of course!¡±

    Enjoying her enthusiasm, I guided her toward said mansion.

    Funny enough, Xara was actually supposed to have been here on the island already. She even mentioned she had told her parents she was gonna stay with her boyfriend this summer. However, it seems family problems came up and Xara''s parents demanded she come back and help out.

    I don¡¯t know what exactly went down, but it was resolved pretty quickly and now Xara was back and it was time to get this summer started.The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

    ¡°Say, mind if I carry your bags?¡± I asked her while we walked.

    She hadn¡¯t brought too much it seemed since all I could see was one bag she had in her left hand.

    ¡°Sure. Though it is a bit on the heavier side.¡±

    She moved to give to me and I took the handle.

    Even with this frail body I had been given, I figured I could still handle a simple bag¡­at least that¡¯s what I thought.

    ¡°Uwah!¡±

    The bag immediately plopped to the ground. It felt like I was trying to lift an anvil. Even so, I kept trying to pick it up.

    ¡°Um¡­Should I carry it after all?¡±

    ¡°Nope! I got this! Haaah!¡±

    I wanted to impress my girlfriend, but in the end, I couldn¡¯t lift up the bag.

    With no other choice, I cast some wind magic and made the bag float next to me while I slumped my shoulders.

    ¡°Sorry it¡¯s so heavy. I would¡¯ve organized it a bit better, but if I¡¯d stuck around any longer, I¡¯m positive my Mom would mess around with it.¡±

    ¡°Your mom?¡±

    Xara nodded.

    ¡°Yeah. As crazy as it sounds, she kept demanding I bring an item she recommended no matter what. Though, I kept refusing no matter what she said.¡±

    ¡°Really? What was it?¡±

    ¡°An aphrodisiac.¡±

    I immediately lost my focus on the wind spell and the bag clamored to the ground.

    ¡°An aphrodisiac!?¡±

    What kind of mom has her daughter bring that to her boyfriend''s place!?

    Xara rubbed her eyes.

    ¡°I know. It¡¯s weird. But that¡¯s just what my family''s like. A bunch of weirdo¡¯s in heat.¡±

    ¡°Huh? But I thought Succubi were satisfied with aura smells or something these days?¡±

    ¡°Most are. But my parents¡­they¡¯re that one exception.¡±

    ¡°I¡­see.¡±

    Well, that makes visiting Xara¡¯s parents seem a lot more dangerous. I had actually wanted to meet them before, but now I was having second thoughts.

    Catching onto what I was thinking, Xara tried collecting herself.

    ¡°D-Don¡¯t get me wrong! They aren¡¯t bad people or anything. They just tend to be a bit more¡­open about their interests.¡±

    ¡°So basically they¡¯re sexually active a lot?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s¡­a bit harsh. Though, I can¡¯t deny it.¡±

    Xara scratched the back of her head.

    ¡°Even so, I¡¯d appreciate you visiting my parents at least once. I¡¯d like them to meet you if at all possible.¡±

    After everything I¡¯ve heard, I really wanted to say no. However, I didn¡¯t want to disappoint Xara. So with a sigh, I shrugged my shoulders.

    ¡°I¡¯ll think about it. But no promises, okay?¡±

    That seemed like a favorable response since Xara smiled and nodded her head.

    ¡°Alright!¡±

    She smiled at me with the sun shining brightly behind her. Giving her an almost heavenly vibe. Like you were looking at an angel sent from the sky above. Though I didn¡¯t want to admit that out loud.

    We continued walking until we arrived at the entrance to my mansion.

    ¡°Wow. It¡¯s as big as I remember!¡± stated Xara as she looked the mansion up and down.

    ¡°I mean, I was told it was pretty average size for a mansion. Is it really that big?¡±

    I wasn¡¯t denying it was massive, but Sirin stated that based on her understanding of the infrastructure of this world, this was far from the biggest mansion that existed. Honestly, I didn¡¯t even want it this big. This was just the smallest Sirin was willing to go.

    ¡°I mean, it¡¯s a bit smaller than my own house, but it¡¯s still fairly large compared to the mansion of a common nobleman.¡±

    ¡°Oh¡­is that so?¡±

    So it was a bit bigger than average. Not sure how I should respond to that.

    Well anyway, the two of us went inside where Xara took off her shoes and looked around.

    ¡°Wow. It¡¯s so clean.¡±

    She was right. Sirin did an excellent job making this place spick and span for Xara¡¯s arrival and I was eternally grateful for her service.

    Heading through the halls, we were suddenly stopped by one of Sirin¡¯s robots.

    ¡°Excuse me Miss Femashito. Would you perhaps be interested in some breakfast?¡±

    Acting on the orders I gave her earlier, Sirin had finished making some food in case Xara hadn¡¯t eaten already.

    ¡°Oh no. I couldn¡¯t possibly impose on you like th-¡±

    Guuurrgle

    Hearing her stomach grumbling loudly, Xara could feel her cheeks warm up from the embarrassment.

    ¡°Actually, some breakfast would be nice.¡±

    ¡°Perfect. Then follow me please.¡±

    Xara nodded and followed the robot. Meanwhile, I rested one hand on my hip as I thought about what to do for today¡¯s activities.

    Since Xara was planning to stay here pretty much the entire time we were on vacation, there was no rush on what we needed to do.

    Honestly, we might have a little too much time on our hands. How were we supposed to enjoy each other¡¯s company without getting tired of it all? Was that even possible?

    Pondering this, I entered the cafeteria where Xara was chowing down on a plate of omurice and toast.

    Turning to Sirin¡¯s robot, I gestured for it to make another plate for me to which it responded with a nod before moving off. Leaving me and Xara alone.

    Sitting down next to Xara, she immediately noticed me but decided to keep chewing through her toast.

    ¡°Hey therph Aphel!¡±

    Her mouth still had some food inside it and the crumbs fell onto her clothes.

    I hadn¡¯t really acknowledged what she was wearing up to this point, but I couldn¡¯t deny she looked really cute.

    She had a long-sleeved white and purple sweater vest covered by a fluffy black coat and a black skirt that fell down to her knees. The only thing that really stood out besides the obvious tail and horns was the choice of shoes which were a dark purple that, while not a bad choice, felt a bit off when looking at the rest of her outfit. But nonetheless, she still looked amazing.

    Drinking some water that Sirin¡¯s robot had brought over, Xara took a sip as I was given my food which I started eating through slowly.

    Taking a second to talk with me, Xara stopped eating and turned toward my direction.

    ¡°Say Axel, what do you think we should do today? We got plenty of time, so what do you wanna do first?¡±

    So she was thinking the same thing I was earlier.

    Swallowing my food, I turned to her.

    ¡°To be honest, I don¡¯t know. I was actually hoping I¡¯d come up with something while we ate, but I¡¯m drawing a blank.¡±

    ¡°Is that so? Well, that¡¯s too bad. However¡­¡±

    Suddenly reaching her hand out toward me, Xara picked off a piece of rice next to my mouth and put it in her own.

    ¡°Just simply spending time together isn¡¯t so bad, is it?¡±

    Feeling heat rush to my cheeks, I turned my head away.

    ¡°I-I guess.¡±

    Then again, I was concerned we¡¯d get sick of each other if we just stood around and hung out. So I at least wanted to do something.

    Awkwardly continuing to eat my food, Xara smiled and did the same. Happily enjoying the remainder of her omurice.

    Once I was done, I took a sip of the water that came with my food and tried to brainstorm something we could do today.

    But no matter what I came up with, all of it was stuff I wanted to save for later. So I really was dealing with a rather awkward situation. Even so, I wouldn¡¯t let that impede me. So, without much else to do, I turned to Xara.

    ¡°Well, how about we explore the mansion a bit? I haven¡¯t really checked out the whole thing myself so it should be an interesting experience for the both of us.¡±

    Thinking over my suggestion, Xara nodded.

    ¡°Yeah! Thaph a vondurful idea!¡±

    With her mouth still full of food, she agreed with a grin. Though her puffed-out cheeks from the food inside her mouth made her look more hilarious than cute. She looked like a chipmunk preparing for the winter.

    Chuckling to myself, I started getting up when I noticed something.

    ¡°Oh. You got some rice on your cheek.¡±

    Looking at her face, I noticed she had a piece of rice stuck to it that was practically in the same spot the rice stuck to my face had been.

    Sensing this as an opportunity, Xara faced me.

    ¡°Pick it off for me.¡±

    She probably wanted me to repeat what she had done to me earlier. Well, she was in for quite a surprise.

    ¡°Alright then,¡± is all I said as I sat back down next to her. And then, before she had time to react, I kissed her where the rice had been.

    Getting up before she could process what I¡¯d done, I swallowed the rice and walked away. Leaving Xara beet red as she pressed her hand to her cheek.

    ¡°W-Well played,¡± was all I could hear her mutter as I left the cafeteria.

 Chapter 38: An Unexpected Predicament

    After finishing our breakfast, Xara and I began looking around the house with one of Sirin¡¯s robots acting as the guide. Why am I not doing the guiding, you ask? Because like I said before, I don¡¯t know this place up and down. Hell, I haven¡¯t even seen the upper half of this place at all since everything I ever need is already here on the lower floors.

    Arriving at a set of stairs, we climbed them one by one until we found ourselves on the second floor.

    Surprisingly enough, the whole place was absolutely spotless. Making it clear that despite none of the other floors getting any use, Sirin still had her robots working hard to ensure everything looked as clean as possible.

    As for the second floor itself, there wasn¡¯t really much to go into other than it was just another floor to the house with its own bathrooms, bedrooms, kitchens, and dining areas. It was actually a pretty anti-climatic reveal overall.

    ¡°By the way, how exactly are we paying for the extra water used in the bathrooms on this floor?¡± I asked Sirin quietly who responded with a monotone voice.

    ¡°I simply use magic stones that produce water my creator had procured and left with me.¡±

    ¡°Um¡­Are we allowed to use those?¡±

    ¡°Of course. I¡¯m sure my creator would be fine with it.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s¡­good to hear I guess?¡±

    I wasn¡¯t actually sure if it was okay since that implied either this creator was a bit too lenient or Sirin was a total liar. Either way, it left me feeling a bit conflicted.

    Exploring the second floor a bit more, there hadn¡¯t really been anything of note. That is, except for one room that had a rather sweet smell coming from inside.

    ¡°What¡¯s that smell,¡± I asked Sirin.

    Sniffing it herself, Xara seemed to be lost in thought.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know why, but it smells familiar.¡±

    ¡°That is a room filled with incense using a special material known as Aphrostia.¡±

    ¡°Aphrostia? What¡¯s that?¡±

    I never heard such a name in my old world. Did that mean it was some kind of special material that was only available in this one?

    ¡°Aphrostia is a special form of stone that, when ground, can be used for a multitude of medicines and meals. However, there¡¯s one thing it¡¯s most commonly used for.¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s that?¡±

    ¡°It can make an incredibly powerful aphrodisiac.¡±

    ¡°Aaand just like that, we¡¯re leaving!¡±

    I immediately grabbed Xara¡¯s hand and pulled her away with Sirin following close behind us.

    Heading to the third floor, I was surprised to find it was completely different from the first two.

    ¡°What is all this?¡± I asked Sirin.

    In front of us was a massive pile of robot parts that cluttered the ground. Making it impossible to move around them.

    ¡°This is where robots that were either destroyed or scraped go.¡±

    ¡°Really? How are there so many?¡±

    ¡°You would be surprised just how easily it is for one of my robots to be destroyed.¡±

    ¡°Oh¡­Is that so?¡±

    ¡°Yes. It is.¡±

    Even if that¡¯s the case, there were still way too many around here.

    I think there was supposed to be rooms on this floor. Just like the the other two. However, it was impossible to access any of them since the piles of robots blocked any way for us to pass by.

    ¡°Can we even get to the fourth floor from here?¡±

    ¡°Sadly that will not be possible.¡±

    ¡°I see. Well, what''re we supposed to do then?¡±

    I wanted to give Xara a tour of the whole house, but right now that seemed impossible.

    ¡°Hey, how about we clear these metal robot things out of here? That way we can get to the next floor,¡± suggested Xara.

    ¡°That¡¯s easier said than done. This pile is massive.¡±

    ¡°But it¡¯s not impossible. Come on! Let¡¯s do it!¡±

    Xara had a lot of enthusiasm, but I really wasn¡¯t in the mood to play housekeeper.

    I tried to explain as much to Xara, but instead of listening, she was already starting to pick up some of the parts and was dragging them down the stairs.

    Letting out a sigh, I walked up next to her and touched her shoulder.

    A moment later, we were outside the house.

    ¡°Whoa! How¡¯d we get there!?¡± she shouted in surprise. Dropping the robot parts she¡¯d been carrying.

    ¡°It¡¯s a teleportation spell. This should speed things up a bit. So should we get back inside to take care of the rest?¡±

    Realizing I was forcefully on board with her plan, Xara grinned and nodded her head.

    ¡°Yeah! Let¡¯s get this done!¡±

    Letting out another sigh, I teleported us back inside and we got to work.

    As I said before, I didn¡¯t wanna play the role of a housekeeper. But even so, I knew Xara would keep going without me. And since I¡¯d rather not force my girlfriend to clean up my own house, I knew I didn¡¯t have a choice.

    Thus, we got to work on cleaning up giant piles of metal.

    ¡°Grrr! Why is this so heavy!?¡± I shouted. Attempting to move some of the robot parts myself only to find myself unable to lift them.

    Walking over, Xara picked it up with ease and let out a sigh.

    ¡°You don¡¯t need to pretend. If you wanna leave things to me, go ahead.¡±

    ¡°I-It¡¯s not that! I¡¯m just¡­not that strong.¡±

    Well, it was more like I couldn¡¯t be that strong.

    Ever since coming to this world, I¡¯ve been unable to gain any muscle. It¡¯s the one thorn in my side I still haven¡¯t gotten past as much as I hate to admit it.

    With no other choice, I used wind magic to make the metal float and put it in a smaller pile that I''d teleport outside once I was confident it was large enough. All while teleporting Xara outside whenever her hands were full.

    It was the most I¡¯d ever used my teleportation skill in such a short amount of time and honestly, I think I¡¯ve found one flaw to this spell.

    ¡°Hmph!¡±

    After returning with Xara once more, I fell to my knees while clutching my stomach.

    ¡°Hey. Are you okay?¡± Xara asked concerned.

    ¡°Y-Yeah. I¡¯m fine.¡±

    I was lying. My stomach was hurting like crazy and I felt like I could puke at any moment.

    ¡°Hm. I guess this is only natural considering how many times you¡¯ve used your teleportation spell,¡± Nia said to me telepathically.

    ¡°Huh? What do you mean?¡± I asked quietly.

    ¡°Well when using a teleportation skill, you¡¯re basically forcing your body to travel between the dimensions of reality. In other words, it¡¯s like your body is moving at a speed so fast that you¡¯re suffering from something akin to motion sickness.¡±

    ¡°I-I see. Dammit. And here I thought I could just teleport however I pleased.¡±

    Forcing myself onto my wobbly feet I looked at how much work we still had left.

    We managed to clear out about eighty percent of the robot parts and could even make it to the next floor if we want. Even so, Xara looked ready to keep working.

    ¡°Please. You both have helped enough. Allow me to take care of the rest,¡± said Sirin who had brought in some robots to clean up what was left.¡±

    However, Xara shook her head.

    ¡°No! We started this, so we¡¯ll finish it!¡±

    ¡°Is that so?¡±

    ¡°Of course it is!¡±

    Sirin processed what Xara said and turned to me to hear what I had to say. However, I still felt a bit sick so all I could do was nod my head.

    ¡°I see. Alright then. I leave this to you.¡±

    Xara smiled when she heard that and started grabbing more parts with me following in tow.

    Once she had enough parts in hand, I teleported Xara outside and let her drop the stuff she had in her arms down into the pile of robot parts we had taken care of up to this point.

    When she was done, we teleported back.

    ¡°Alright! Just a bit more to go!¡± she stated. All I could do was nod as we headed toward the remaining pile of metal.

    Xara immediately tried picking up some. While she was doing that, I felt myself getting a bit dizzy.

    ¡°Maybe I should¡¯ve accepted Sirin¡¯s help after all,¡± I muttered as I felt my vision get hazy.

    Trying to recollect myself, I took a step back. And then, as if it had been set there on purpose, my foot landed on a robot part that looked just like a wheel.

    And as I rested my foot on it, the wheel slid forward. Causing me to lose my footing and fall onto the robot parts.

    When I did so, I heard a small click under me, and a few moments later, my mind grew too fuzzy as my body ached in pain. And then, before I knew it, I couldn''t think anymore.Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

    ¡°Axel!¡±

    Noticing Axel had collapsed, I rushed over to see what had happened.

    For some reason, he looked pale and was foaming at the mouth. Like he was suffering from motion sickness or something similar.

    ¡°What happened?¡± I muttered in confusion while looking him over.

    He didn¡¯t seem injured in any way, but it was clear he wasn¡¯t in good condition.

    Turning to the cube thing Axel had been talking to up to this point, I decided to ask for her help.

    ¡°Excuse me Miss cube thing! Are you able to help Axel!? He seems sick!¡±

    Floating over, the cube thing looked at Axel for a moment before speaking.

    ¡°It appears he¡¯s suffering from the constant shifting of one''s self. In other words, he''s suffering from a motion sickness caused by mass teleportation.¡±

    ¡°Wait. You mean that due to all the teleporting, his did¡­¡±

    The cube nodded.

    ¡°It seems this took quite a toll on his physical body. I had theorized this would happen, but seeing as you rejected my assistance, this is what we¡¯re stuck with.¡±

    He ended up like this because he teleported too much? That meant¡­

    ¡°Are you saying¡­because I wanted to clean all this up, he ended up pushing himself too far?¡±

    ¡°That would be the best description for this situation. Yes.¡±

    ¡°Oh no!¡± I thought as I sat down and rested Axel on my lap. His face was more pale than usual and it looked like he was suffering. All because I wanted to clean all this up.

    ¡°Well, I wouldn¡¯t entirely blame it on you. Had Master just moved the items regularly then this wouldn¡¯t have happened. But he insisted on using teleportation. So he is merely weeping what he¡¯s sown.¡±

    Even so, he only did it to help me with the cleanup, so I couldn¡¯t just say it was all his fault.

    ¡°Leaving whose at fault for later, are you able to help him?¡±

    The cube thing nodded her head.

    ¡°A bit of medicine should heal him up. I¡¯m currently bringing it here as we speak.

    ¡°I-Is that so? That¡¯s good to hear.¡±

    Hearing the good news, I couldn¡¯t help but let out a sigh of relief.

    So, all I had to do was wait for the medicine to arrive.

    As I did so, I looked down at Axel who was still pale-faced and bubbling at the mouth.

    Despite the rather vulgar appearance in front of me, I couldn¡¯t help but smile as I looked down at him.

    Just a few months ago, I was nearly consumed by a curse that would¡¯ve caused me to harm a lot of people. And it was only thanks to Axel that I avoided such a horrible situation.

    After that, he taught me what it meant to be more open-minded and now I found myself in a club where I¡¯m friends with several of the members. All thanks to opening my mind to trying new things and letting go of trying to be so clingy.

    Although, I can¡¯t say I¡¯ve completely recovered. Despite improving myself considerably, I still find myself having selfish desires when I¡¯m around Axel.

    I didn¡¯t like having such desires since I knew that was the opposite of what he wanted, but I just couldn¡¯t help myself. And while I¡¯ve been able to hold off so far, I don¡¯t know how much longer I¡¯d be able to keep myself at bay.

    Looking down at Axel, I noticed he was starting to breathe a bit more normally than before. Which meant he was probably recovering little by little. Even so, I figured it¡¯d still be a bit before he actually got up.

    Seeing this reminded me of just how far Axel would go to watch over those he cares about.

    ¡°You really do push yourself too hard sometimes. Though, I guess that¡¯s one of your better qualities,¡± I mumbled as I leaned down close to his face and kissed him on the cheek.

    As I did so, I found the scent of Axel¡¯s aura entering my nose.

    It had the same strange smell I¡¯d known before, but these days, it was more comforting than repulsive.

    It filled me with a wave of relief as I let the smell sink into my body.

    However, what followed was probably my own desire letting itself show as my hand slowly started moving its way down his body. Stopping at his waist.

    ¡°It wouldn¡¯t hurt to get a little intimate¡­right?¡± I muttered. Trying to come up with an excuse for my own desires.

    However, not even moments after I started making a move, a noise entered my ear.

    BEEP BEEP!

    A loud beeping sound rang loudly and a few moments later, something rose up from the pile we still hadn¡¯t cleaned up yet.

    ¡°Unit 69¡­Online¡­Activating offense protocol! Target¡¯s confirmed!¡±

    ¡°What the-? I thought this was where all the destroyed robo-things were piled?¡±

    That¡¯s what the cube thing had said. So what was a fully functioning one doing here?

    Before I had time to process what was happening, the cube thing appeared in front of me.

    ¡°Please take Master and go Miss Femashito!¡± said the silently panicked cube.

    ¡°Huh? I don¡¯t understand.¡±

    ¡°As I said earlier, this spot is where both destroyed or scraped machines go. The one you see before us is one of the latter.¡±

    ¡°I¡­see.¡±

    I didn¡¯t actually. But one look at the cube thing somehow made it clear this was a bad position we were in right now.

    Turning her attention to the strange robo-thing in front of us, the cube thing raised its voice.

    ¡°I command you as your creator to shut down! Right now!¡±

    The door-sized machine was silent for a moment before responding.

    ¡°Command received¡­and denied.¡±

    I could almost hear the cube thing let out a clicking tongue sound.

    ¡°It¡¯s as I feared. This hunk of junk still ignores my commands. This is why it was scrapped.¡±

    She turned back to me.

    ¡°Hurry up and get out of here Miss Femashito! Before that unit-!¡±

    The cube thing failed to form its sentence in time as the tall robot reached out and crushed the cube.

    ¡°Target three eliminated. Two remaining.¡±

    Sensing the urgency of the situation, I tried lifting up Axel.

    ¡°Come on! We gotta get aw-huh?¡±

    Thinking I¡¯d be met with a bit of weight, I was surprised to find Axel was incredibly light. Almost like I was simply carrying a bag of groceries. This made me think that maybe I should help him improve his eating habits.

    ¡°Wait a minute! That¡¯s not important right now!¡±

    Remembering the urgency of the situation, I carried Axel down the stairs just as the robo-thing tried to charge at us.

    ¡°Ack!¡±

    Ducking just in time, I avoided the robot who crashed through the wall above me. Giving us a chance to escape. Rushing toward a room on the lower floors that I figured the robot wouldn¡¯t find for a while, I shut the door tightly and rested the still-dazed Axel on the ground.

    Standing up straight, I remained silent. Hoping the robo-thing wouldn¡¯t find us.

    And after a few minutes, I breathed a sigh of relief having realized we could relax a bit.

    Sitting down on the ground, I rubbed my eyes.

    ¡°What is that thing? It looked ready to kill us.¡±

    I knew there wasn¡¯t anyone there, but I couldn¡¯t help but say that aloud.

    At least, I thought nowhere was there. However, moments later, that cube thing appeared in front of me. Startling me slightly.

    ¡°I apologize for all this, Miss Femashito. I had planned to dispose of that unit in a few days, but it appears the power core I had installed still had some energy left inside.¡±

    Huh? Power core? What was she talking about?

    ¡°I-It¡¯s fine. Well, it isn¡¯t actually. But what the heck is that thing? And also, what¡¯s a power core?¡±

    I figured I might as well ask in order to clear things up. I had just accepted these things before since they were on Axel¡¯s island. However, it seems there¡¯s more to these robo-things than I previously considered.

    ¡°That thing is known as Unit 69. Is was designed to be a fighting machine that protected the island in Master¡¯s absence if I was unavailable to do so. However, I didn¡¯t consider just how difficult it would be to create such a machine so the whole thing was scrapped.¡±

    ¡°Really? How come?¡±

    ¡°The coding just didn¡¯t merge well with my own. Making it hard for me to have control over it. In other words, it wouldn¡¯t listen to me.¡±

    ¡°I see.

    Well, I didn¡¯t actually. Words like coding and fighting machines kinda went over my head.

    But if I were to hazard a guess, she was saying that this robo-thing was a form of knight that guarded the island while Axel was away and this cube thing acted as its commander that issued orders. However, it went rogue and was acting on its own right now. Meaning it abandoned its post.

    I¡¯m not sure how close I was to what she was saying, but that was the best I got.

    ¡°As for your other question, power cores are a form of magic stone that I use to power all of the robots you see here in the mansion. They run for about a week before needing to be replaced and are best described as a form of battery.¡±

    ¡°A battery?¡±

    Like the small gadgets that power most of the lights in the school? The ones that are created using steel and lightning magic? If that¡¯s the case, I think I kinda understand what these power cores are.

    ¡°Yes. A battery. Although, as I said before, it seems to still have some power left in its core. I hadn¡¯t planned on such a thing occurring, but as things stand, it is what it is.¡±

    ¡°I see. So what are we supposed to do now?¡±

    ¡°Well as much as I¡¯d like to say we could just wait around until the battery ran out, we have no idea how much longer that¡¯ll take. And with my Master incapacitated, I highly doubt he¡¯ll be able to take it down himself.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re saying Axel could beat that thing?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯d certainly believe so. He¡¯s not exactly a weakling after all.¡±

    She wasn¡¯t wrong about that. But also, she was right about him being knocked out right now. Which meant that thing could just go on a rampage around the place until he recovered.

    ¡°I guess we can only hope for the medicine to get here without that unit noticing. Though considering the path here, it''s unlikely.¡±

    ¡°Huh? What do you mean?¡±

    Wasn¡¯t that thing on an upper floor right now? If that¡¯s the case, a robo-thing on a lower floor could easily deliver medicine to us.

    ¡°I just took a look at the security cameras around the mansion and it appears Unit 69 is scouting each and every floor. And any time it comes across a robot, it destroys it immediately. In other words, the robot with the medicine would find itself getting destroyed on the way here.¡±

    Really? Dang it! And here I was hoping we could bring back Axel and have him kick that thing''s butt!

    Letting out a frustrated sigh, I scratched my head while trying to think up a solution.

    That¡¯s when I looked down at Axel. The boy who, despite looking like a pale white prune, still shined as brightly as ever as he laid there practically motionless.

    This boy, who despite finding himself in situations like this, still put his best foot forward when it came to saving me from my troubles.

    Not only that, but he taught me to be more open and less possessive. Even if, as I said before, I¡¯m still working on it.

    With all that in mind, I knew that had he been in good condition right now, he wouldn¡¯t hesitate to fight that robo-thing.

    It¡¯s because of that bravery and selflessness that I know what to do now.

    Holding out my hand, I started muttering a spell to myself, and a few moments later, a reddish-black pitchfork appeared in my hand with hearts pointing out on top of each tine.

    ¡°I have a plan. You make sure Axel gets his medicine. While you do that, I¡¯ll keep that robo-thing busy.¡±

    The cube thing didn¡¯t have any expression but for some reason, I felt like it was shocked.

    ¡°Are you certain? You would have to hold that thing off for at least twenty-five minutes. And despite being scrapped, Unit 69 is still a tough opponent.¡±

    Slamming the bottom of my pitchfork against the ground, my wings rose from my back and I smiled awkwardly.

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry. I¡¯ll be fine. It¡¯s just twenty-five minutes.¡±

    ¡°I wasn¡¯t worrying. I was just confused about how stupidly spur of the moment your choice was.¡±

    ¡°Er¡­Oh. I see.¡±

    ¡°Well I say that, but considering you''re someone who Master holds dear, I can¡¯t exactly treat you harshly. So, if you do wanna go through with this, there¡¯s something I must ask you first.¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s that?¡±

    ¡°Are you certain you can hold it off, as well as not die?¡±

    Hearing her ask that, I scratched my cheek awkwardly.

    ¡°Um¡­I guess I can try my best.¡±

    I wasn¡¯t confident in my fighting skills since I only really got the chance to train during my time at school. So even if I knew what I was doing, I hadn¡¯t really fought against anything strong. So I had no idea how things would actually go out there.

    Perhaps realizing this, the cube thing let out a mechanical sigh.

    ¡°I see. Well, good luck. I¡¯ll be sure to send Master as soon as he¡¯s recovered.¡±

    ¡°I appreciate that. Well then, let¡¯s do this.¡±

    Taking in a deep breath I stepped out into the halls and spread my wings.

    Thankfully the halls were wide enough for me to move around, which made it easy to thrust myself forward at rapid speed toward my target.

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry Axel. I¡¯ll be sure to protect you until you¡¯re better. So when this is over, you better treat me to a great meal.¡±

    As I muttered this, I continued rushing forward. Ready for the fight ahead of me.

 Chapter 39: Magic Vs Robots

    Spotting the robo-thing called Unit 69, I saw it was tearing through the walls of the mansion Probably searching for us.

    Prepared for what I was about to do, I took in a deep breath before letting out a shout.

    ¡°Hey you metal monster! Come and get me!¡±

    Hearing my voice, the robot turned toward me and held out its arm. Creating some kind of laser cannon, Unit 69 fired at me over and over again only for me to weave my way past the lasers and stop at its chest.

    Not wasting an opening, I struck my pitchfork into Unit 69¡¯s waist only for it to bounce off.

    ¡°Crap,¡± I muttered before flying back. Dodging its hand right as it was about to smack me away.

    ¡°Eliminate¡­Intruder¡­Destroy¡­Intruder¡­!¡± shouted Unit 69.

    ¡°Well, this thing¡¯s sturdy. I¡¯ll give it that.¡±

    I had put a lot of force into that pitchfork thrust, so that fact it didn¡¯t pierce anything really showed what that cube thing meant when it said this thing was tough.

    Trying to think up another strategy, I started casting a spell.

    ¡°Bring forth a line of fire to scar my enemies. Flame Blast!¡±

    Pointing my pitchfork at Unit 69, a flame similar to the enemy''s laser was sent forward. Digging a bit into the robo-things metal exterior.

    I thought that maybe I might¡¯ve found something I could against it. However, moments later, it let out a loud hissing sound, and the flames dispersed from its body.

    ¡°So this thing is fireproof, huh? Guess I¡¯ll need to try something else.¡±

    Well, I said that, but I had a feeling that simply thrusting magic attacks at it would be a bad idea.

    Because of that, I decided the best thing for now was to draw it away from Axel so I flew past it as fast as I could.

    It followed close behind me as I shot thorugh the halls and stairs until I finally landed at the front door and opened it wide before getting into the air again.

    Once outside, I had a lot more room to work with so I flew through the sky and I looked down below at Unit 69 who was staring up at me.

    Since it wasn¡¯t following, I figured it didn¡¯t have the ability to fly which worked to my advantage.

    So with that in mind, I finally found a way to escape its attacks in case a strategy I came up with didn¡¯t wor¡­

    ¡°...Wait. What¡¯s it doing?¡±

    Looking down, I watched Unit 69 move over to the nearby pile of robot parts that we had been piling up into a nearby pit.

    Then, without hesitation, it dug its hands into the pile. Causing me to tilt my head in confusion.

    ¡°What¡¯s it trying to do right now?¡± I asked myself.

    I got my answer soon enough when, after twenty seconds of digging through the pile, Unit 69 pulled out some weird device.

    ¡°Applying¡­Morphosis¡­¡±

    Clenching the weird device tightly, Unit 69 suddenly slammed it onto its rear, and out of nowhere, a metal ooze formed on its back. Attaching the new part to its body.

    ¡°What the-!? Why didn¡¯t that cube thing tell me it could do that!?¡± I shouted. Completely dumbfounded  at this turn of events.

    Once it was positive the item was on, Unit 69 turned toward me and after a few moments, the item on its back sparked a bit before letting out flames. Shooting it up in my direction.

    ¡°You¡¯ve gotta be kidding me!?¡± I shouted while trying to fly away.

    I had thought I¡¯d gained an advantage, but it seems it took no time at all for Unit 69 to adapt to my abilities. That wasn¡¯t ideal.

    And now, having lost my advantage, all I could do was try to block its moves and come up with a solution to beat it.

    ¡°Come on! What would Axel do in a situation like this!?¡±

    I mean, he¡¯d normally beat things like this to a pulp with magic. But seeing as he can just send a barrage of spells without needing to cast a single incantation, I wasn¡¯t exactly in the same ballpark.

    With no strategy coming to mind, I simply turned around and ducked under Unit 69 as it flew over me. Then, putting force into my pitchfork, I tried digging it into the unit''s body.

    Unlike last time, I managed to actually get a bit deeper and I was able to force it back by tossing its body with my pitchfork.

    ¡°Haaah!¡±

    Gripping the pitchfork tightly, I did exactly that, and Unit 69 went flying through the air.

    ¡°Error¡­Enemy is¡­Competent¡­¡±

    ¡°Wah-!?¡±

    What was that supposed to mean!?

    ¡°Readjusting calculations¡­Increase max¡­power¡­¡±

    ¡°Wait¡­what was that?¡±

    Just as I had processed what the enemy said, I suddenly felt an arm slam into my stomach and I was sent flying.

    ¡°Ack!¡±

    Trying to keep myself from focusing on my pain, I saw Unit 69 rushing toward me at rapid speed and I ducked as its body barely grazed the hair on my head

    It seems this thing wasn¡¯t taking me seriously before, meaning this was probably its actual abilities.

    That kinda impressed me, but it also made me wonder something. Why would something so incredibly powerful be scrapped without removing all these things!? It seems kinda dangerous!

    Trying to pick up my speed, I dodged another blow from Unit 69 and attempted to stab it with my pitchfork once more.

    This time, however, it was prepared and avoided the attack before grabbing the tip of the pitchfork and yanking it out of my hands.

    Then, without a moment''s hesitation, it sent the pitchfork flying.

    ¡°Okay now that¡¯s just rude,¡± I muttered before casting a spell that made my pitchfork reappear in my hand.

    Annoyed by this, I think, Unit 69 held its hand together.

    ¡°Activate¡­Transformation: Version 2.¡±

    ¡°Version 2?¡±

    I was confused what it meant by that. But after a few moments, I got my answer as its hands morphed into shark claws and its feet changed to resemble the gadget on its back.

    ¡°High-Speed Aerial Form¡­Now Active.¡±

    ¡°Aerial form?¡±

    I wanted to be give Unit 69 a confused look. However, I didn¡¯t have time for that as its legs started letting out a small fire that sent it flying forward at rapid speed.

    ¡°It¡¯s even faster now!?¡± I screamed. Feeling one of the sharp claws on Unit 69''s arms scratch my cheek.

    ¡°How is Axel supposed to beat something of this speed? Was that cube thing lying to me!? Is this her attempt to try and kill me or something!?¡±

    As these thoughts crossed my mind, I gripped my pitchfork tightly and tried to watch for Unit 69¡¯s next move.

    Sensing it on my right, I sent my pitchfork flying in hopes of hitting my opponent. However, I was only met with air as it appeared on my left side.

    ¡°A fake out!?¡±

    This robot was intelligent enough to trick a human!? Just how smart was this thing!?

    Well, it didn¡¯t matter. I needed to keep this thing busy for as long as I could!

    Dodging its attack, I brought back my pitchfork and slammed it into Unit 69¡¯s face. Hitting it directly in the giant red eyes.

    The eyes shattered and fell to the ground. Causing Unit 69 to hesitate.

    Taking this chance, I gripped my pitchfork and sunk it deep into Unit 69¡¯s chest.

    ¡°Raaaah!¡±

    Pushing the pitchfork further, I smashed Unit 69 into the ground causing sparks to come flying out of its body.

    ¡°Error. Speed increased¡­durablity¡­decreased. Must¡­calculate countermeasures¡­¡±

    ¡°Oh no you don¡¯t!¡±

    I didn¡¯t understand what some of those words meant, but if it was trying to pull off some new skill or move, there was no way I was gonna let it!

    Lifting up my pitchfork with the enemy still attached, I landed on the ground and dug my feet into the dirt.

    ¡°Haaaah!¡±

    With a shout, I thrust my pitchfork into some nearby tree and it crashed into them one after another. As I did so, trees fell left and right. Creating a line of destruction in its wake. I hope Axel won¡¯t be mad about that.

    But leaving that be for now, I spread my wings and flew toward where the trail ended only to find my pitchfork lying on the ground.

    ¡°Where did it-!?¡±

    Before I could finish that sentence, I felt something stab into my shoulder.

    ¡°Danger¡­perceptors disabled¡­unable to¡­get clear visual¡­¡±

    From behind me, it seemed like this thing was trying to go for the killing blow as it dug into me with its claws. But since I took out its eyes, it couldn¡¯t see clearly.

    I¡¯d say that was a lucky break on my part, but considering I was still in massive pain, the fact it didn¡¯t hit any vitals hadn¡¯t changed much.

    Yanking out its claws to try again, I flew back in order to gain some distance between us and rested my hand on the stab wound.

    ¡°Bring forth a healing light to cure this pain. Small Heal!¡±Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

    I didn¡¯t have the skill in healing magic to patch myself up, so the best I could do was seal up the wound until it either was healed or got proper treatment.

    Once I was confident I was healed up enough, I charged at the enemy who was lost on where I went.

    ¡°Warning¡­Heart beat detected¡­enemy found¡­¡±

    Crap. Looks like it could still hear me

    Turning toward my direction, I dodged one of its claws and tried to strike its chest with all my might.

    However, it seemed prepared for this and grabbed my pitchfork before tossing it away and gripping its fist tightly.

    Then, moving at a speed I couldn¡¯t possibly keep up with, Unit 69 smashed its fist into my chest.

    Feeling my ribs crack, I was sent flying into some nearby trees.

    Trying to push myself to my feet after I landed, I suddenly felt something rise in my throat and a bit of blood escaped my lips.

    ¡°Crap. This doesn¡¯t look good,¡± I muttered as I tried bringing my pitchfork back to me.

    Perhaps sensing my intentions, Unit 69 jumped forward and slammed its fist into my side. Sending me flying once more. This time, high into the sky.

    Then, without wasting a second to attack, it lifted its leg up high and slammed it into my back. Causing me to crash into the ground below.

    ¡°Ack!¡±

    With my head throbbing, I shakily got onto my feet.

    ¡°No matter what¡­I¡¯ll keep stalling until Axel¡¯s recovered,¡± I muttered as blood dripped from my body. My vision was a bit hazy and I couldn¡¯t keep myself standing straight. Even so, I was planning to stand my ground to the end. No matter what.

    Landing in front of me, Unit 69 transformed one of its hands into a drill and started walking forward.

    ¡°Final blow mode¡­activated.¡±

    Hearing that, I tried to summon my pitchfork to defend myself, but all my energy was completely gone.

    It seemed at this point, I didn¡¯t have much left I could do. Even so, I wasn¡¯t about to give up.

    Curling my fists, I prepared myself to throw a punch. To which Unit 69 didn¡¯t react at all.

    ¡°Good¡­Bye¡­¡±

    Those were its last words to me as it readied its final attack.

    And then...

    ¡°Get the hell away from her!¡±

    Suddenly, a strong wind blew Unit 69 away, and then, someone''s silhouette appeared in front of me.

    ¡°A-Axel?¡±

    That had sounded like him. Was I mistaken?

    Turning their head toward me, the silhouette nodded its head.

    ¡°You fought hard out there Xara. Now leave the rest to me.¡±

    Hearing that, I gave the silhouette a smile.

    ¡°Yeah¡­got¡­it¡­¡±

    Moments later, I collapsed onto the ground.

    Watching Xara fall to the ground, I let out a sigh of relief.

    I was worried I wouldn¡¯t get here in time, but I managed to make it by the smallest of margins. Though I wish I hadn¡¯t cut it that close.

    Sadly, the medicine took some time to take effect so I wasn¡¯t able to get up till now.

    But now that I was back in the game, I was ready to put this thing in the ground.

    ¡°New opponent. Activating new measures¡­¡±

    Directing its attacks at me, this robot I think Sirin called Unit 69 started transforming its body.

    Its claws were replaced with what seemed like lasers and its legs had turned into jet boots.

    ¡°Alright. Let¡¯s see what this piece of shit is made of,¡± I muttered as I prepared to attack.

    Before I could, Unit 69 jumped forward. Trying to close the distance as it shot lasers at random.

    From the looks of things, Xara took out its eyes. So it had to rely entirely on what it had registered from its surroundings. That would make it easier to dodge, but still fairly dangerous.

    ¡°I should finish this quick. Let¡¯s do this Nia!¡±

    ¡°Right!¡±

    Holding out my hand, I dodged Unit 69¡¯s barrage of lasers and formed a fireball in my hand before slamming it into the robot''s chest.

    After that, I backed up to see what would happen.

    Sirin had mentioned this thing was designed to grow and adapt in order to protect the island, so she¡¯d already made sure to give it mechanisms to resist against almost all forms of magic. Well, all of them except one, and sure enough, the fireball vanished as the unit let out a loud hissing sound. As if it was cooling itself off.

    ¡°Talk about dangerous,¡± I muttered.

    A part of me thought it was actually pretty cool since a constantly growing robot would be a massive win against intruders.

    However, the fact this thing hurt Xara as much as it did meant it didn¡¯t deserve to walk on this earth. So I was gonna put it down. Here and now.

    Trying to discern my location with my heartbeat, Unit 69 turned toward me and transformed its hands back into claws before rushing toward me with incredible speed.

    ¡°Right. Like I¡¯m gonna let you so much as scratch me,¡± I said aloud.

    Dodging its claws, I formed a ball of air around my fist and used the spell that turned my hand metal that I learned was called Iron Strike and slammed my fist into the robot''s body.

    This time, it was sent flying upward as its body started falling apart bit by bit.

    ¡°Error. Unknown element. Unable¡­to adapt¡­¡±

    Just as Sirin had said.

    Since this thing was designed to adapt to most things, Sirin wasn¡¯t sure how to put it down if it got out of control. That was why she had designed something in the code that made one particular element unadaptable. And that was none other than my favorite element. That being wind.

    Now I¡¯m sure you¡¯re wondering how exactly we¡¯d fight against wind spell fighters if they came at us while we used this robot in the field. And well, I was wondering the same thing.

    But if I were to hazard a guess, Sirin had probably coded in ways to fight against opponents of that type but hadn¡¯t implemented it before this thing was scrapped.

    Meaning this thing wouldn¡¯t be any trouble at all for someone like me.

    Jumping into the air, I created a blade of wind and used it to slash off one of Unit 69¡¯s arms before using some wind magic to add force to my foot and slam it into the robot''s back. Sending it crashing toward the ground.

    ¡°Error¡­dangerous opponent¡­unable to adjust¡­ recalcu-¡±

    Before Unit 69 had a chance to find a way out of this, I brought up its body using wind magic before forming my hand into a fist.

    ¡°Recalculate this, you bastard!¡±

    And then, activating Iron Strike right before making contact, I sent Unit 69 crashing into some nearby trees. Causing its body parts to fall off one after another until it slammed halfway into a tree with only its torso and head remaining.

    ¡°Re-re-recalcu-cu-cu-cu la-la-aaa¡­.¡±

    Seeing it was basically dead, I sliced off its head with one final blade of wind. And moments later, the small light in its eyes vanished.

    Once I was confident it was dead, I burned Unit 69¡¯s body along with the rest of the scrapped metal. As I was doing that, Sirin appeared next to me.

    ¡°I¡¯ve tried my best to heal Miss Femashito and from the looks of things, she should make a full recovery as soon as tomorrow.¡±

    ¡°I see. That¡¯s good to hear.¡±

    Letting out a sigh of relief, I looked up at the sky as the burning fire sent its weird-smelling smoke into the air

    ¡°I¡¯m gonna be honest, this isn¡¯t exactly the best start to you¡¯re guy¡¯s time together,¡± said Nia from within the grimoire.

    ¡°You¡¯re not wrong. Things couldn¡¯t have gone any more wrong. This day was a mess.¡±

    We were supposed to just enjoy each other''s company. But now, Xara¡¯s stuck lying in bed after dealing with a mess I¡¯m pretty sure I started after falling on that pile of scraped parts.

    Scratching the back of my head, I let out another sigh. This time, one out of frustration at my own stupidity.

    ¡°Well, what¡¯s done is done. As of right now, I¡¯m gonna try and make this summer the best I can for both me and Xara!¡±

    ¡°You say that, but can you make it actually happen?¡±

    ¡°You bet I can!¡±

    I was lying. I had no idea what to do here. Even so, I didn¡¯t want Xara to think days with me were gonna be this dangerous. So no matter what, I would try my absolute hardest to make this a summer vacation we¡¯d both remember fondly.

    Clenching my fist in resolution, I walked back to the mansion to check on Xara. All while preparing myself for what awaited me.

    The next day, I woke up to find myself lying on the bed Xara was still resting on.

    I hadn¡¯t left her side since I came to check on her.

    From the outside, she seemed okay, but I was worried about how she felt emotionally right now.

    I mean, she looked pretty close to death''s door when I found her. So I was hoping this wouldn¡¯t leave an emotional scar of sorts.

    Maybe I¡¯m just overthinking things, but even so, I wanna make sure she¡¯s okay.

    Thus, I stuck by her side. Waiting for her to wake up. And about an hour later, she finally opened her eyes.

    ¡°Hrrmm¡­Axel?¡±

    ¡°Good morning. How are you feeling?¡±

    ¡°Hm? Oh. Good morning. I¡¯m feeling fine. Why do you¡­ah!¡±

    Perhaps suddenly remembering yesterday, Xara¡¯s brain woke up and looked at my eyes.

    ¡°What happened!? Did you beat that thing!?¡±

    ¡°Calm down a little. You don¡¯t have to worry. I took it down without any problems.¡±

    ¡°Oh¡­I see. That¡¯s good to hear.¡±

    She said that, but the look in her eye made it clear there was something else going on in her head.

    ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡±

    Gently holding her hand, I looked into Xara¡¯s eyes which caused her to look away and blush slightly.

    ¡°Well¡­it¡¯s just I was thinking about what happened yesterday. Despite throwing everything I had at that thing, I still couldn¡¯t beat it. Then, I wake up to hear you beat it without issue and it makes me feel a bit inferior. Like all the training I did at school was for nothing.¡±

    Hm. Seems my concerns were warranted after all. Well, it makes sense to feel inferior to someone with such a strong arsenal. I mean, without Nia¡¯s help, I probably would¡¯ve stood zero chance against that thing. And if someone else had that power instead, I¡¯d probably feel inferior too. But thanks to Nia, it¡¯s me who has these powers. And as long as they¡¯re with me, I¡¯ll take down anything that stands in my way. But I guess that¡¯s not important right now. What matters most is supporting my girlfriend and cheering her up.

    ¡°Listen, even if you say that, it¡¯s kinda hard to say you¡¯re inferior.¡±

    ¡°But I am. You have all those crazy magic spells and you can even cast without chanting. Compared to that, I¡¯m just simpleton.¡±

    Okay. Now that was a bit much.

    Frowning, I lightly gave her a chop to the head.

    ¡°Huh? Did you drop a feather on my head?

    Apparently, I¡¯m so weak a light chop feels like a feather falling. Thanks for lowering my self-esteem.

    In response, I gave her a harder chop to the head which seemed to do the trick. Then I spoke up.

    ¡°As I said before, it¡¯s hard to call you inferior. I mean, that thing was supposed to protect an entire island. Despite that, you held your own until I was able to get out there. Hell, you actually damaged it pretty badly. Who knows how much harder the fight would¡¯ve been had you not lowered its abilities as much as you did.¡±

    Saying that seemed to lift her spirits a little since she turned back my face and smiled at me.

    ¡°Thanks. However, I find that kind of hard to believe.¡±

    Geez what did I have to do to convince this girl?

    Letting out a sigh, I scratched the back of my head.

    ¡°Alright. What do you need me to do in order to make you believe me?¡±

    ¡°Give me a hug.¡±

    Xara didn¡¯t hesitate with her answer. In fact, she was so quick about it that a part of me wondered if that was what she was going for from the start.

    ¡°Why would I need to do that?¡±

    ¡°I want it as a reward for my hard work. That¡¯ll prove I did a good job out there.¡±

    She looked like she was serious about this.

    Well, I wanted to prove that she did help, so if a hug was all it took to convince her, I suppose it wouldn¡¯t hurt.

    Sitting down on the bed, I opened my arms and started moving in for a hug.

    However, as I did so, Xara acted first. Leaning forward and embracing me while pressing her lips against my own. Going in for a surprise kiss.

    Not expecting this at all, I tried to back away only for Xara to hug me tighter. Releasing me from the kiss only to go in for seconds.

    After a few minutes, I realized resisting this was pointless and just let it happen. And then, finally, she let me go. Leaving my face burning red as a sensation of embarrassment washed over me.

    ¡°I-ahem. That was surprising.¡±

    Red herself, Xara grinned.

    ¡°That was payback for what you did at lunch. I hope you liked it.¡±

    Liked it was an understatement. Although it might¡¯ve been a bit much.

    Trying to calm myself down, I got onto my feet and looked out the nearby window.

    ¡°Say, if you¡¯re interested in getting stronger, wanna join me for some adventures in the near future?¡±

    ¡°Hm?¡±

    Not expecting me to say that, Xara gave me a curious expression.

    ¡°What do you mean by that? Are you meeting with other people? I thought this was just gonna be a summer for the two of us.¡±

    ¡°Er¡­Well actually, I was planning on tackling a dungeon with some friends in the near future. I had planned to leave you out of it so I didn¡¯t put you in danger, but if you¡¯re interested in tagging along, you¡¯re more than welcome to.¡±

    At least, I figured she might want that. If she wanted to get stronger that is.

    I still remember my old adventuring days diving through dungeons and taking on quests. Each one helped me grow and improve in terms of both strategy and skill. Though still not perfect, I¡¯m positive I can handle myself in plenty of situations.

    But that¡¯s not important right now. What was important was whether Xara wanted to get stronger or not.

    ¡°So what do you think? Are you up to it?¡±

    I waited for her response. Curious about what she''d say.

    ¡°Sounds fun! I¡¯m in!¡±

    ¡°Glad to hear that. However, that¡¯s still some time before that happens, so we can spend as much time as we want together. There¡¯s no rush.¡±

    ¡°I see. That¡¯s good to hear.¡±

    Xara smiled and got out of bed.

    ¡°Well then, let¡¯s get started! What do you think we should do today?¡±

    ¡°Wait you mean right now? But you just got up and your injuries still need to heal.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll just walk it off! Come on! Let¡¯s get moving!¡±

    ¡°But¡­haaah.¡±

    Letting out a sigh, I gave her a smile and followed behind her. This girl just had too much energy sometimes.

 Chapter 40: Strange Situation

    ¡°Hm? You¡¯re meeting with Roy and Flynn?¡±

    I nodded in confirmation as Xara tilted her head to the side.

    ¡°Yeah. The two of them have never gone through a dungeon before and asked me to be their guide.¡±

    As I was saying that, I slipped on my adventurer outfit. The cloak on my back fluttered slightly as I adjusted it around my neck before I slipped on my shoes and attached my chest plate.

    ¡°But I thought we were gonna spend the entire vacation together!¡±

    ¡°Well, that is the plan. But I already promised the guys I''d do this so I can¡¯t exactly back out on it now.¡±

    ¡°If that¡¯s the case, then I¡¯m going with you!¡±

    ¡°Hm? Are you sure? The dungeon were heading to is a bit bigger then your average dungeon. We could find ourselves comig across things you might not be able to handle.¡±

    To be precise, it was the same dungeon I had gone into before and nearly died. And while I part of me was nervous, I had my real friends around this time, so I was confident things would be fun. Still, I wasn''t sure about bringing Xara.

    ¡°And miss out on the time we could be spending together!? Nope! I¡¯m going with you!¡±

    ¡°Really? Well alright then.¡±

    As I said, I didn''t really want her to go, but considering this is a dungeon we''re talking about, the more help the better. Even so, this dungeon was said to not exactly be beginner-friendly when it came to fighting and exploration. And while I was confident Xara could handle herself to some extent, I don¡¯t know how she¡¯d fair against monsters like those scorpions I fought a while ago. Which were said to be pretty prominent the deeper you went into this dungeon.

    But hey, if things get too rough, I¡¯ll just teleport us out of there no problem. So everything should be fine.

    Keeping this thought in mind, I finished putting on my outfit and turned to Xara.

    ¡°Alright. Let¡¯s meet back here in about an hour. Once you¡¯re good to go, I¡¯ll teleport the two of us to the entrance of the dungeon. Got it?¡±

    Xara gave me a salute and a smile.

    ¡°Roger!¡±

    After saying that, she dashed off to prepare herself.

    Once she was gone, Nia appeared next to me.

    ¡°But aren¡¯t you already good to go? Why would you need to wait an hour just for her to get ready.¡±

    I simply stared into space as I answered.

    ¡°Simple. That¡¯s how long it normally takes for her to get ready whenever we go on dates. It¡¯s why I always schedule them an hour before they¡¯re actually meant to happen.¡±

    ¡°I see.¡±

    That¡¯s just the reality of it. And since I didn¡¯t prepare for her to come along, I was just stuck waiting. Thus, Nia and I just chatted for an hour until Xara was good to go.

    ¡°Roy! Flynn!¡± I shouted out their names while waving over to them.

    Both Xara and I had just finished teleporting here and spotted our friends standing near the entrance to the dungeon.

    ¡°Hey, Axel! And¡­Xara? Welcome!¡±

    Roy seemed ecstatic to see the two of us despite not expecting to see Xara there while Flynn simply glanced at the two of us before turning his head toward the dungeon entrance.

    ¡°Looks like everyone''s here. Are you guys ready to head in?¡± I asked.

    However, Roy shook his head.

    ¡°Nah. We¡¯re still waiting for someone else.¡±

    ¡°Someone else?¡±

    That was unexpected. Guess that means I wasn¡¯t the only one who brought along someone extra.

    ¡°Ah! There she is! Over here!¡±

    Shouting out loudly, Roy waved his hand to someone nearby who I kind of recognized.

    It was a girl who looked to be the same age as us with blonde hair that wrapped into pigtails.

    ¡°Hey. Isn¡¯t that Ella?¡± asked Xara. Seeming to recognize the girl.

    Ella was one of our teammates during the school trip where I rescued Xara from her curse.

    However, unlike Roy and Flynn, I failed to really become friends with her since the two of us just didn¡¯t vibe with one another.

    But leaving that be, for now, Ella walked over to us. Simply glancing at me and Xara with an unreadable look on her face before walking up to Roy.

    ¡°I¡¯m here like you asked Roy. Is this everyone who will be traveling with us?¡±

    Roy nodded.

    ¡°Yep! It¡¯s the same group from the class trip! Isn¡¯t that awesome!?¡±

    ¡°Er¡­Sure. And here I thought I''d get some alone time with Sir Roy.¡±

    It was kinda hard to hear, but is sounded like Ella had said something under her breath. Well, whatever. I have no right to pry into whatever that was.

    Once we made sure we had everything, we all stepped foot into the dungeon. Ready to see what kind of troubles awaited us within.

    ¡°There¡¯s one on your left Flynn! Aim your sword toward its stomach!¡±

    ¡°Right!¡±

    ¡°Xara, use your pitchfork to dig that thing¡¯s eyes out! They¡¯re easy to take out when blinded!¡±

    ¡°On it!¡±

    Since I was the one with the most adventuring experience among the people here, I was assigned the duty of guiding everyone else on how to fight the different monsters here.

    Surprisingly enough, most of the monsters we encountered so far were ones I¡¯d come across on my personal travels before coming to school. So guiding everyone was an incredibly easy job.

    In fact, it was so easy that I was itching for the chance to fight something since up to this point, all I did was stand around and give orders. It was starting to get a bit boring.

    But be that as it may, I still kept giving orders to everyone and it looked like everything was going smoothly. Well except for one person.

    ¡°You need to take out its legs. Otherwise, you¡¯ll never be able to hit its weak point.¡±

    ¡°Shut up! I know what I¡¯m doing!¡±

    Using the staff in her hand, Ella was trying to fight a crab-like monster that had a sturdy stone shell, and rather than listen to my advice, she kept shooting fireball after fireball hoping it would work out. It was really sad to see. Especially since I was the only one here with chantless magic. Meaning she was wasting her breath on something completely pointless.

    With a sigh, I quietly cut off its legs. Giving the fireballs a chance to do damage. And after a few more minutes of fighting, Ella was finally able to finish off the monster.

    Then, puffing out her chest, she smirked at me.

    ¡°See! I totally got this!¡±

    I couldn¡¯t help but let out a groan while rubbing my eyes. She was clearly a complete novice when it came to fighting monsters.

    She handled herself fine enough during the camping event, but it was clear her actual dungeon experience wasn''t that strong.

    But leaving that be for now, I watched as the others finished off the last of the monsters and started collecting the loot that dropped onto the ground.A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

    Surprisingly enough, this was the most videogame¨Clike part of this world. And if it wasn¡¯t for stuff like this, I¡¯d probably completely forget it was a game world.

    Though it is strange monsters are the only things that drop loot and disappear. The animals just die and stay dead. No disappearing, dropping loot, or anything. My best guess as to why that''s the case is because the whole thing was just a convenient excuse as to how stuff like burgers, hotdogs, and other meat-based products exist in this world.

    Once everyone was done gathering the loot, we started walking down deeper into the dungeon.

    While we did so, Roy decided to start up a conversation.

    ¡°Say, how come you¡¯re such a good adventurer Axel?¡±

    ¡°Hm? What do you mean?¡±

    ¡°Well, it¡¯s just that I heard from you that you started being one at the age of twelve. And while that in of itself is impressive, that means you¡¯ve only been one for about four years. How did you get to be so knowledgeable of monsters in such a short time?¡±

    ¡°Hmmm. I guess it¡¯s just because adventuring was all I really did back then.¡±

    ¡°You mean you never tried to find another hobby?¡±

    ¡°Nope. I just dedicated all my time to adventuring. Never really having any time to go and try much else.¡±

    ¡°Wow. You must really like adventuring.¡±

    ¡°Ehehe. I guess so.¡±

    Yeah. That explanation should work fine. To be honest, though, the main reason I had so much adventuring experience was because I was trying my absolute hardest to rise up the ranks in order to accomplish enough feats to get into this school. And since I only had four years to do that, I had to spend every waking moment going on adventures and raising my rank.

    If I didn¡¯t, I¡¯d never achieve my dream of obtaining a harem. Though that¡¯s all behind me now. And while my reasoning for it all is dumb, I don¡¯t hate how it helped me with who I became today. So while I kind of hate that part of myself, I can still appreciate it to some degree. But that¡¯s enough of that.

    ¡°Say Xara, that pitchfork is pretty cool. Can all succubi just summon them like you can?¡± Roy asked. To which Xara nodded her head.

    ¡°Yeah. We¡¯re usually taught how to summon them in elementary school and they continue to grow along with us. Kind of like a puppy who¡¯s been with you since birth.¡±

    ¡°Really? So can it be taught to anyone or just succubi?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know. It might be possible but there are no historical records of anyone attempting that before. Maybe there¡¯s a reason behind it?¡±

    ¡°Hm. Interesting," said Roy while resting his arms on his hips.

    Wanting to give his own thoughts, Flynn spoke up.

    ¡°If I may, I think it¡¯d be best not to get your hopes up. If there¡¯s no historical explanation, it means it more than likely doesn¡¯t work that way. So I¡¯d just quit while you¡¯re ahead. Otherwise, you might end up finding yourself disappointed.¡±

    ¡°I..guess you make a good point. Even so, it can¡¯t hurt to try!¡±

    When Roy said that, I could see the look of excitement in his eyes. Making it clear this was something he wanted to look into.

    ¡°Alright. Then I¡¯ll explain it best I can.¡±

    After that, Xara went over the spell with Roy as we walked deeper into the dungeon.

    ¡°Gah! I just can¡¯t do it!¡± shouted Roy. To which Flynn shook his head.

    ¡°That¡¯s because you don¡¯t have the traits of a succubus. How are you supposed to channel all your magic power into horns when you don¡¯t have any?¡±

    ¡°But¡­What if I make fake horns to channel the magic?¡±

    ¡°You really think a cheap headpiece can channel the magic necessary to create a pitchfork?¡±

    ¡°Er¡­Well¡­¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry. Sometimes these types of things just aren¡¯t meant to be,¡± Xara assured Roy. Patting him on the shoulder.

    Roy looked like he was about to cry. All while Xara continued reassuring him.

    I couldn¡¯t deny, seeing her like that, I wasn¡¯t sure whether I loved seeing her be so compassionate, or hated how much attention she was giving Roy instead of hanging with me.

    In the end, I guess it was just a conflict of feelings.

    ¡°Stay away from him you succubus. If you lay one hand on him I¡¯ll cut you like a fish,¡± muttered Ella who was also looking at the sight in front of her.

    ¡°Huh? What did you just say?¡± I asked. Giving off a rather intimidating aura.

    ¡°Eek! N-Nothing!¡±

    Ella immediately turned around. Trying to hide the fact she was terrified.

    Rubbing my eyes, I let out a sigh. It¡¯s true I wasn¡¯t a fan of Roy getting all of Xara¡¯s attention, but threatening her like what Ella just did was beyond what I could ignore. Even so, I didn¡¯t wanna create conflict right now so I just slumped my shoulders and kept walking.

    Weirdly enough, we hadn¡¯t run into any monsters for the last twenty minutes. What was up with that?

    Glancing around, I noticed writing of some kind on the walls along with drawings. Now, anyone who¡¯d see something like this would probably think it was writing from an ancient civilization. But upon closer inspection, I noticed that wasn¡¯t actually the case. It was, funny enough, just really bad handwriting.

    It was hard to understand since the words kind of blended into each other, but a few words I could make out were ¡®Away, Trap, Tiles, and Walls.¡¯ Which I didn¡¯t really get, but it was probably safe to say things here might get dangerous. It¡¯s just a shame the drawings couldn¡¯t help. Because I don¡¯t know who they asked to draw, but the whole thing just looked like a barrage of scribbles. They were completely unintelligible.

    Even so, I didn¡¯t need whatever was on the walls to warn me that something was off.

    Despite that, we kept walking forward. Waiting to see what happened next.

    Then, that¡¯s when it happened.

    Ella, who moved up front while clenching her staff tightly, rested her foot on one of the tiles on the ground.

    A clicking sound activated overhead and moments later, two nearby walls opened up. Revealing a giant wooden hammer that started to come flying toward her.

    ¡°Ella! Look out!¡± Roy shouted. But it was too late. She couldn¡¯t dodge it.

    ¡°Tsk.¡±

    Annoyed at her activating a trap that was actually pretty obvious if you looked at it for more than two seconds, I clicked my tongue and dove forward. Pushing her out of the way toward the opposite wall which had opened up along with the hammer. The opening led toward a deep hole, but I had figured I could use my wind magic to keep both me and her from falling so that¡¯s the plan I went with. So, without much thought, I pushed her toward the opening and tried activating one of my spells.

    However...

    ¡°...Huh?¡±

    My spell didn¡¯t work. And since neither I nor Ella were close enough to grab the arm of one of the others, we started falling.

    ¡°AAAHHH!¡±

    ¡°Ella!¡±

    ¡°Axel!¡±

    Ella screamed at the top of her lungs while our friends called out to us. Meanwhile, I was trying to figure out why my magic wasn¡¯t working.

    And as we fell, that¡¯s when I noticed it, the walls were covered with a form of anti-magic barrier.

    ¡°Well that¡¯s annoying,¡± I muttered as Ella continued to scream at the top of her lungs.

    Thus, the two of us kept on falling. Unsure when we would hit the bottom.

    ¡°AAAHHHH!¡±

    As Ella kept screaming, I tried using magic circle after magic circle. Hoping I¡¯d be able to find the correct one before we died.

    ¡°HEY! WHY AREN¡¯T YOU SCREAMING!?¡± Ella asked. Lost on why I appeared to be so calm.

    ¡°Just give me a minute,¡± I muttered.

    ¡°WHAT DID YOU SAY!?¡±

    She probably couldn¡¯t hear me due to the rushing wind in our ears.

    We continued falling for several minutes while I tried spell circle after spell circle only for them all to be failures.

    ¡°How annoying,¡± I muttered.

    ¡°WHAT DID CALL ME!?¡±

    ¡°I wasn¡¯t talking to you!¡±

    We continued falling for another few minutes.

    ¡°Hey! Do you think this thing even has a bottom!?¡± Ella asked.

    ¡°Maybe? I mean, it¡¯d be weird if it was bottomless, don¡¯t you think?¡±

    ¡°What!? Why would that be weird!?¡±

    ¡°Because what¡¯s the point of a bottomless pit? It would just be a pain to make something so needlessly complicated.¡±

    ¡°That doesn¡¯t make any sense!¡±

    ¡°Neither does a bottomless pit.¡±

    ¡°Huh!?¡±

    Ignoring Ella¡¯s dumbfounded expression, I continued searching until it finally worked.

    ¡°Found it!¡±

    Once I got the correct magic circle, I immediately activated a wind spell. Stopping us in our tracks.

    ¡°Ah¡­Thank goodness¡­¡±

    Breathing a sigh of relief, Ella slumped her shoulders.

    ¡°No then. Time to see just how bottomless this pit really is,¡± I said. Slowly lowering us bit by bit.

    ¡°You mean we¡¯re not going back up?¡±

    ¡°Do you have any idea how long that¡¯d take? Plus, I highly doubt the others would still be waiting for us up there. They¡¯ve probably already started heading deeper inside to find us.¡±

    ¡°You¡­make a good point.¡±

    With that matter settled, the two of us continued our descent at a much more relaxed pace.

    After a few more minutes, we finally landed on the floor.

    ¡°As I thought. It wasn¡¯t bottomless after all.¡±

    Instead of responding to what I said, Ella simply sat down. Trying to collect her thoughts.

    Taking a look around, the walls around us seemed to be made of the same anti-magic barrier stuff we¡¯d been seeing up to this point, and in front of us was a pitch-black tunnel that gave off a rather eerie vibe. Not exactly the atmosphere you want for a fun dungeon adventure.

    Even so, we needed to press forward no matter what. Thus, I turned to Ella who was still sitting on the ground.

    ¡°You doing good?¡±

    Ella didn¡¯t respond to my question at first, but eventually, she nodded her head.

    ¡°Y-Yeah. That was just¡­terrifying.¡±

    ¡°I see. Well, we need to catch up to the others as soon as we can. So let¡¯s get moving.¡±

    ¡°O-Okay.¡±

    Hm. Was it just me, or was Ella being surprisingly meek right now? I wonder what was up with that. Maybe I should ask her about it later? I don¡¯t know. Even so, I¡¯m not against her listening to me. So I¡¯ll just try my best to roll with it.

    Thus, I created a fireball in my hand and the two of us entered the dark creepy tunnel. Unsure what exactly awaited us down here.

 Chapter 41: Frustrated Reflection

    The sounds of gears turning echoed in our ears as the two of us walked through the dark and dusty halls. Though oddly enough, those sounds didn¡¯t really put me on edge. Why was that? I guess the only way to find out was to keep walking. So that¡¯s exactly what we did.

    Some water dropped from the nearby walls, creating a small dripping sound that added to the eerieness of this place while a small rat-like creature scurried about. Seemingly uninterested in the two of us.

    This whole atmosphere reminded me of the stuff you see in horror movies. Now whether that was a good or bad thing remained to be seen. Even so we needed to keep moving.

    A part of me wanted to just get out of here using my teleportation ability, however¡­

    ¡°I refuse to be teleported by someone like you!¡±

    That was the one thing this girl was being stingy about. But since she said no, and it¡¯d be cruel to just leave her here like this, all I could really do was sigh and keep moving forward. Though if things did end up taking a turn for the worst, it didn¡¯t matter if she hated it or not cause I¡¯d be getting us the hell of here. Thus, that¡¯s what''s happening right now.

    Heading further into the tunnel it took us about twenty minutes before we finally saw a faint light.

    ¡°Is it the way out?¡± Ella asked. To which I shook my head.

    ¡°Considering we¡¯ve been walking in a straight line this whole time, I highly doubt it.¡±

    ¡°But maybe it could be a teleportation circle.¡±

    ¡°When was the last time those things were used in a dungeon?¡±

    ¡°Well¡­You have a point.¡±

    That¡¯s right. No one uses teleportation circles in dungeons anymore. Though, it isn¡¯t because people randomly decided not to use them anymore. It¡¯s because people forgot how to make them.

    Since old magic isn¡¯t really a thing anymore, spells that required circles to work properly were forgotten with time. The only exceptions were the ones etched onto the three grimoires. Speaking of which...

    ¡°Say, why is stuff like a teleportation circle fine, but my own teleportation magic isn¡¯t?¡±

    ¡°T-That¡¯s different. I can¡¯t trust your teleportation magic.¡±

    ¡°Huh!?¡±

    This girl was unbelievable.

    Rubbing my eyes, I continued walking forward with Ella close behind until we stepped through the end of the tunnel.

    Once on the other side, we were met with something I honestly couldn¡¯t believe. Perhaps feeling the same way, Ella spoke up,

    ¡°More halls!? And why are they so tall!?¡±

    Apparently, the end of the tunnel was just a fakeout since we now found ourselves standing in hallways that stretched high into the sky.

    ¡°Wait a minute. Why are they so high?¡± I muttered.

    I was annoyed seeing we were gonna be stuck walking through halls again, but when I thought about it a bit longer, this all seemed a bit strange.

    Thankfully there wasn¡¯t anything written on the walls which meant there didn''t appear to be anything blocking the use of magic, but there was still something off here.

    Flying up into the air, I reached the top and when I looked down below me, I finally realized why this was so weird.

    ¡°It¡¯s a maze!¡±

    Returning to the ground, I turned to Ella.

    ¡°This thing is one giant maze.¡±

    ¡°Huh!? Who puts a maze in the middle of a dungeon!?¡± shouted Ella.

    ¡°...What? Why wouldn¡¯t you put one in a dungeon? Isn¡¯t that basically one of the most common dungeon puzzles?¡±

    ¡°Of course it isn¡¯t! Who told you otherwise!?¡±

    Huh. I guess it''s a bit different in this world compared to dungeons in RPGs.

    ¡°Well, if it¡¯s just a maze then this should be easy to deal with,¡± I said.

    ¡°What do you mean?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll just fly above the maze and find us the quickest route to the exit.¡±

    ¡°And leave me here!?¡±

    ¡°Of course not. Once I find the exit, I¡¯ll come back and guide you toward it.¡±

    ¡°Oh¡­I see.¡±

    Ella looked ready to flip her lid for a moment before I explained that. Well anyway, I guess I should put this plan into action.

    Flying up into the air, I quickly scanned the area in an attempt to find the exit.

    Watching Savoncho leave to go find the way out, I let out a sigh.

    I had hoped to just spend time challenging this dungeon with Roy, but now I find myself stuck with Savoncho in some maze.

    Sitting down, I rustled my hair in frustration.

    ¡°This isn¡¯t how things were supposed to go at all,¡± I muttered.

    At this point, with how poorly everything was going, I just wanted to go home. But since I don¡¯t wanna risk trying Savoncho¡¯s teleportation spell, all I can do is press forward here in the dungeon.

    Resting my back against the hallway walls, I stared up at the rocky ceiling above.

    Being stuck like this reminded me of when I was a child. Back then, I constantly got lost in the woods near the house. It was only after my mother hired a nanny that I was able to move around without getting lost. Though, in the end, that nanny was also the woman who nailed it into me that royalty and nobles stood above all others.

    At a time, I took all her teachings to heart. But after that school trip with the others, I¡¯ve started to wonder if what she said was actually true.

    During the trip, we saw Savoncho, a commoner, put his foot forward to save someone without a second thought. The opposite of what I was told by my nanny who claimed commoners were poor, greedy, and selfish.

    Despite that, though, Savoncho proved her wrong by working his hardest to protect that Femashito girl and bring her back from whatever was going on with her.

    Finding myself curious about commoners after that, I ended up asking Roy to help me learn more about common folk and despite not knowing much himself, he still made the time to teach me what he could. Not only that, but he even made time to just talk with me when I felt alone.

    He was someone who looked out for me and watched over me without a care for himself. And before I knew it, I started feeling something for him. That¡¯s why I wanted to get closer with him by doing things he liked to do. Sadly, this ended up being where it got me.

    Curling up my legs, I rested my chin on my knees and thought about where I¡¯d been before and where I was now.

    That¡¯s when my thoughts wandered to Savoncho.

    Despite wanting to get along, I struggle to find the right words when speaking with him and then I end up talking back against him. Not only that, but I¡¯m too prideful to take his advice even though I know its useful.

    In truth, I¡¯d love to take his advice and be friends if possible. But because of the views that were drilled into me, along with my inability to say what I¡¯m feeling, I just can¡¯t get the words out that I wanna be friends.

    ¡°Gah! Why is it so hard to just ask him if we could be friends!?¡± I shouted out before letting out a sigh.

    I hoped one day I could change this problem of mine. But for the time being, I was stuck with it.

    Crackle.

    Suddenly hearing a noise, I turned back to the tunnel Savoncho and I had come through before.

    Crackle.

    There it was again.

    Getting onto my feet, I clenched the magic staff I brought with me tightly as I looked at the dark hallway.

    Even if my skill with magic could be lacking at times, and it even felt wrong to use it, this was all I was good at. So I needed to keep the staff at my side just in case.

    And with those noises in the dark, I''m confident I need this staff right now.

    Crackle.

    It was when I heard it that third time that I finally spotted what was making the noise.

    ¡°A Crabone!¡±

    A crab with a stone-like shell came out of the shadows.

    I didn¡¯t know how we passed such a creature without noticing it, but one thing was clear. And that was this monster was here right now.

    Preparing my staff for an attack, I was ready to fight this thing. Luckily I had just fought one of these things a bit earlier so I knew how to win.

    ¡°Call forth a flame that scorches the earth. Fireball!¡±If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

    Repeating this spell over and over as fast as I could, I didn¡¯t stop chanting until I felt like it was hard to breathe.

    Then, once I made a full army of fireballs, I sent them flying at the monster.

    ¡°Take this!¡±

    The fireballs crashed into the monster after another. Slowly but surely piercing its defenses.

    By the time the last fireball hit, a cloud of dust had appeared where the crabone had been.

    Confident in my victory, I grinned.

    But then, when the dust cleared, I noticed something was off.

    ¡°Huh? Where did it-Argh!¡±

    Before I had time to finish my question, something stabbed me in the stomach before scuttling behind me.

    ¡°H-How is that thing alive?¡± I muttered holding my stomach.

    ¡°Bring forth a calming sensation that heals my wounds. Healing Light.¡±

    As I quietly said that spell, the wound on my body started to seal up. Sadly, the same couldn¡¯t be said for my outfit which had gained both a hole as well as a sizeable bloodstain. But that didn¡¯t matter right now. Why didn¡¯t my spells work? This was the exact same attack I¡¯d used on the last crabone. Yet despite that, this thing was completely fine. Was it a different variety?

    ¡°It doesn¡¯t make sense. This looks the exact same. From the rocky shell to the meaty claws, and even the¡­stubby¡­legs¡­¡±

    Wait a minute, now that I thought back, the last crab didn¡¯t have legs. I mean, it did at the start, but at some point, the legs disappeared. Why was that?

    ¡°You need to take out its legs. Otherwise, you¡¯ll never be able to hit its weak point.¡±

    Those words Savoncho had told me entered my mind.

    Back then, I was rude and told him to shut up, but maybe, maybe he was the one who took out its legs and opened its weak spot for me to attack.

    If that was the case, then everything started to make sense. And a feeling of guilt washed over me when I thought about how much I boasted about my abilities afterward.

    ¡°Geez. I really need to get over myself,¡± I muttered before preparing a different spell.

    Sensing I was about to attack, the crabone tried to move in first.

    ¡°Bring forth a stone as a lethal weapon so that I can make it my own. Stone¡¯s Edge!¡±

    With the earth shaking beneath the crabone, stone spikes started shooting out of the ground one after another.

    The crabone managed to dodge several of them. However, one ended up catching it off guard and the stone drilled right through one of its legs. Cutting it off.

    The crabone let out a loud screech.

    Not giving it a second to recompose itself, I sent another spell forth.

    ¡°Make these pebbles sharp as a sword and give them but one purpose. Earthen Daggers!¡±

    Using the pebbles on the ground formed from my previous spell, they all transformed into small dagger-like weapons that were sent flying forward. Cutting off more of the creature''s legs until it only had one left. But that was more than enough.

    ¡°Call forth a flame that scorches the earth. Fireball!¡± I shouted before sending a ball of flames at the creature whose legs disappeared and revealed a small crack in its shell. I had probably just hit it by coincidence last time, but this time, my aim was directed at that one spot.

    ¡°Haaah!¡±

    Thrusting my staff forward, the fireball, sped toward the crabone. Striking it right in its weak point.

    The monster let out both a hiss as well as a screech as its insides got burned alive.

    And then, a few moments later, it died and vanished into loot.

    ¡°I...I did it..haha.¡±

    I was relieved to see I had accomplished defeating this thing. And it was all thanks to Savoncho¡¯s advice.

    ¡°Maybe¡­I should listen to him¡­more often¡­¡±

    Those were my last words before running out of breath and passing out.

    ¡°What exactly happened while I was away?¡± I asked with a sigh.

    I found the loot of a dead monster lying on the ground nearby with an unconscious Ella sleeping peacefully on the ground.

    Landing next to her, I got on one knee and checked to make sure she was alright.

    ¡°Looks like she was stabbed in the stomach. Though since it seems she also cast a healing spell on herself, the damage should be minimal.¡±

    Returning to my feet, I suddenly heard a crackling sound enter my ear.

    Turning toward it, I saw almost a dozen of those crab-like monsters running toward us from the tunnel we had exited prior. Don¡¯t ask me how we didn¡¯t them coming in cause I have no idea.

    Still, I didn''t always have a chance to go all out, so I might as well take advantage of this chance while I still have it. Otherwise, I might not get any action during this dungeon adventure.

    ¡°Alright. Bring it on you monsters,¡± I muttered. Pretending to crack my neck while curling my hands into fists.

    What happened could be described as¡­well¡­not even a warm-up.

    Slowly waking up, Ella rubbed her eyes and looked around to find piles of loot stacked around her.

    ¡°Huh? Where¡¯d all this come from?¡±

    ¡°Finally awake are we?¡± I asked floating above her.

    ¡°Y¡¯know, I¡¯m starting to think you have a monster attracting scent or something because monsters just would not stop coming after you. It was actually kind of a hassle to take them all out.¡±

    It wasn¡¯t actually, but Ella didn¡¯t need to know that.

    Letting the cogs in her brain work through what had happened, Ella got onto her feet and looked up at me.

    ¡°I see. I¡¯m sorry.¡±

    ¡°Uh¡­You know I was being sarcastic, right?¡±

    ¡°We¡¯re you? I see.¡±

    Um¡­Okay. This attitude is a bit weird. Why does she look like she trying to hold back saying something?

    Landing on the ground, I pointed toward one of the paths in the maze.

    ¡°Well leaving that be, for now, I¡¯ve found the path to the exit. So be sure to keep up. Alright?¡±

    ¡°O-Okay.¡±

    Was it just me or was this girl more timid than before? It felt completely out of character. Although, I guess I didn''t really know her character that well to begin with. So maybe this was actually normal? I dunno. We¡¯ll just have to let this go for the time being and focus on getting out of this maze.

    And so, I started flying through the maze with Ella following close behind.

    ¡°Here we are,¡± I said when we finally arrived at our destination. That being the exit to this maze.

    On the way, we stumbled upon a few more monsters, but I took care of them without much issue.

    Now, we stood at a door that was wide open. Leading into some other room.

    There was no other place like this in the maze from what I could see so my best guess was this had to be the exit.

    Thus, I was the first to step through with Ella following close behind.

    Once on the other side, the door slammed shut behind us and a loud clicking sound followed soon after.

    ¡°Guess that means we can¡¯t go back,¡± I muttered before turning to the room in front of me.

    The first thing I noticed, or rather, felt was that this room was extremely cold.

    Not only that, but the ceiling was covered in icicles and despite the ground below us not being slippery, one glance and I could tell we were standing on some form of ice that was blocking a layer of water beneath us.

    The room itself reminded me of a gladiator fighting arena but made entirely of ice. It was all kinda crazy.

    Rubbing her shoulders to warm herself up, Ella glanced at a nearby wall where an ice sculpture in the form of a lever was carefully placed.

    Curious, she tried to walk over to it.

    However, just before she reached out, I noticed an icicle falling from the ceiling. Aimed directly at her head.

    ¡°Look out!¡± I shouted before using wind magic to push myself forward and get her out of the way.

    Moving as fast as I could, I twisted my body around and sent a fireball into the icicle. Knocking it off course as it slowly melted little by little before finally landing next to me at half the size it used to be.

    ¡°Phew. Close one,¡± I muttered before getting up.

    However, a few moments later...

    Click

    Turning around, it turns out that wasn¡¯t the only icicle that fell as another crashed down on the lever. Causing it to let out a clicking noise as it fell downward.

    ¡°...Crap.¡±

    That was all I could say before the ground started shaking under me.

    ¡°W-What¡¯s going on!?¡± shouted Ella.

    I had no idea, but considering this was a dungeon, I was sure it wasn¡¯t anything good.

    Clank¡­clank¡­clank¡­

    Hearing a weird sound in my ear, I turned toward one of the nearby walls which, just a few moments ago, was just a wall of ice. Now, a tunnel had appeared in its place and was where this clanking sound was originating from.

    And after a few moments, someone or something came out of the tunnel.

    ¡°A challenger. Excellent¡­¡± said whatever that thing was.

    What stood in front of us was something that looked human, but even though you could tell it was a guys voice, it had a raspy almost monstrous tone to it. Something else weird about this thing was that despite it wearing a suit of armor that looked frozen solid, it was moving like it was human.

    ¡°Tell me, challenger. What is your name?¡±

    Huh? Was this guy talking to me?

    That¡¯s what I thought at first. But then I noticed he was holding a spear of sorts in his hand. And it was pointing at none other than¡­

    ¡°M-My name is Ella Ryuoji.¡±

    ¡°Understood. Come and face me in battle Ella Ryuoji. So that we can see who between the two of us is the stronger opponent.¡±

    ¡°Ah¡­I¡­Uh¡­¡±

    Perhaps expecting me to do something, Ella turned toward me with eyes begging for help.

    Letting out a sigh, I stepped forward.

    ¡°Would you perhaps be willing to have me take place in her stead? I¡¯m a far more skilled fighter in combat and could prove to be a far more worthy opponent.¡±

    The Ice Knight guy turned his head toward me.

    ¡°I¡¯m aware you possess skill. Just by looking at you, I can tell you¡¯ve really pushed yourself to your limits.¡±

    Really? Cause thanks to something going on with my body, I wasn¡¯t able to really improve myself physically. So was there something else he was looking at to get such an idea?

    ¡°However, you are not the one who should fight this battle.¡±

    ¡°Really? And why is that?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s simple. One look tells me you''re more advanced in magic than swordsmanship. And considering this is a duel, magic is hardly appropriate.¡±

    ¡°Huh? Then why focus on Miss Ryuoji? She¡¯s a magic user as well?¡±

    When I asked that, the Ice Knight let out a laugh.

    ¡°Surely you jest. One look and I can tell this lady has plenty of skills as a swordsman!¡±

    ¡°Huh?¡±

    I turned to Ella who shook her head. Looking bewildered by what this guy was saying. Meaning she was probably just as clueless as I was on what this guy was talking about.

    ¡°You¡¯ve clearly got the wrong interpretation. Even she doesn¡¯t know what you¡¯re talking about.¡±

    ¡°Is that so? Interesting.¡±

    Thinking to himself for a moment, the Ice Knight held out his hand and a few moments later, a sword made of ice appeared.

    He tossed it over to Ella who barely caught it after dropping her staff.

    ¡°It seems she knows nothing about her latent potential. Then I shall treat this match with the utmost care.¡±

    ¡°Huh? Did you even hear what we said?¡±

    This guy was intent on fighting Ella right now. And he wasn''t interested in listening to anything we had to say.

    Letting out a frustrated sigh, I tried thinking of what to do next when Ella tapped me on the shoulder.

    ¡°I-If I need to, I ¡®ll try.¡±

    ¡°...Are you sure?¡±

    Ella was hesitant for a moment before nodding her head.

    I guess she¡¯s made up her mind about this.

    ¡°Geez. What am I doing getting worried for a girl who wouldn¡¯t stop pissing me off all this time?¡± I muttered.

    Scratching the back of my head, I looked Ella in the eyes.

    ¡°Alright then. Before you start. Let me give you some advice on how to fight with a blade.¡±

    I didn¡¯t know much myself, but I knew some of the basics so hopefully, those would help her.

    Thus, once I was sure she was prepared, I held onto her staff for her while she walked forward to challenge the Ice Knight.

 Chapter 42: The Ice Swordmaster

    ¡°This is terrifying!¡±

    That was the first thought that crossed my mind as I got ready to fight this ice-covered knight.

    I had hoped steeling my resolve would help push me forward, but I was still terrified.

    Not to mention almost everything Savoncho had just told me went in one ear and out the other. Something I wish didn¡¯t happen since I could really use that information right now!

    Even so, if I wanted to get out of this, and maybe even become friends with Savoncho, I had to keep pushing forward and defeat this knight.

    Thus, I gripped the icy blade in my hand which was cold to the touch, and took a deep breath.

    ¡°Alright. The match will be simple. One round, simple swings, and no aiming for vital areas. Does that work for you?¡± asked the knight. I nodded in response.

    That meant this duel was really happening.

    I wasn¡¯t excited using a weapon I was unfamilar with. But even so, I knew I had to do it. Otherwise who knows if we could actually get out of here.

    That¡¯s why I knew I had to do this.

    ¡°Alright. The battle begins in 3¡­2¡­1!¡±

    As the knight announced those words, the two of us charged at each other.

    The knight was the first to strike as he aimed his attack at my shoulder.

    I tried moving out of the way, but I wasn¡¯t fast enough and felt his weapon lightly dig into my shoulder.

    Jumping back, I started muttering a healing spell before gripping the sword once more.

    ¡°You need to improve your speed. Move the way you think your opponents gonna move. Otherwise, you¡¯ll always be too late to dodge,¡± said the icy warrior.

    I didn¡¯t like the enemy giving me advice. Even so, I nodded and rushed forward. Trying to predict what this guy was thinking.

    However, I couldn¡¯t react in time for his next attack as he stabbed me in the leg. Causing me to jump back and heal myself.

    ¡°You¡¯re still too slow. You need to follow your opponent''s eyes. Use them as a guide to guess where they¡¯ll strike next.¡±

    Hearing that, I nodded and began following his eyes like he said.

    They glowed brightly within his helmet and it made it easy to tell where he was looking. That¡¯s why I was able to notice him aiming for my stomach.

    Quickly shifting to the side, I barely managed to avoid his attack.

    ¡°Good. Do it again.¡±

    Nodding, I followed his eyes a few more times and while I still wasn¡¯t able to match him completely, out of the forty of so attacks he launched at me, I was able to avoid about eighteen of them.

    We continued this for what felt like hours until I was finally used to dodging.

    ¡°Good. Now go in for the attack.¡±

    ¡°Right!¡±

    Was it just me, or did this feel more like a training session than a duel? Well, whatever.

    Dashing forward, I tried to spot an opening for me to attack. It was then that I noticed a small crack in the knight''s armor. Meaning that could be his weak point.

    Taking this into account, I tried to pretend like I was striking his left side. And when he moved his sword to that side, I quickly switched directions to strike him on the right. However, just before I could make contact, the knight jumped back.

    ¡°So you¡¯re learning how to feint. Good. That won¡¯t work on every opponent, but a good feint can help you win countless battles.¡±

    I wasn¡¯t sure what he meant by that, but I think it was a compliment.

    Pushing those thoughts to the side for the time being, I continued trying to attack the knight only for him to dodge time and time again. Causing this battle to rage on for lot longer than I would¡¯ve wanted.

    Eventually, I found myself running out of breath. Making it hard to cast any more healing spells.

    Even so, I was ready to keep going. No matter what it took, I had to win.

    ¡°Hm. Looks like you¡¯re determined to beat me. In that case, I think it¡¯s about time we turn things up a notch.¡±

    ¡°Huh?¡±

    Grasping his blade tightly, the knight looked directly at me.

    ¡°From now on we¡¯re going both offensive and defensive. In other words, try to take me out while I¡¯m attacking you. Understood?¡±

    ¡°R-Right!¡±

    I was still pretty exhausted, but I had to keep moving.

    Glancing over to Savoncho who was watching on the side, I noticed he had a nervous expression on his face. Was it because he was afraid I¡¯d lose and he¡¯d end up stuck down here, or was it something else? I had no idea.

    But moving past that for now, I dug my feet into the ground while I let out a loud shout before charging at the icy knight.

    I couldn¡¯t tell thanks to the helmet, but I thought the knight grinned when he saw me like that.

    Then, getting into an offensive position, the knight got into a fighting stance. Ready to take me out.

    However, I was the first to attack as I aimed my blade toward the crack in his armor only for him to block it by knocking away my sword with his own.

    Not giving him a chance to hit me, I ducked under his blade and quickly picked my sword off the ground, and aimed for his leg to knock him off balance.

    Sadly, he jumped up right before my blade made contact and all I hit was air.

    ¡°You¡¯ve gotta try harder than that!¡± shouted the warrior.

    Thrusting his sword forward, it was aimed directly toward my chest.

    ¡°Grr!¡±

    Letting out a loud grunt, I used the move the knight did earlier and knocked his sword away with my own before using my leg to strike his feet.

    It stung a bit, but I managed to knock him off balance long enough to get an opening and push my sword forward, striking right at the crack in his armor.

    Crack!

    A loud cracking sound echoed in my ear as the spot in the armor I had struck started breaking away bit by bit.

    ¡°Hmph. Nicely done,¡± said the knight before taking a few steps back.

    ¡°However, one strike does not weaken an enemy. Keep attacking. Otherwise, you¡¯ll never make it with a sword.¡±This book''s true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

    ¡°U-Understood!¡± I shouted before going on the offensive.

    It seemed that it would take more than one strike to that spot if I wanted to defeat this guy. So, despite being unsure whether I could pull off another attack, I focused my mind and got moving. Trying my best to use this weapon given to me in order to win.

    Honestly, this fight felt like it had been going on forever.

    But even so, I¡¯d be lying if I said I wasn¡¯t enjoying myself.

    As we continued our clash, I managed to strike that weak point a second time by jumping over one of his blade swings aimed at my feet and attacking him before he could raise his sword.

    However, I still hadn¡¯t been able to strike him a third time.

    Judging from his appearance, he looked like he could collapse at any moment. Even so, I couldn¡¯t let my guard down. So, I pushed forward to get in one last attack.

    Gripping his sword tightly, the knight dug his legs into the ground before charging toward me at a speed even fast than before.

    Even so, I had grown used to his attacks so dodging them was still fairly easy. Despite that, however, I could still feel myself growing more tired by the minute. So I had to put an end to this here and now.

    Thinking of one last move that could either make or break this match, I swung my blade toward one of the cracks in his armor that had grown bigger and bigger throughout the course of this battle.

    Prepared to intercept, the knight held out his blade. However, right before my weapon made contact, I shifted to the side and struck him in the same spot as before.

    Successfully using a feint to draw his attention away from my real target.

    And as my weapon dug into his armor, the sound of the armor crumbling away echoed throughout the room and the knight collapsed to his knees.

    ¡°Well played¡­my young swordmaster.¡±

    Young swordmaster?

    ¡°Why¡­did you call me that?¡±

    I couldn¡¯t place my finger on it, but something about that sounded kind of nostalgic.

    ¡°Because¡­you bested me in combat¡­just like she did.¡±

    ¡°She?¡±

    The knight nodded as he gazed at the blade in my hand.

    ¡°Before being sealed to this icy prison, I was a high-ranking knight in service to the crown. And I even took on a squire who I aimed to take my place one day. That girl looked a lot like you actually.¡±

    ¡°Like¡­me?¡±

    The knight nodded as the rest of his armor fell away. Leaving a body that was an icy blue.

    ¡°She was my pride and joy. She not only picked up on things quickly, but she continued to push herself beyond her limits to reach greater heights.¡±

    ¡°I¡­see. Well, where is she now?¡±

    ¡°She¡¯s¡­no longer with us.¡±

    ¡°No longer with us? Did something happen?¡±

    The knight nodded his head.

    ¡°It turns out that there was more than just training going on in her life. I didn¡¯t know at the time, but it turns out she was being bullied. Not just by one child, but by multiple people both kids and adults throughout her neighborhood. Calling her a knight suck up and a hag seeking attention.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s¡­horrible.¡±

    ¡°Yes. And sadly, I wasn¡¯t aware of any of it. And by the time I finally found out¡­she¡­was found lying outside the castle. Dead from jumping off the castle wall.¡±

    I couldn¡¯t help but let out a gasp when I heard that. While Savoncho, who had been silent up until this point, walked over and listened closely.

    ¡°Ever since that day, I was angry at myself. Angry that I couldn¡¯t protect the next generation. All because I was too busy focusing on her training to dive into her personal life. And that¡¯s why, while it may not be much, I wanted to find someone who could inherit her will and bring the next generation to new heights.¡±

    Looking at me, tears streamed down the knight''s eyes.

    ¡°I can tell just by looking at you. You may not know it yourself, but I can see you have the potential to become a great swordsman. And that¡¯s why¡­I¡¯m entrusting that sword to you.¡±

    As he said that, he pointed to the sword in my hand.

    ¡°That was her blade. I¡¯m sure she¡¯d be happy to let you take it and carry on her legacy.¡±

    ¡°Huh? It wasn¡¯t just something you made on the spot?¡±

    The knight shook his head.

    ¡°Please¡­take that sword and become the weilder it deserves¡­please¡­I beg¡­of¡­you¡­¡±

    As those last few words left his mouth, the knight collapsed onto the ground. His soul leaving his body and his life coming to an end.

    ¡°You¡­can count on me.¡±

    As I said that, I stood up and started walking toward the tunnel the knight had come out of earlier. With Savoncho following close behind.

    I was silent as Ella and I walked through the tunnel.

    I didn¡¯t fully get everything that had happened over the last hour, but it was clear I didn¡¯t have any business talking about it.

    Watching her walk with that sword in hand, all I could do was scratch the back of my head awkwardly. And after about ten minutes of walking, we came across a tunnel that led us outside.

    As we got out, we noticed the sun was starting to set on the horizon.

    Without Ella hearing me, I quietly whispered for Sirin to go tell the others where we were before returning to the silence we had prior. That is until Ella finally spoke up.

    ¡°I think¡­I¡¯m gonna take up swordsmanship.¡±

    ¡°Is that so?¡±

    ¡°Yeah. But before I do, there¡¯s something I need to overcome.¡±

    ¡°And what¡¯s that?¡±

    Instead of responding to my question, Ella took in a deep breath and then turned to me.

    ¡°Axel Savoncho. Please accept my sincerest apologies for everything that¡¯s happened up to this point. In all honesty, I¡¯ve had a bad habit of treating commoners poorly for practically my whole life. And I wanna fix that. Starting with earning your forgiveness. So if there¡¯s anything you¡¯d like me to do, name it, and I''ll obey without complaint.¡±

    ¡°Obey without complaint, huh?¡±

    This reminded me of all those jokes in anime where people would say they¡¯d go for something like the girl''s body. But that didn¡¯t matter to me. Not to mention that would be incredibly inappropriate considering the situation.

    So, as I scratched the back of my head, I gave my answer.

    ¡°If I had to say anything, I¡¯d you to get to know commoners better.¡±

    ¡°Get to know them better?¡±

    ¡°Yeah. Well, I guess that sounds a bit confusing. Basically, I want you to go out there and hang out with some of the common folks. Get to understand them and try to expand your thinking to help you realize that not all of them are like how you nobles were taught.¡±

    ¡°I see. That seems doable. Is that all you want?¡±

    ¡°I guess. There¡¯s not much else I can think of.¡±

    ¡°Interesting. And here I thought you¡¯d demand my body.¡±

    ¡°Nah. Not when you¡¯re clearly saving it for Roy.¡±

    ¡°Heh. Yeah¡­Wait a minute!¡±

    Ella''s face immediately went beet red when I said that. Causing me to let out a loud laugh. And while she tried making up excuses about how wrong I was, I continued laughing until I finally managed to calm down.

    And then, after a moment of silence, she turned to me and said something I didn¡¯t expect.

    ¡°Say, could we¡­be friends?¡±

    ¡°Hm? What do you mean?¡¯

    ¡°It''s just¡­all this time I¡¯ve been treating you poorly. And while I might not deserve it, I¡¯d like to be friends with you.¡±

    ¡°Is that so? Hm¡­¡±

    Now that I thought about it, there were times I caught her glancing at me and Roy whenever we bantered with one another. I guess it was less about jealousy and more about being left out. Interesting.

    ¡°Well, I guess it couldn¡¯t hurt. Sure. I¡¯m cool with being friends.¡±

    ¡°Really!? Yay!¡±

    She looked like she was on cloud nine when I said that.

    ¡°Thank you Savoncho! Thank you!¡±

    ¡°Just Axel is fine.¡±

    ¡°Understood! Thank you so much, Axel!¡±

    ¡°Y-Yeah. You¡¯re welcome.¡±

    She was a bit too excited just to be friends. I wasn¡¯t sure how to respond to her enthusiasm.

    ¡°AXEL!¡±

    Suddenly hearing a familiar voice behind me, I turned around just as none other than Xara crashed into me. Squeezing me tight enough that I felt like my bones would pop.

    ¡°I was so worried! Are you okay!? You aren¡¯t hurt on you!?¡± asked Xara.

    ¡°I-I wasn¡¯t before. But if you keep hugging like that then things might change,¡± I said. Barley being able to speak as the wind was squeezed out of me.

    Roy and Flynn walked up. Looking just as relieved.

    Walking up to Ella, Roy ignored the strange sword in Ella¡¯s hand and hugged her tightly.

    ¡°W-W-W-Wha-!?¡±

    Perhaps not expecting such a gesture, Ella¡¯s face went beet red.

    ¡°Thank goodness you¡¯re alright. I was scared we lost you there,¡± said Roy. Trying to steady his strength so that he didn¡¯t hurt Ella.

    In response, Ella smiled and returned his hug.

    ¡°We¡¯re fine. Thank you for worrying about us though.¡±

    And with that, we decided to postpone any further adventures for the time being.

    Even so, I felt like this adventure was worth something in the end since I got to know Ella better and we even became friends. So all in all, I¡¯d say this adventure was well worth it. And it¡¯ll definitely be a nice story to remember once summer is over.

 Chapter 43: The Entertainment Empire

    Summer¡¯s almost half way over now.

    It¡¯s crazy to think just how fast everything has moved during this break. Maybe it¡¯s because I¡¯ve been spending all my time hanging out with Xara, but I still find it hard to believe how quickly things have gone by.

    Still, this break isn¡¯t over yet, which is why I¡¯m looking forward to seeing what sorts of stuff goes down in the near future. At least, that was the case. Then an expected visitor arrived at my doorstep.

    ¡°Dianne?¡±

    To my surprise, a woman with short blonde hair that just passed her neck stood before me wearing a frilly pink dress. I had never seen Dianne outside uniform before in anything but the game CGs. So seeing it in real life was quite the dazzling sight.

    ¡°Uh. What¡¯s up? Why the sudden visit?¡±

    Sirin had informed me of her arrival beforehand, but I still couldn''t grasp what Dianne was doing here.

    Bowing her head to me, Dianne rested her hand on her chest.

    ¡°Hello there Axel Savoncho. Might I ask for a bit of your time?¡±

    What was with this fancy talk?

    ¡°Uh¡­I mean, I do have some time to spare. So if it¡¯s something short, I¡¯d be fine with it.¡±

    Last night Xara and I stayed up playing a board game she¡¯d brought from home so she was currently catching up on some sleep.

    I¡¯d have talked about it to Dianne if I could. However, thing¡¯s in it were a bit too¡­mature for someone like her.

    ¡°It says we did it ten times in a row. Wow. What a beast you are Axel!¡± shouted Xara the night before.

    When I thought back to it, Xara seemed a little too ecstatic when she said that. Geez. Why do I feel like that¡¯s a game only succubi could enjoy?

    Well anyway, the fact of the matter was Xara was busy getting some sleep so I still had some time before she¡¯d get up for the day.

    ¡°So what did you need?¡±

    ¡°Well you see, I was asked to pick up a delivery in the capital of the Matsuri Empire. But since it¡¯s so far away, I was wondering if I could borrow that teleportation spell of yours to help make the trip easier.

    Hm. That should be simple enough. I¡¯ve been to the Matsuri Empire once before, so getting there should be a piece of cake.

    ¡°Alright. I¡¯m in. Let¡¯s get moving.¡±

    Dianne clapped her hands together.

    ¡°Wonderful! Let¡¯s go!¡±

    Wow. She looked pretty excited when I agreed to go. Weird. I¡¯d expect that reaction if she had asked the MC and he agreed, but I didn¡¯t think she¡¯d react that way to me. Then again, she¡¯s probably just excited to go to the Matsuri Empire. Why is that? Well, it¡¯s because the Matsuri Empire is a land of festivities.

    Thanks to the empire''s founders coming across fields of rich soil, they were able to sell their foods for loads of profit. And since the leader of it all was a party maniac who liked the idea of a nonstop party, the whole empire ended up turning into this massive land of games and entertainment. It¡¯s basically like a casino but as an empire. In other words, it¡¯s basically a medieval Los Vegas.

    I only visited once before during my adventuring days for a job and ended up only staying for about a week before leaving. Though thinking back on it, I kinda wish I never went back because those places get way to crowded for my liking.

    But anyway, I was surprised Dianne¡¯s parents would let her receive a package from such a place considering she¡¯s a princess and not a delivery person. Then again, I guess she hasn¡¯t revealed she¡¯s a princess to me yet so she probably assumes I don¡¯t know about her true status and wants to use this as a chance to explore the world. That¡¯s just a theory though.

    Well leaving things at that for now, I decided to help out Dianne.

    ¡°Alright. I have a carriage waiting to take us there so once we arrive, please use your teleportation spell to make this trip quick.¡±

    ¡°Hm? If we want to make it quick then why don¡¯t I just teleport us there right now?¡±

    When I asked that, Dianne stiffened for some reason.

    ¡°W-While I think that¡¯d be convenient, I¡¯d much rather ride there. You never know what you might miss if you just skipped the journey.¡±

    ¡°Uh¡­But I thought this would be something short. I¡¯ve got other things to do today so I can¡¯t just waste it all in a carriage.¡±

    ¡°B-But it¡¯s just¡­I just don¡¯t want to travel using that teleportation spell. Yeah. That¡¯s it.¡±

    ¡°Then why did you ask me about using it earlier?¡±

    ¡°Well I¡­I¡­I¡­¡±

    Dianne looked a bit embarrassed when I made that point. Like she¡¯d screwed up.

    ¡°L-Look! Let¡¯s just go by carriage. Alright? Please. We can use teleportation on the way back!¡±

    I scratched the back of my head awkwardly. This all seemed a bit too forced for my liking. As if there was a reason Dianne wanted me to ride by carriage. That pushiness put me off a little bit.

    ¡°I really just wanna get this done though.¡±

    ¡°I-I understand that. However, please bear with me for the time being. Alright?¡±

    Geez. She was really gonna keep pushing on this, huh? Well then, I guess I¡¯ll just have to keep my guard up on the journey and hope there¡¯s no deeper meaning behind all this.

    Getting into the carriage, I sat down on the opposite side of Dianne and watched as the coachman closed the door after making sure we were safe inside.

    After that, he started moving the carriage and before long, we were flying through the air toward the Matsuri Empire.

    As we flew through the clouds, I simply stared out the window with indifference.

    It¡¯s not that I wanted to look like I didn¡¯t care about the scenery. It¡¯s just that I actually didn¡¯t.

    I¡¯d flown through this sky plenty of times on my own so it was nothing new. Making any form of whimsical sensation that could¡¯ve happened vanish from my view.

    Unlike me, however, Dianne seemed to enjoy the sight as she looked out the window with an expression of awe on her face.

    Well, I guess I¡¯ll leave it to her then. Meanwhile, I¡¯m gonna try and think of what to do to make it up to Xara.

    I had thought this wouldn¡¯t take long. But with the two-hour trip to the Matsuri Empire, even if I teleported back after that, Xara would be wide awake by then and annoyed I didn¡¯t bring her with me.

    With that in mind, I had to consider what sort of souvenir I should bring back as compensation.

    Maybe some sort of toy? No. She told me she had her mother''s taste of toys and they weren¡¯t exactly the kind I¡¯d be comfortable buying.

    What about a snack? Nah. She¡¯s not really a foodie. I mean, she does work in a snack club, but just buying her food wouldn¡¯t please her at all. In that case, there¡¯s only one other thing I could think of. I¡¯d have to see if they have it there though.

    Thinking over how I was gonna get such an item in such a large empire of festivities, I found myself getting lost in my own thoughts.

    Axel was busy staring up at the ceiling.

    Meanwhile, I was trying to enjoy the scenery around me.

    Actually, I had hoped to spend some time getting to know him better. I couldn¡¯t explain why I felt this way, but there was something inside me that wanted to spend more time with him. I had considered a few reasons as to why. But the one that seemed to stick in my head the most caused my face to go beat red.

    That¡¯s why I wanted to clear up my feelings here and now by going on a small trip with him.

    I had already asked my parents to make plans to give us some time together, but I was surprised just how supportive they were of the idea of me bringing a boy to the empire of festivities.

    Well, it doesn¡¯t matter. What¡¯s important is we get to spend our time there today. That¡¯s why I¡¯m going to once and for all, find out my true feelings toward Axel and whether they¡¯re just fleeting like with Riko, or truly genuine. That¡¯s what this plan has been created for.

    Even so, Axel seemed pretty indifferent to the idea of spending time with me. Did that mean he just wasn¡¯t interested, or was there something else that kept him from accepting my invitation wholeheartedly?

    I wanted to believe it was just that Axel felt unsure being around another girl when he had Xara, but since she should be at her home right now, there¡¯s no cause for concern there. That¡¯s why I was confident in executing this plan.

    Still, couldn¡¯t Axel look a bit more interested in talking with me? He just seems to be lost and thought and I get the feeling he has no plans of talking. Geez. And it took all that effort to convince him to join me in the carriage.

    Letting out a sigh, I rubbed my eyes and returned to looking at the scenery.

    All the while the awkward atmosphere lingered on with no sign of coming to an end.

    About an hour''s passed since we flew off in the carriage.

    We haven¡¯t said a word to each other at all, but that didn¡¯t really bother me.

    Dianne, however, seemed to be on edge for some reason.

    It was like she wanted to say something but didn¡¯t know how to put it.

    Letting out a yawn, I crossed my arms and closed my eyes. I wasn¡¯t sure what was bothering her so much, but since I still didn¡¯t fully understand this whole situation, I was too on guard to provide any leisurely conversation.

    Even so, I didn¡¯t exactly want to make things awkward either. So with a sigh, I opened my mouth to start a conversation.

    ¡°So-

    ¡°Hey-¡±

    Just as I did so, Dianne opened hers. Causing us both to stop instantly.

    ¡°Y-You go first,¡± offered Dianne.

    ¡°No. It¡¯s fine. Go ahead. I didn¡¯t really have anything to say anyway.¡±

    ¡°O-Okay. If I may, how have things been with you?¡±

    That¡¯s what she wanted to ask?

    ¡°Fine. I¡¯m just relaxing on my island and enjoying my vacation. How about you?¡±

    ¡°Well I can¡¯t deny it, my schedule has been quite the hectic one. So getting a break like this feels nice.¡±

    ¡°A break? Isn¡¯t this a package delivery?¡±

    ¡°Ah-! Um¡­yes. You¡¯re right. I guess it just feels like a break since we¡¯re heading to the empire of festivities.¡±

    I see. So that¡¯s what she meant by a break¡­like hell I¡¯d believe that. Even if she wanted to treat it like a break, this is still official business. And considering she was a princess, I highly doubt she¡¯d say such a thing like that without reason.

    Even so, I couldn¡¯t really point it out since this could just be me jumping to conclusions and it might''ve really been a slip of the tongue.

    That¡¯s why, while I still wasn¡¯t sure what to think about this whole thing, I remained silent and let things play out.

    ¡°W-Well moving on from that for now, what are your thoughts on the scenery? It¡¯s not every day we get the chance to see the clouds from so high up,¡± said Dianne.

    ¡°Hm? You really think so?¡±

    As I said before, I¡¯ve been this high in the sky plenty of times so I didn¡¯t really bother looking at the scenery. And even looking out now, I still couldn¡¯t see any appeal.

    ¡°Yeah. I still remember when I rode in a flying carriage for the first time when I was a little girl. It was the most magical experience I had ever had.¡±

    ¡°Is that so? That sounds nice.¡±

    Dianne nodded her head.

    ¡°It¡¯s actually thanks to those rides that I found myself growing a love for the concept of flight. Even if I can¡¯t fly myself, getting to see things from this high up is still a worthwhile experience.¡±

    ¡°I see.¡±

    Since I could fly, I wasn¡¯t able to have the same whimsical fascination that she does. It made me think about how different people can see the world depending on their own experiences.

    ¡°Say, could I ask you something?¡± asked Dianne. Suddenly getting serious.

    ¡°Sure. What is it?¡±

    ¡°Do you¡­have a dream?¡±

    ¡°Hm?¡±

    I opened my eyes and looked at Dianne who was staring right at me.

    ¡°I always dreamed about being able to fly and be free. But I¡¯m curious about what you¡¯re dream is. Do you have some goal you want to achieve?¡±

    I thought it over for a second.

    ¡°I guess I did have one at one point.¡±This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

    ¡°At one point?¡±

    Dianne tilted her head in confusion as she repeated the final words I said.

    ¡°It was a stupid dream created by a stupid person. Someone I¡¯ve long since abandoned. Even so, that stupid person made me who I am today, so I can¡¯t exactly hate them.¡±

    ¡°I see. So what was that stupid person¡¯s dream?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯d¡­rather not say.¡±

    ¡°...I understand. Sorry if I¡¯m being a bother.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re not. It¡¯s just not something I wanna talk about.

    ¡°...Okay. Then I won¡¯t intrude on the matter further.¡±

    ¡°Thanks. I appreciate it.¡±

    After that, an awkward silence fell between us. All the way to the Matsuri empire.

    Finally arriving at our destination, Dianne and I stepped out of the carriage and were immediately met with an array of lights.

    The sounds of people cheering rang in my ears followed by metal clanging and boards shuffling.

    Once my eyes adjusted, I saw exactly why this place was called the Empire of Festivities.

    Covering everywhere were all types of games and challenges that were being played by practically everyone. Not only that, but everyone was wearing all forms of fancy clothing signifying just how nice this place was. It was truly a crazy sight to behold.

    ¡°It really is just like Vegas,¡± I muttered.¡±

    ¡°What was that!?¡± Dianne shouted. Unable to hear my voice through the crowds of chatter.

    ¡°It¡¯s nothing! Let¡¯s get to that delivery spot! So where is it exactly!?¡± I shouted. Trying to make my voice heard.

    After I asked, the coachmen handed Dianne a paper and she scanned through it.

    ¡°According to what it says here, we need to head toward the higher levels of the capital!¡±

    ¡°Huh!? But I thought that¡¯s where we landed! Why are we lower down!?¡±

    ¡°Because the coachmen can¡¯t land the carriage that high!¡±

    What!? Aw, come on! This is starting to become a pain.

    ¡°Well come on! Let¡¯s get moving! We can even explore the different games while we walk!¡±

    And now Dianne wanted to play games while we moved along. Just how carefree was this girl?

    With a sigh, I followed her through the streets. All while ignoring this feeling I had that this was gonna take a lot longer than I initially thought.

    ¡°Oh! Let¡¯s play this one!¡± shouted Dianne pointing at a giant crane game that somehow was controlled entirely by a single small switch on the bottom of the machine.

    ¡°I guess bigger is better for some people,¡± I muttered as Dianne slipped a newly acquired coin into the slot machine.

    Trying her best to aim for one of the capsules within the machine, Dianne let the claw fall. However, she failed to grasp anything and ended up failing.

    Looking a bit disappointed, Dianne turned to me.

    ¡°Alright! You¡¯re turn Savoncho!¡±

    ¡°Do I have to?¡±

    ¡°Of course you do!¡±

    With a sigh, I stepped up to the machine.

    I wasn¡¯t all that familiar with these things, so I highly doubt I could grab one of the capsules that contained prizes.

    Even so, I didn¡¯t want to disappoint Dianne, so I tried my best to aim for one of the capsules and activated the claw. Sadly, the claw failed to grab anything and pulled back without a single prize intact.

    ¡°Just how rigged are these things?¡± I asked myself as I could¡¯ve sworn I heard Nia chuckle from within the grimoire on my belt.

    Ignoring her, I tried going a second time only to fail once again. When that happened, I let out an angry huff.

    ¡°There¡¯s no way it¡¯s possible to beat these things!¡±

    ¡°Eheheh. Calm down a bit Savoncho. It¡¯s just a game,¡± said Dianne. Trying to calm me down.

    In response, I just let out an annoyed huff before starting to walk off with Dianne close behind.

    The next game we tried out was some form of pinball game with an additional seven to eight buttons that were meant to be shared between two people.

    Figuring it¡¯d be fun, Dianne set a coin in and we got to playing.

    To speed things along, let¡¯s just say that it went pretty terribly. Not only did the ball keep falling out of our grasp, but it seemed like the game wasn¡¯t even working properly since half the buttons didn¡¯t move anything.

    Finishing up with that machine, we journeyed through the streets for a bit longer and tried game after game only for each one to end in us getting our butts kicked.

    From table hockey, to ping pong and even bowling. All the different games continued to be more and more of a pain.

    After about an hour, we finally arrived at an elevator powered by a mix of wind and water magic that shot through the air in a protected box until it stopped on the upper parts of the empire. Meaning we could hopefully reach our destination soon.

    All while that was happening, Dianne was having the time of her life. Clearly enjoying every second of it all. At least, for a while. But I noticed her expression change the longer and longer we explored.

    That was when we arrived at an odd-looking location.

    ¡°What¡¯s this place?¡± I asked.

    ¡°This is the Brain Tank. It¡¯s a special location fitted with devices that send you¡¯re brain into a dream-like world. It¡¯s one of the most popular attractions so they¡¯ve made tons of places supporting the device all around the upper area of the empire,¡± Dianne explained.

    ¡°Interesting.¡±

    Strange how I¡¯ve never heard of it before. I don¡¯t believe it was here the last time I was in the Matsuri Empire.

    So either it was added after, or I just happened to miss it during my first visit.

    ¡°So you wanna go in?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Yeah. Let¡¯s do it,¡± replied Dianne.

    Thus, the two of us went inside the building.

    ¡°Alright, so that¡¯s two uses of the dream diving device. And how long would you like to dive?¡± said the clerk at the counter in front of the building.

    ¡°How about two hours?¡±

    ¡°Understood. That¡¯ll be ten tokens.¡±

    Tens tokens!? Wow. Considering everything up to this point was only a single token, that¡¯s quite an expensive cost for just two hours in this dream world.

    Once Dianne gave over the tokens, we followed the clerk toward two small rooms with a device inside.

    ¡°Alright. Thank you for using our services and enjoy your time in the dream world.¡±

    Despite saying words that you¡¯d think would spark excitement, the clerk¡¯s monotone and barren voice really ruined the experience.

    Even so, I was still kinda curious about this machine.

    ¡°Say Dianne, how exactly do these machines work?¡±

    Stopping herself from entering her room, Dianne turned toward me.

    ¡°I only understand the basics, but from what I remember, they use a mix of mental alteration magic and sleep-inducing magic to form a sort of dream-like state that sucks people in and lets them exist in a dream world that was created by the founder of this machine.¡±

    ¡°Huh. So it¡¯s kinda like being sucked into a video game world? Pretty ironic,¡± I muttered.

    ¡°What was that?¡±

    ¡°Nothing. So you wanna dive in?¡±

    ¡°Yeah. Let¡¯s do it.¡±

    With that, the two of us went into our rooms and put on the machines.

    Once I made sure the device was set on my head, I felt myself starting to fall asleep and a few moments later, I fell completely unconscious.

    After a few moments, I opened my eyes only to hear the sound of wind blowing by my ears. It was only after I was able to see clearly that I realized I was falling through the sky.

    I wasn¡¯t sure what to do other than slow down my descent. Thus, I attempted to use wind magic. However...

    ¡°What the-!?¡±

    Despite trying again and again, my magic wouldn¡¯t activate. And when I tried to cast different magic circles, they all vanished before I even had the chance to form them.

    It was when I realized I was probably screwed that it dawned on me just how close the ground was.

    ¡°CRAAAAP!¡±

    That was all I said before slamming into the pavement.

    ¡°...Urgh. Huh? I¡¯m alive?¡±

    That was the first thing I noticed as the crater I had made when I landed started to disappear.

    Getting onto my feet, I tried casting magic again only for it to end in failure.

    Not sure what to do here, I tried asking if Nia understood what was going on only to find the grimoire I normally kept on my belt was nowhere to be found.

    ¡°Well shit,¡± I muttered before letting out a frustrated sigh.

    Starting to move my feet, it was only then that I finally took in my surroundings.

    ¡°What¡­is this place?¡±

    Around me were loads of people all clamoring about. Drinking, laughing, playing games, and it all felt like the same vibe as the real world I was in just a bit ago.

    However, there was something off about everything. And by that I mean, everyone looked a bit digital. Like the machine couldn¡¯t fully read their bodies so they had to work with what they could. The whole thing was bizarre, to say the least.

    Deciding to look around and figure things out, I slowly moved through the streets.

    The hustle and bustle of everything was a bit annoying, but nothing I couldn¡¯t deal with.

    Though with so many unfamiliar faces, I couldn¡¯t really find myself feeling comfortable.

    Actually, that makes me think. Where was Dianne in all this? I knew she was right behind me when entering this place, so where was she?

    While I thought about that, I found myself wandering into what I think was a museum.

    I say think since there wasn¡¯t really much being presented. In fact, there seemed to be more gift shops here than actual exhibits which struck me as a bit odd. Especially since this was just a dream-like world where it didn¡¯t matter what you bought since it can¡¯t be brought back to the real world¡­at least I don¡¯t think so.

    Since this was my first time experiencing this sort of device, I had no idea if that was possible or not. Even so, that didn¡¯t matter right now since I was just planning to look around for the time being in order to find Dianne.

    Still, while I looked around, I decided to glance at the few exhibits that were on display and my eyes eventually found themselves resting on one in particular that stood out to me. And that was a strange statue in the shape of some kind of all-mighty being wrapped in a single cloth.

    Deciding to take a look at the summary of the statue, it was apparently designed after the creator of this dream world. Also known as Vailu Liori. A woman of noble birth who sought to bring a land of dreams to the people and currently worked as something akin to a god for this world. Controlling what happens within and making sure everyone''s having a good time.

    Reading this summary, I felt like this Vailu lady was probably a bit egotistical.

    The reason I think that is because if she wasn¡¯t, she probably wouldn¡¯t have made sure to have such a detailed statue of herself here in this museum. Not only that but compared to the summary of the next exhibit, which is just a simple golden bone that has less than two sentences about it, the summary on her statue is way too long. It was like she was boasting about how powerful she truly was in this world. It honestly put me off a little bit.

    Even so, I didn¡¯t wanna ruin my time here, so I just decided to leave for the time being.

    Back on the streets, I continued waltzing around in silence.

    Without someone to make conversation with, I just found myself pondering if I should leave or not since I really couldn¡¯t care less about playing a bunch of games in a dream-like world that I could do just as easily in real life. Especially since the one I came here with is nowhere in sight.

    It was while I pondering the thought of leaving that I didn¡¯t notice someone running at me from a nearby alleyway.

    ¡°Ack!¡±

    I collapsed to the ground. Confused as to what the hell just happened.

    And when I finally looked at who crashed into me, I saw a small boy with light blue hair covering his right eye. He had a rather fancy dark blue tuxedo and a small white ribbon on the side of his head.

    As I looked at him, I could already tell there was something off about this kid. Why? Because he looked a bit frantic.

    ¡°Uh¡­You okay kid?¡±

    As I asked that, I tried to reach out for the boy only for him to look at my eyes.

    ¡°Please¡­protect me¡­¡±

    That was all he said before his single green eye glowed bright. Blinding me.

    ¡°Ack!¡±

    I wanted to close my eyes, but I couldn¡¯t for some reason. And then, by the time my vision finally came back, the boy was gone.

    ¡°What the hell was up with th-AHH!¡±

    Out of nowhere, a pain surged through my eyes and images flashed through my mind.

    ¡°You are the cure.¡±

    ¡°Stop her desires.¡±

    ¡°Run James! Run before she finds you!¡±

    ¡°Catch it! We can''t let it escape!¡±

    As these voices and images flashed through my mind, my head was throbbing in pain. Like it couldn¡¯t take the sudden amount of information being dumped inside.

    In fact, it was so much information that after only a few seconds, I got knocked out. All while those images and words faded into the deepest parts of my mind.

    ¡°...el¡­Axel!¡±

    Hearing my name, I opened my eyes to find myself lying on a bench with a crowd of people walking around in front of me.

    Confused, I looked up at the sky.

    I had no idea why I suddenly fell unconscious.

    All I remember was entering this dream world, visiting the museum, and then¡­nothing. Everything after that I drew a complete blank and I had no idea why.

    ¡°Axel! Are you okay!?¡±

    Turning to the voice saying my name, I found Dianne looking at me rather concerned.

    She looked a bit off. Just like the rest of the people in this dream world.

    ¡°Um¡­Yeah. I¡¯m alright. What are you doing here Dianne?¡±

    ¡°Why wouldn''t I be here? We¡¯re in the same dream world after all!¡±

    Oh yeah. I guess that¡¯s true¡­or was it? I still didn''t get all this dream world stuff.

    Getting onto my feet, I felt a throbbing pain in my head. Why was that?

    ¡°Hey. Are you sure you¡¯re alright? You didn¡¯t look the best when I found you?¡±

    ¡°Found me?¡±

    Dianne nodded.

    ¡°You were lying on the ground completely pale-faced. I was really worried.¡±

    ¡°Er¡­Sorry about that.¡±

    That was all I could say.

    Despite clearly not being satisfied with such a simple answer, all Dianne could do was let out a sigh.

    ¡°Well then, let me ask you again. Are you sure you¡¯re okay?¡±

    ¡°Of course I am. I just¡­had a little fall. No big deal.¡±

    Was that really the case? I don¡¯t know. Even so, that¡¯s I could really consider as a possibility right now. So I decided to roll with it.

    ¡°Well alright then. In that case, would you be interested in trying out some of the games here?¡±

    ¡°Why would I play a bunch of games I could¡¯ve just played in real life.¡±

    ¡°Because it¡¯s more fun here! Just trust me on this one!¡± said Dianne. Looking ready to keep going.

    ¡°Um¡­Okay?¡±

    I didn¡¯t wanna just take her word for it, but seeing how much she wanted to go try out some of these games with me, it¡¯d probably be pretty rude for me to just leave her to it.

    Thus, the two of us went on to play the same games we did in the real world. And that felt-

    ¡°-like I was playing the exact same thing.¡±

    As I muttered that to myself, I watched Dianne have fun with a normal pinball machine that worked properly and just one look made it clear she was really into it.

    We ended up sticking around there for a good while before heading off to look at a few more games and before we knew it, two hours flew by and we received a message saying it was time for us to log off and return to the real world.

    Dianne looked a bit disappointed, but I just shrugged my shoulders and accepted it for what it was.

    Thus, the two of us left the dream-land and went back to the real world.

    ¡°You¡¯re saying his life signs vanished into thin air?¡± asked a woman with a hood lying over her head.

    In response, a man dressed in shining armor nodded.

    ¡°We were pursuing him as you asked. However, his signature suddenly vanished from our scanners. We think he might¡¯ve implemented himself inside the minds of one of the guests.¡±

    ¡°Is that so? And why do you think that?¡±

    ¡°Because moments before he vanished, his signature stopped running and when we scanned the nearby area, we noticed a few guests had a chance to have a run-in with him.

    ¡°Is that so? Do you have any suspects?¡±

    ¡°We have two. Here¡¯s they are.¡±

    The armored knight handed two papers to the woman in the hood and she scanned over them. And as she did so, her eyes twitched over so slightly before reading the names aloud.

    ¡°Maiya Melata and Axel Savoncho, huh? Are either of them still in the dream world?¡±

    ¡°Negative. Both have been logged off for the last two hours.¡±

    ¡°I see. In that case, we¡¯ll wait till they log on again.¡±

    ¡°You don¡¯t want to chase them down in the real world?¡±

    ¡°Why do that? It¡¯s not like that boy can do anything in the real world. We¡¯ll just leave them be for the time being and if either come back, we¡¯ll extract the boy then and decide what to do afterwards. Understood?¡±

    ¡°Of course. Lady Liori.¡±

    ¡°Good. You¡¯re excused.¡±

    With a wave of her hand, the woman in the cloak watched the armored knight leave and then leaned back in her chair.

    ¡°Haah. What a pain that key is. Still, when I see him again, I''ll be sure to put things to an end then and there.

    With those words, the woman named Vailu Liori closed her eyes and imagined what the future would hold.

 Chapter 44: Castle Visit

    Having awoken from the dream world, Axel and I left and continued our path toward the package delivery spot.

    It was only about a ten-minute walk away at this point, so after taking a quick pit stop at a gift shop to let Axel get a souvenir for Xara, we continued making our way over to the meeting spot and to my surprise, when we arrived, someone was actually waiting for us there with a package in hand.

    ¡°Greetings Prin-I mean Miss Dianne. I have the package here for pick-up. Here you go.¡±

    Almost making a slip of the tongue, it was enough for me to figure out that this was probably someone sent by my parents to make this whole trip seem more legitimate than it actually was.

    That was something I truly appreciated. Even so¡­the trip itself was...

    ¡°Alright then. Let¡¯s get back home,¡± Axel said before grabbing hold of me once I was handed the package. And before I had time to react, we suddenly appeared in front of the school both of us went to.

    ¡°Alright. That should do it. You can make it back home from here, right? I gotta get back to my island before-¡±

    ¡°W-Wait!¡±

    As if on instinct, I grabbed hold of Axel¡¯s shirt.

    When I did that, Axel stopped and turned to me.

    ¡°What¡¯s up?¡±

    ¡°U-Um¡­I was just wondering if you¡¯d be willing to come to my house with me.¡±

    ¡°Huh? Why would I need to do that?¡±

    ¡°W-Well it¡¯s just¡­I wanted to show you something. If that¡¯s alright.¡±

    Axel was silent for a moment. Looking lost in thought before finally letting out a sigh.

    ¡°Alright. Sure. Let¡¯s go.¡±

    ¡°Really?!¡± I felt a hint of excitement in my voice when he said that.

    ¡°Y-Yeah. It shouldn¡¯t hurt¡­I hope.¡±

    ¡°You hope?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s nothing. Let¡¯s get moving.¡±

    ¡°Okay!¡±

    With that, I started heading toward the castle with Axel in tow.

    What is this about?

    That thought floated through in my mind as Dianne started guiding us toward the castle near the back of the city.

    It seems she hasn¡¯t processed that she¡¯s trying to bring some random riff-raff into the castle.

    Or has she? Was this why I felt like things were off when she showed up on my island, or am I just paranoid?

    Either way, we were heading toward the castle now and if there is one thing I¡¯m sure of, it¡¯s that if things go south while I¡¯m here, I won''t hesitate to teleport away and hide until things blow over. Though for some reason, I get the feeling things won¡¯t be that bad. Even so, I needed to remain on guard. No matter what.

    Stepping up to the castle gate, the soldiers didn¡¯t even bat an eye as Dianne and I walked through the front gates and into the castle. It was honestly kinda weird just how causally they let us in. I mean, I knew Dianne was a princess, but I felt like seeing me should¡¯ve really drawn their suspicions which made this whole thing feel off to me.

    Once inside, we walked through the halls as Dianne handed me the package and I carefully held it in my arms.

    Eventually, we arrived at a set of giant doors protected by two soldiers.

    Motioning them to let her in, the soldiers nodded to Dianne and opened up the giant doors.

    After that, she started walking inside with me awkwardly walking close behind.

    ¡°She¡¯s not even trying to hide that she¡¯s a princess anymore,¡± I muttered as we stopped in front of a throne.

    Sitting on said throne was a man with a bald head that was covered up with a crown who was stroking his long blonde beard.

    He looked just like his in-game CG. Then again, pretty much everyone looked like they did in the game so I shouldn¡¯t be surprised. But enough about that. The one who stood before me was none other than the king who ruled over these lands.

    I don¡¯t know what we were supposed to be doing here, but I really didn¡¯t like how this situation was looking right now.

    ¡°I¡¯ve returned Your Highness,¡± said Dianne. Apparently trying to avoid calling him her father.

    ¡°That¡¯s good to hear. Do you have the package with you?¡±

    ¡°Of course.¡±

    After saying that, Dianne turned to me. Nodding, I held up the package thinking I was just gonna place it near the king. However, instead, he got off his throne and approached me. Taking the package from my hands and looking at me closely.

    ¡°Uh¡­May I help you?¡± I asked. Feeling a bit uncomfortable with how much he was staring.

    ¡°Interesting. You have quite the red eyes. Are those natural?¡±

    ¡°I¡­huh?¡±

    Why would he ask that? Was there something interesting about my eyes being red?

    ¡°No. Nevermind. Forget I asked. It¡¯s not my right to pry into you and what your personal life is like. Not yet anyway.¡±

    ¡°Not yet?¡±

    What did he mean by that?

    ¡°Da-I mean Your Highness! Please don¡¯t say things like that! Otherwise ,you¡¯ll just leave him confused!¡±

    I mean, I already was confused, but Dianne¡¯s reaction seemed a bit extreme. She was so quiet a moment ago, but now she¡¯s suddenly shouting for some reason.

    ¡°I-I see. My apologies young Savoncho. It was just something I felt compelled to say. Pay it no mind.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s¡­fine.¡±

    It just left me confused is all.

    Actually, something he said just now piqued my interest.

    ¡°How do you know my name? If I may ask Your Majesty?¡±

    He called me young Savoncho. We hadn¡¯t shared names before this point, so how the hell did he know my name was Savoncho?

    ¡°Ah-!? Erm¡­Well you see, Dianne here always talks about you so you¡¯re name is kind of hard to forge-¡±

    ¡°Dad!¡±

    ¡°Wait! I don¡¯t mean that she talks about you all the time! I just mean that she brings you up every now and then and I just¡­I just¡­Geez I¡¯m not good at this.¡±

    Scratching the back of his head, the king let out a sigh.

    ¡°Well, the package has been delivered. If you¡¯d like some refreshments to make up for the journey, you¡¯re more than welcome to go to the castle''s dining hall.¡±

    Come to think of it, I actually was kinda hungry. We didn¡¯t really eat anything during our trip, so I guess I could hang around here a bit longer.

    ¡°I¡¯d be honored.¡±

    ¡°In that case, Dianne here will guide you to the dining hall. Would you alright with that Dianne?¡±

    ¡°Of course. Come on Savoncho.¡±

    ¡°Right.¡±

    With that, we left the king and went off to the dining hall.

    ¡°Uh¡­What the heck?¡±

    When Dianne and I arrived at the dining hall, we found ourselves facing a massive pile of food lined up for us to eat. Leaving me, at least, completely dumbfounded.

    Then, out of nowhere, the king walked in.

    ¡°Come on in Savoncho. It¡¯s time to eat. Just find a seat and we¡¯ll begin shortly.¡±

    The king, who for some reason had an odd tone in his voice, sat down and offered me a seat which I accepted with a bit of reluctance.

    Dianne ended up sitting next to me and after that, a woman who looked like an older Dianne stepped into the room. She had the same blonde hair but unlike Dianne, her hair went all the way down her back. Stopping just short of her thighs.

    She looked to be in her late twenties and had an air of kindness around her. However, she didn¡¯t open her eyes at all as she sat down.

    If I remember correctly, she was blind in the game and this was her solution to make sure people didn¡¯t know.

    ¡°Ah. Dear. Thank you for joining us for dinner,¡± said the king.

    ¡°It was my pleasure. Say, who¡¯s this young man here?¡±

    Despite being blind, she looked at me as if she was staring directly into my eyes. Though what she just said sounded a little¡­off. Like she rehearsed it before.

    Next to me, Dianne seemed to be a bit embarrassed. Probably picking up on this weird act herself.

    Well even if they are acting, it¡¯d be rude not to introduce myself. So I stood up from my chair and bowed politely.

    ¡°Greeting. My name is Axel Savoncho.¡±

    ¡°Ah. Axel Savoncho. The boy Dianne is always talking abo-¡±

    ¡°Mom!¡±

    ¡°Oh! Sorry Dianne. Was that supposed to be a secret?¡±

    Clearly both frustrated and embarrassed by this, Dianne massaged her temples and took deep breaths to calm down.

    Meanwhile, her mother just let out a light chuckle before sitting down in her seat.

    Doing the same, I tried to keep my posture as straight as possible. I was in the presence of royalty after all. A completely different level from the royal assholes at my school. It¡¯d be rude to act casually around them.

    ¡°Well then, how¡¯s about we start our meal? Does that sound good to you Savoncho?¡± asked the king.

    ¡°Uh¡­Sure¡­¡±

    Once I said that, both Dianne¡¯s parents started eating their food with a sense of elegance making it clear they really were king and queen.

    Meanwhile, I just sat there. A bit unsure what to do in this situation. With Dianne seemingly in the same boat.

    Perhaps taking notice of this vibe, the queen clasped her hands together.

    ¡°Oh right! Say Sir Savoncho, would you be interested in learning about the kingdom and how everything works?¡¯

    ¡°Huh? Why would I wanna learn that?¡±If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

    ¡°Well, I¡¯ve heard you¡¯re a commoner so you might not have the same education we royalty have. And if you might be king one day, you need to have the proper educa-¡±

    ¡°Wait a minute. King? Why would I be king one day?¡±

    I sure as hell wasn¡¯t planning to marry any princesses and inheriting the crown. That just seemed like a hassle.

    ¡°Er¡­I¡¯m sorry. I was just speaking in hypotheticals. But would you still be interested?¡±

    Why bring up such a weird hypothetical situation? That made no sense.

    Still, it¡¯d be rude not to answer.

    ¡°My apologies. But I¡¯ll have to decline your offer. I already have enough stuff on my plate as is, so I¡¯m afraid there isn¡¯t room to sit around and learn about the education you¡¯ve proposed.¡±

    ¡°Is that so? A shame. I was really hoping to learn more about you.¡±

    ¡°Learn more about me? Why is that?¡±

    ¡°Well it¡¯s as I was saying earlier, Dianne talks about you a lot so I was curious about who you are.¡±

    ¡°Is that so? Huh. Well, my point still stands. So I¡¯m going to have to decline your offer.¡±

    When I said that, I noticed Dianne staring at me in shock.

    ¡°What?¡±

    ¡°Y-You just¡­de-declined¡­¡±

    Before she could finish saying anything, her father let out a hearty laugh.

    ¡°A commoner declining a request of a queen? Now that¡¯s something you don¡¯t see that often. You¡¯ve got guts Savoncho.¡±

    Wait¡­.what? Was declining the wrong thing to do here? Well even if it was, I couldn¡¯t change my answer now. Not to mention that I wasn¡¯t lying. I had a lot of things I wanted to do with Xara over the break and there just wasn¡¯t enough time to squeeze in any studies. And there definitely wouldn¡¯t be any time once school started back up. That meant I really didn¡¯t have any free time to do it. Plus, I wasn¡¯t that interested.

    As Dianne¡¯s father couldn¡¯t stop laughing, Dianne rested her head in her hands.

    ¡°This is the worst day ever,¡± she muttered. Barely audible to any but me who was sitting next to her.

    After that, we tried our best to enjoy the meal. However, I still tried to keep my guard up. Ready to see if something else might happen once we were done.

    Oh. And before you ask, no. The food wasn¡¯t laced with anything. I made sure of that.

    Once we finished eating, Dianne¡¯s parents said they had important business to attend to and left us to our own devices.

    And when they did, Dianne grabbed hold of my hand and started dragging me off somewhere.

    ¡°W-Where are we going?¡± I asked. Confused.

    She didn¡¯t answer my question but continued pushing forward until we arrived at a room with giant pink doors that looked rather out of place.

    Opening one of the doors, Dianne pulled me in before closing the door tightly. And then placing me on a chair near a small round table.

    ¡°You wait here! I¡¯m gonna get us some tea!¡±

    ¡°What!? But didn¡¯t we just eat!?¡±

    Instead of responding to my question, Dianne ran out of the room and off to who knows where.

    Letting out a sigh, I rubbed my eyes.

    ¡°This whole thing is confusing me more and more by the second,¡± I muttered before noticing the room in front of me.

    ¡°Say, doesn¡¯t this look like¡­¡±

    Judging from the pink bed with a purple blanket, as well as the room that, upon closer inspection, I noticed had a bathroom, as well as a dresser filled with woman''s underwear, I was easily able to put two and two together.

    ¡°I¡¯m in Dianne¡¯s bedroom!?¡±

    Why the hell would she bring me here? Weren¡¯t we just supposed to meet the king and leave? Why was I stuck in here now?

    Things were making less and less sense by the second.

    Letting out another sigh, I decided I would wait till she got back with the tea.

    However, not long after sitting down, I noticed something.

    ¡°...I¡¯m really bored.¡±

    So much had happened up until this point, I hadn¡¯t really had a second to just sit down and relax. And because of that, I wasn¡¯t used to this uneasy quiet. It was like locking someone in a white room and expecting them to stay sane.

    That¡¯s why, against my better judgment, I started looking around the room.

    I had already looked into the bathroom, so I decided to look in the closet that stood next to the bathroom.

    As I approached it, the doors opened wide and as I glanced inside, I saw a long line of dresses that went from below average to overly fancy.

    The whole sight really made me question Dianne¡¯s choice of dresses. Then again, she might¡¯ve just bought them at random and just didn¡¯t think about it. But perhaps it¡¯s best I forget about this whole thought process for the time being.

    Continuing to scroll through the dresses, I found my eyes eventually resting on one particular dress that looked similar to a wedding gown but with the color changed from white to a more violet red.

    I don¡¯t know why, but when I pictured Dianne wearing that dress, it actually caused my face to heat up a bit.

    Trying to remove such thoughts from my brain, I closed the closet and took a look at the bed.

    Now you might wonder why I¡¯d be weird enough to do that. However, you misunderstand me. I didn¡¯t really wanna just look at it for some weird reason. I, in fact, wanted to see just how soft the bed of royalty really were.

    I knew Sirin had designed my bed in mind to help both get a good night''s rest as well wake up at a reasonable hour. However, Dianne¡¯s bed was completely different.

    It was, more than likely, designed by someone incredibly skilled in their craft when it came to bed construction. And with that in mind, I wanted to see just how much of a difference there was.

    Thus, after making sure I didn¡¯t see Dianne coming to the door any time soon, I dove onto the bed with a hop and tried to snuggle up and enjoy the softness. However¡­

    ¡°This doesn¡¯t feel that different from my own bed,¡± I muttered. Slightly disappointed by the lack of difference.

    I tried twisting and turning to see if I was just in the wrong position. However, nothing seemed to change no matter what I did.

    Thus, all I could do was let out a sad sigh.

    ¡°Well, that was disappointing. I was really hoping for a difference¡­hm?¡±

    As I muttered those words, I found my attention drawn to above the bed where I was met with a shocking amount of photos of the MC.

    ¡°Wow. I knew her character liked the MC a lot in the game, but I didn¡¯t know it was to this degree,¡± I said as I got off the bed. Feeling a bit uncomfortable with what I just saw.

    ¡°Thank you for waiting,¡± Dianne said as she walked into the room.

    I had already returned to my seat and tried my best to pretend I hadn¡¯t just witnessed something bizarre.

    Placing the tea set down, Dianne sat down next to me.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry it took me so long. I wanted you to try my favorite brand of tea leaves, but it took longer than I expected to find them.¡±

    ¡°I-It¡¯s fine. I appreciate the thought.¡±

    When she heard that, Dianne let out a relieved sigh.

    ¡°Thank you for being so understanding. Now then, let me pour the tea for you.¡±

    Grabbing hold of the teapot, Dianne slowly poured the tea into both our cups before resting the teapot down.

    ¡°Now then, how about we talk while we enjoy our tea?¡±

    ¡°Sure. Sounds good to me.¡±

    Happy to hear I was fine with that, Dianne smiled and slowly drank her tea. Probably while thinking up a conversation starter. But I felt like it¡¯d be a bit awkward to make her do that. So I went first.

    ¡°So the king and queen are your parents huh?¡±

    Not expecting me to say that apparently, Dianne nearly choked on her tea before placing the cup down.

    ¡°W-W-What makes you think that? T-Those are just the king and queen and I have no connection to them whatsoever. Yep! I¡¯m just someone who lives in the castle with them!¡±

    Huh? Was she seriously trying to pretend she had no idea what I was talking about?

    I mean, I already knew that before I got sent to this world, but even so, I had plenty of evidence to prove I knew the truth.

    ¡°Is that so? Then why did you call them mom and dad?¡±

    ¡°Ack!¡±

    ¡°Not only that, but back during the hunter games, that guy who was trying to force that ring on your finger kept calling you Princess Dianne. Or did you not notice that?¡±

    ¡°I¡­Uh¡­¡±

    I mean, I was probably the only one who really paid attention to what he was saying back then, so I wouldn¡¯t blame her for not noticing.

    Probably realizing there was no point in hiding it anymore, Dianne let out an awkward chuckle.

    ¡°I guess it was only a matter of time till you found out. Haah. Well then, let me reintroduce myself. My name is Dianne Riosha. Princess of the Riosha kingdom. It¡¯s a pleasure to meet you.¡±

    Not sure how else to respond, I simply shrugged my shoulders.

    ¡°My name''s Axel Savoncho¡­uh¡­same here.¡±

    ¡°That wasn¡¯t very formal of you.¡±

    ¡°Well, what do you expect? We¡¯ve known each other for a whole year. It¡¯d be a bit weird to start talking politely now.¡±

    ¡°You¡­have a fair point.¡±

    After saying that, Dianne let out a small chuckle.

    ¡°Sorry for not telling you sooner. To be honest, I had a reason I wanted to keep the fact I was a princess a secret.¡±

    ¡°Really? Why¡¯s that?¡±

    Getting up from her seat, Dianne put her hands behind her back as she approached a set of curtains and pulled them back. Revealing a large window I hadn¡¯t bothered to open at all.

    Once she was done, she put her hands back behind her back as she started speaking.

    ¡°As you know, most people of higher status tend to look lower on commoners and the like. It¡¯s a sense of superiority that taints this world and holds it back from reaching new heights.¡±

    ¡°You don¡¯t have to teach me about that. I already know just host screwed up people of higher status can be. And just between you and me, I¡¯m not exactly a big fan.¡±

    ¡°Heh. I imagine not. And honestly, I might¡¯ve wound up the same way had my parents not raised me the way they did.¡±

    ¡°What do you mean?¡±

    Dianne turned around and looked at me.

    ¡°They taught me that commoners shouldn¡¯t be looked down upon. After all, if say, one day, they suddenly desired the need to cause an uprising. It stands to reason that the common folk will no doubt rain victories. But the only reason they¡¯d desire something like that is simply because they¡¯re unsatisfied. That¡¯s why my father treats commoners with kindness and concern. Making sure they get what they need and keeping the peace.¡±

    ¡°So in other words, he¡¯s acting as a king should.¡±

    Dianne nodded.

    ¡°I admire him for his work. I really do. But even so, one day, I want this world to drop the barrier between royalty and common folk. I want a place where anyone can do what they want and not be ridiculed for their status. Somewhere that¡¯s safe from all this hate and disgust. That¡¯s why I thought, if I could befriend you before you found out I was a princess, it could prove that common folk and royalty don¡¯t need to look down on or hate each other. At least, that was my hope.¡±

    I see. So she wanted to do this to prove a point. Honestly, considering this problem was never brought up in the visual novel, I was actually pretty interested in learning more about it.

    Even so, I had my own thoughts on this plan of hers. And they weren¡¯t exactly positive.

    ¡°If I can speak my mind for a second, that idea sounds too simple. You can¡¯t expect people to just change from one example. Not to mention that it¡¯s impossible to convince everyone.¡±

    Just like in my own world, there were always those who stood above others. While stuff like royalty wasn¡¯t as common, that didn¡¯t change the fact that both the weak and the poor existed. And even if you wanted to put everyone on equal footing, that doesn¡¯t change anything. So as interesting an in idea as this was, I couldn¡¯t see it working out at all.

    Perhaps expecting my skepticism, Dianne smiled at me as the sun started sinking down from the sky. Creating a scene so beautiful I wanted to take a picture.

    ¡°Even if I can¡¯t convince everyone, as long as it¡¯s the majority, that¡¯s fine with me.¡±

    As she said those words, I felt my heart skip a beat.

    I didn¡¯t know why, but something about what she said made me want to cheer her on. Even though I knew what she was doing would probably end in failure.

    Thus ended that conversation. Leading to us just drinking tea in silence after Dianne sat back down.

    Once we were done drinking our tea, Dianne offered to take me to the front of the castle.

    I had just wanted to teleport away there and then, but one look at her eyes told me that I should at least give her this.

    That''s why we ended up walking next to each other until we arrived at the castle''s front gates.

    ¡°Well then, I¡¯ll be going now,¡± I said. Preparing to teleport. But just before I did, Dianne grabbed hold of my arm.

    ¡°Tell me Savoncho. Did you¡­have fun today?¡±

    ¡°Hm? Why are you asking that?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s just. While we were exploring the Matsuri empire, you just looked bored the whole time and it made me think you were just tagging along because I asked you to. So I wanted to know if you had fun or not.¡±

    As she said all this, Dianne nervously clasped her hands together. Waiting for an answer. To which I scratched the back of my head.

    ¡°To be honest, not really. It was all a bit much for me and I wouldn¡¯t exactly call it fun.¡±

    ¡°I¡­I see.¡±

    ¡°Even so¡­¡±

    ¡°Huh?¡±

    I patted Dianne¡¯s head.

    ¡°Hanging out with you doesn¡¯t need to be fun. As long as you''re enjoying yourself, that¡¯s all that matters to me.¡±

    When she heard that, Dianne¡¯s face went red. Probably from embarrassment.

    ¡°So let me ask you this. Did you have fun today?¡±

    ¡°...Y-Yeah. I did.¡±

    ¡°Then that¡¯s all I need. Thanks for taking me out today, Dianne.¡±

    ¡°S-Sure.¡±

    Steam rose from Dianne¡¯s head as she nodded.

    Not wanting to embarrass her anymore, I stepped away and waved her goodbye.

    ¡°Bye Dianne. See you later.¡±

    ¡°Y-Yes. Goodbye.¡±

    After hearing her say that, I teleported back to my island. Ready to deal with an earful from Xara.

    Once Axel left, I returned to my room. My face still completely red.

    I hadn¡¯t expected him to say that at all.

    ¡°Hanging out with you doesn¡¯t need to be fun. As long as you''re enjoying yourself, that¡¯s all that matters to me.¡±

    As those words echoed in my head, I couldn¡¯t help but jump on my bed and roll around in glee.

    I was worried he didn¡¯t enjoy today, and while it seems they were warranted, he still said something so freaking cool that I couldn¡¯t help but blush when he said it.

    I let out a giddy laugh as those words echoed in my head. But then I looked up at my ceiling and noticed my large collection of Riko photos. I¡¯d been meaning to take them down for a month or so now, but I just hadn¡¯t had the time to do so. But that didn¡¯t matter right now.

    Getting off my bed, I walked over to the window.

    It was night now so all I could see were the stars in the sky. Even so, it was a beautiful sight to see.

    And as I thought back through the day''s events, while they didn¡¯t go exactly as I wanted them to, I still got the confirmation I needed.

    ¡°It seems that somehow, I fell in love with Axel. Talk about a crazy twist of fate,¡± I muttered to myself. Feeling my cheeks grow warm as I said it.

    After that, I went to bed with a smile on my face. Hoping one day I could convey these feelings to Axel.

 Chapter 45: The Dragon Marrige Ceremony

    ¡°Hm? A dragon marriage ceremony?¡± I asked. Tilting my head.

    Xara nodded.

    ¡°Valentina invited me to watch her uncle¡¯s son get married and I wanted you to come along.¡±

    ¡°Why would you need me for that? Isn¡¯t this Valentina girl your friend? Wouldn¡¯t it be weird if someone she doesn¡¯t know shows up?¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry! She said I could bring a plus one if I wanted so I''d like you to come along!¡±

    ¡°Hm. I don¡¯t know.¡±

    If I remember correctly, Valentina was the leader of the club Xara belonged to. I think it was called the Interspecies Cooking Club. A club that specialized in cooking all sorts of recipes made by different species.

    I didn¡¯t really know what exactly to think of it, but Xara seemed happy while she was there, so I had no room to say whether she belonged there or not.

    But leaving that be, I¡¯m pretty sure Valentina, the leader of the club, was the princess of some royal dragon clan.

    I didn¡¯t know all the details since I didn¡¯t interact with her too much, but she was apparently a pretty easygoing girl who was really fun to be around and despite being a dragon, had a human form she used to communicate and enjoy the company of other students at school.

    Though that¡¯s all I heard from other people. Primarily Xara. So I had no idea whether she was actually like that or not.

    Which is why I think that even if I did end up tagging along, she wouldn¡¯t mind me being there. Even so, I was still skeptical.

    ¡°Come on Axel! You have to come with me. If you don¡¯t, I¡¯ll¡­I¡¯ll punish you for leaving me alone a whole day last week!¡±

    ¡°But I already told you where I went. Not to mention I got you that souvenir.¡±

    I pointed to the bracelet with a crane game on it that Xara had on her arm.

    ¡°That¡¯s still not enough! I need you to come with me, otherwise I¡¯ll never forgive you!¡±

    ¡°Geez. Alright. I get it. I¡¯ll go.¡±

    Letting out a frustrated sigh, I slumped my shoulders and accepted my fate.

    Geez. Who would¡¯ve guessed she¡¯d be so pushy about this?

    That¡¯s why, practically against my will, the two of us set off to go to some dragon wedding ceremony.

    ¡°Xara!¡±

    ¡°Valentina!¡±

    Arriving at the land of dragons not far off from our school, we were met with none other then Valentina who awaited Xara with open arms and a smile on her face.

    She was a girl who looked to be a bit older than us and had orange hair tied up into pigtails and her body was covered in a mix of skin and scales that were noticeable on the parts of her that weren¡¯t covered up by her clothes. And to wrap it all up, she had sharp black horns resting on her head and a red scaly tail falling from her rear.

    She really did look just like a dragon in human form. Right down to the fact her clothes looked like they were covered in scales.

    Once Xara and Valentina finished their hug, Valentina turned to me.

    ¡°Say, who¡¯s this you brought with you?¡±

    ¡°Oh! Let me introduce you two!¡±

    Xara got between us and introduced each person in a rather dramatic fashion.

    ¡°Valentina, this is Axel Savoncho! He¡¯s my boyfriend who I¡¯ve told you about before! And Axel, this is Valentina! The leader of the Interspecies Cooking Club! She helps me when I struggle to cook things and has really supported me during my time at the club!¡±

    Once Xara introduced us, both Valentina and I held out our hands and gave each other a firm shake.

    ¡°Well, it¡¯s nice to meet you Savoncho!¡±

    ¡°Same here Miss Valentina.¡±

    I tried responding politely, but when I did, Valentina let out a laugh.

    ¡°Just Valentina is fine. Any friend of Xara is a friend of mine I say.¡±

    ¡°Uh¡­Okay. Then it¡¯s nice to meet you, Valentina.¡±

    ¡°Heh. The feeling''s mutual. Now then, would you guys like to come in? The ceremony doesn¡¯t start for another hour or so, which means we can just relax and enjoy some snacks for the time being.¡±

    ¡°That sounds amazing! Lead the way!¡±

    ¡°Alright. Follow me.¡±

    Despite speaking quieter, Valentina looked like she was bursting with energy as she talked with Xara.

    Thus, the three of us entered the dragon domain.

    And while we walked, Valentina started explaining what exactly was happening.

    As she did so, I looked out at the scenery.

    The whole place seemed to be made entirely of stone. Yet despite that, it was no different from a regular country. It really gave a mix of both prehistoric and modern which made it hard to pin down my feelings when looking at it all.

    Even so, the sight of all the different dragons flying around was really a sight to behold.

    While some were moving around in their human forms, there were others that flew through the sky while letting out loud roars. And even though I knew dragons were dangerous, seeing one was truly an awesome sight.

    But leaving that be, for now, I guess I should explain what Valentina was saying.

    Basically, while it¡¯s pretty normal for dragon royalty to go out and search for their own countries to form after they¡¯ve turned a certain age, when said dragon finds a partner they wish to spend the remainder of their years with, they return to their homelands and do something known as a dragon marriage ceremony which shows the two dragons accepting each other and vowing to become partners for life. And while that seems a bit ridiculous to me since dragons in this world, at least according to Nia, can live up to six hundred years, which makes the idea of dealing with a partner for that long seem like a bad idea, I didn¡¯t really have much of a right to judge. I was, after all, just a human. So I couldn¡¯t really understand the feelings of a dragon even if I wanted to.

    So moving past that, according to Valentina, the ceremony continued through the entire night and wouldn¡¯t be finished until morning. And once it was over, the dragons would return to their countries where they ruled over everything until they birthed their next offspring who would then move off to start their own countries.

    One fascinating part about all this that I learned, is apparently after the descendants move off to start their own country, the parents will decide if they want to keep running their own country or leave it until the next child comes around. This means that depending on how many kids a dragon has, they can decide how much they want to spread their name around the globe. And once they¡¯re happy with how things turn out, they¡¯re allowed to disband their own country and send their citizens to their children''s countries while their own ceases to exist.

    I don¡¯t really get how all that works myself. But it¡¯s actually a pretty interesting bit of dragon culture that I had no idea had that much depth.

    But basically, that¡¯s how this whole dragon culture works. And as of today, one of Valentina¡¯s cousins was about to get married and set out on this journey himself.

    All in all, this whole thing might just be worth the trip here after all.

    Arriving at the food court, we were met with a rather shocking sight as plates on plates of meat and vegetables were scattered all around the place and any dragon that was eating there was chowing down like crazy.

    ¡°Well okay. This is¡­a bit much,¡± I muttered while looking at the sight. To which Valentina bowed apologetically.

    ¡°Sorry. Most common dragons tend to be a lot less mindful of their manners than royal dragons. So you¡¯ll have to deal with their behavior for the time being.¡±

    ¡°I..see¡­¡±

    I mean, I got it. But that didn¡¯t make the sight in front of me any less nasty.

    ¡°Ah! Sister!¡±

    Hearing a muffled voice, we turned our heads to find a boy who looked to be a bit older than Valentina standing there chowing through some meat.

    ¡°Greetings Brother. I see you¡¯ve already started helping yourself.¡±

    ¡°I can¡¯t help it! The only time we get this much food is when events like this take place or when the yearly story festival rolls around!¡± shouted the boy Valentina called her brother.

    ¡°Hm? Story festival? What¡¯s that?¡± I asked.

    Valentina turned to me and explained.

    ¡°Well, you see, every year the dragons hold a competition where we all tell stories about the things we¡¯ve been through in the past year. And the winner gets a ton of meat!¡±

    ¡°Really? That sounds kinda interesin-¡±

    ¡°And the one who has the weakest stories has to die,¡± Valentina¡¯s brother added on.You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

    ¡°Wah!? Why!?¡± Xara asked. Shocked at such an extreme punishment. To which Valentina explained.

    ¡°We dragons pride ourselves on our tales of vigor and strength. Which is why we need to prove just how well we¡¯re handling ourselves out in the world. And if all a dragon can talk about is how much they¡¯ve failed, there¡¯s no point in keeping them around.¡±

    ¡°Even so, death is kinda extreme,¡± I said. Scratching the back of my head.

    Valentina¡¯s brother nodded.

    ¡°You¡¯re not wrong. Even so, that¡¯s how it¡¯s been in our family for generations. So as terrible as it is, there¡¯s nothing we can do about it. That¡¯s why we need to try our best to avoid that outcome. Which we do by accomplishing as many crazy incredible tasks as we can. We¡¯ve gone this far, so we just need to keep moving forward.¡±

    Valentina¡¯s brother seemed pretty keen on just trying to accept the tradition. Even if he didn¡¯t like it.

    For me personally, if I were put in the same position, I¡¯d probably fight the tradition and try to make it better. However, such things aren¡¯t my battle. So while I hate the way that stupid tradition sounds, there¡¯s not exactly much I can do to really put a stop to it.

    ¡°It¡¯s still awful. I mean, if I heard Valentina died because she didn¡¯t tell some interesting story, I¡¯d get really freaking mad!¡± said Xara. Looking rather disturbed by what she was hearing

    ¡°Heh. Well, you have no reason to worry about that Xara. I still have plenty of time before the festival so getting a story showing off my strength and vigor should be easy enough to accomplish. So you don¡¯t have to worry.¡±

    ¡°O-Okay. Just let me know if you need help and I¡¯ll get you a story that will send you right to the top of the best story charts!¡±

    ¡°Thanks. I appreciate it.¡±

    Valentina smiled as Xara gave a determined look before both started laughing.

    Meanwhile, her brother stepped close to me.

    ¡°So she says. But she¡¯s always been close to the bottom. It¡¯s only a matter of time before she¡¯s killed.¡±

    ¡°Is that so? And what will you do when that happens?¡±

    ¡°Isn¡¯t it obvious? I¡¯d try and save her.¡±

    ¡°But what about the thing you said before? About only continuing to move forward?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m just saying that to sound impressive. Honestly, I hate the tradition. And the fact that our father just continues to support it really gets on my nerves.¡±

    I see. So he¡¯s completely against it. Interesting.

    ¡°Well, we¡¯ll just have to see where things go.¡±

    ¡°...Yeah. I guess you¡¯re right.¡±

    After that, we chilled out in the food court until we were stuffed.

    With the ceremony starting in about half an hour, Xara, Valentina, and I were just talking about random things when Valentina¡¯s brother burst into the room.

    ¡°Sister! Come quick! I¡¯ve just been told an engagement duel was just issued!¡±

    Valentina immediately jumped up from her seat.

    ¡°An engagement duel!? Really!?¡±

    ¡°Yeah! Come on!¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll be right there. Just let me talk with my friends for a bit.¡±

    ¡°Got it! Just don¡¯t be late! Or you¡¯ll miss out!¡±

    After saying that, Valentina¡¯s brother closed the door and we were left utterly confused.

    ¡°Uh, Valentina. What¡¯s an engagement duel?¡± asked Xara.

    ¡°I don¡¯t have much time to explain it. But basically, if there¡¯s another dragon pining for the heart of the one getting married, they challenge the opposing party to a duel where they fight it out until one comes out on top. And the winner gets the losers bride or groom. It rarely ever happens, so this is a pretty big deal. So with that said, we need to get going now! Otherwise, we¡¯ll miss it!¡±

    With that, Valentina burst out the door and urged us to follow her.

    Turning to Xara, she had a sparkle in her eye clarifying she wanted to go. Thus, I was left with no choice.

    ¡°Alright. Let¡¯s get moving.¡±

    So with that, we made our way out to where this engagement duel thing took place.

    All the while I tried to hide the fact I was actually pretty excited to see this.

    So, in order to save time and make it to the fight faster, all three of us flew toward the duel location.

    Both Valentina and Xara opened their wings while I used wind magic to make myself fly.

    And with Valentina to guide us, we arrived at the duel arena with just five minutes to spare before the match started.

    We landed at the entrance and once some guard person at the door saw us, they nodded and let us inside. Making it clear we were allowed to enter.

    Once inside, we saw the whole thing was one large dome and any dragon that wanted to see the fight had transformed into their human forms so they could sit in the seats.

    A few watched from above in their true forms, but since it was pretty hard to see up there, the seats in the arena were a lot better for a good view.

    Despite being mostly made of stone and brick, the ceiling of the dome was made entirely of barbed wire which while I wasn¡¯t sure, I think was enchanted with some form of protection spell to keep the dragons from smashing through it.

    The inner arena of the dome was massive enough to fit two massive dragons inside and had sandy ground which would be easy for the dragon''s claws to sink into.

    The whole setup, despite being quite restrictive, was actually kinda awesome and it was really interesting to see just what kind of fight awaited us.

    And then, after a few minutes, a man with horns and a dragon tail walked into the center of the arena and muttered some sort of spell that amplified his voice throughout the whole arena.

    ¡°Ladies and gentlemen! Welcome to this duel between two souls pining for the same woman! Who will come out on top in this all-out brawl of strength and vigor!? The only way to find out is by pitting the two souls against each other here and now. So, it is with great pleasure that I¡¯d like to welcome our first fighter. He¡¯s the man of the hour and the leader of the country known as Giyu, it¡¯s Garb Yanadal!¡±

    Cheers erupted from the crowd as a dragon with black scales and yellow pupils stepped through a giant door looking at the crowd with a serious expression. Making it clear he wasn¡¯t here just to goof off and show his skills to the crowd.

    Looking at him myself, I didn¡¯t really feel like he was someone who¡¯d normally pick a fight. So something like this duel probably wasn¡¯t what he wanted to do at all. Even so, it was some kind of rule among dragons so he had to obey it. Even if he didn¡¯t fully agree with having to fight for the woman that he wished to marry. Which, while I may not fully get it, still respect him if he is thinking that way.

    But leaving that be, for now, the announcer continued with what they were saying.

    ¡°And his opponent, the creator of the Titatsu empire, Floid Titasu!¡±

    While not as many cheers, there were still plenty of dragons that clapped when this guy stepped in the ring.

    He was a bit smaller than the other guy who I think was called Garb and had pure white scales along with pitch-black eyes.

    Grinning, the dragon the announcer called Floid started posing.

    ¡°That¡¯s right! Floid is here is take home another wife! Are you all ready!?¡±

    The response he got was a few cheers but nothing more.

    ¡°So that¡¯s who challenged my cousin to a duel,¡± said Valentina.

    ¡°Hm? You know him Valentina?¡± asked Xara.

    Valentina nodded her head in response.

    Floid Titasu is a wife wife-stealing tyrant who is always trying to steal the lovers of other royal dragons. He¡¯s a truly despicable person and despite having stolen four wives already, he¡¯s come here for his fifth. He¡¯s the scum of dragon-kind. Even so, he still follows the rules. So as much as we wanna kick him out and remove his title, he hasn¡¯t done anything wrong. So we have no choice but to let him have his way.¡±

    Wow. Take about a weirdo. Just what did he have against other royal dragons that made him wanna steal their wives? Actually, never mind. I don¡¯t really care.

    ¡°You said he already has four lovers. So does this mean the guy¡¯s strong?¡±

    Valentina shook her head.

    ¡°Far from it. He¡¯s one of the weakest royal dragons out there. But even so, there are some he sees as weaker than him. So he makes sure to target those people specifically.¡±

    ¡°In other words, he thinks he can beat your cousin,¡± states Xara as she looks down at the battle about to take place.

    Meanwhile, I kept my eyes on that Floid guy.

    I know that Valentina said he obeyed the rules which kept them from kicking him out of the family, but there was just something with the look on his face that felt off to me. Like he had something up his sleeve.

    Thus, I waited and watched. Ready to see what exactly would happen.

    Noticing my weird silence, Xara looked at me with a confused expression.

    ¡°Everything alright Axel?¡±

    ¡°Yeah. I¡¯m just really excited to watch this match and see how it turns out.¡±

    ¡°Hehe. Same. I hope Valentina¡¯s cousin wins though. I mean, if he found a girl he wants to make his wife, I think they deserve a chance to be happy. Don¡¯t you?¡±

    ¡°...Yeah. They should.¡±

    That was all I said before returning my focus to the field.

    As things stood, I was foreign to all this stuff involving the dragon race. So while I don¡¯t fully understand how things work around here, I wanna see how it goes.

    And all I can hope for is that Valentina¡¯s cousin comes out on top.

    ¡°Ugh. Why did this have to happen?¡± I thought as I looked at Floid who was making all sorts of weird poses for the crowd.

    My name is Garb Yanadal. And I was supposed to have participated in the marriage ceremony with my lover Giyu today.

    However, as I had anticipated, Floid the wife stealer challenged me to a duel. And seeing as how I was a member of the Yanadal bloodline, it¡¯d be rude to turn down a duel request. Even if it¡¯s something this ridiculous.

    Glancing at the crowd, I noticed Cousin Valentina was watching the fight.

    Next to her was a succubus girl who seemed to be holding a conversation with her. I assume the two of them were friends, and if so, I¡¯m glad to see she¡¯s made a connection at that school of hers.

    However, the one that caught my eye the most was the boy who sat next to the two of them.

    He clearly wasn¡¯t a dragon, but that greyish-white hair and those crimson-red eyes really stood out. Making them hard to ignore.

    Not only that but as he examined the battlefield, I could tell he was keeping an eye on Floid. Meaning he was just as suspicious of my enemy as I was.

    Most people knew that, despite being scummy, Floid followed the rules. But there was something off this time. And that¡¯s because he was challenging me.

    I don¡¯t mean to pat myself on the back, but the only one in my family who is stronger in a fight than myself is my father. That¡¯s something I can say for certain. So considering Floid always goes for weaker opponents, this match-up is weird, to say the least. Which is why I have my suspicions that something isn¡¯t quite right.

    ¡°Are both fighters ready!?¡± shouted the announcer. To which we both nodded.

    I still wasn¡¯t certain what exactly Floid had up his sleeve, but even so, I wasn¡¯t about to give up Giyu that easily. She and I have been together for almost sixty years. And now, I¡¯m finally ready to take the next step. So no matter what trickery I have to push through, I¡¯ll see this through to the end and make Giyu my wife. I swear this on my very grave.

    ¡°Alright! Fighters get in position!¡±

    As the announcer said that, the two of us moved to the opposite sides of the ring. Watching each other''s movements to see how they planned to strike once the match started.

    With my claws at the ready, I let out a low growl while thinking of what attack Floid might throw at me first.

    Based on the previous battles I¡¯ve witnessed, he tends to fight with three different styles. I just have to figure out which one he¡¯ll use at what time and use my own abilities to counter it.

    It¡¯s fairly simple when you think about it. Even so, it¡¯s said that sometimes if something seems simple, then it is most likely isn''t.

    ¡°The duel will begin at the count of three. Ready?¡±

    Finally prepared to fight, I took a deep breath.

    ¡°Three!¡±

    Keeping my sharp claws up, I dug my feet into the ground.

    ¡°Two!¡±

    As soon as that count was done, it was time to show this man that I was not someone to mess with.¡±

    ¡°One!¡±

    I was ready. It was time to make my father proud!

    ¡°Begin!¡±

    Mere seconds after the announcer said those words, I pushed myself forward to attack.

    ¡°Too slow!¡±

    Before I even had time to realize what had happened, Floid appeared in front of me with his wings spread wide before slamming his tail into my body. Sending me flying into the nearby wall. The battle had begun and I was the first one to take a hit. Starting this match on a rather bad note.

 Chapter 46: Unexpected Connections

    ¡°What just happened?¡± Xara asked. Unable to process how Floid moved so fast.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know. I¡¯ve never seen any dragon move so quickly,¡± said Valentina. Dumbstruck at what she saw.

    Getting onto his feet Garb let out a roar before trying to charge at Floid who simply dodged his attack and slashed into Garb¡¯s back. Leaving Garb to fly up and gain some distance while he tried to ignore the pain.

    ¡°W-When did Floid get so strong?¡± muttered Valentina in shock. Not sure what to make of this one-sided situation. Xara seemed just as surprised. Covering her mouth as she gasped at the events that were currently playing out.

    Meanwhile, I was too busy focusing on something else to be shocked by this fight. It was something that really bothered me about the way Floid moved.

    There was just something about it that seemed a little¡­stiff. Like his movements were restrained for some reason.

    I mean, his attacks hit hard for sure. However, while his moves were hard and fast, it was like he could barely move his body at all. And that thought process was only helped when I continued watching the fight. As after that swipe from his claws, Floid did another tail smack. Followed by another claw swipe.

    I mean, he was really beating Garb up, but he kept reusing those two moves. Like they were the only ones in his arsenal.

    He didn¡¯t try to breathe any fire or try to use his wings too much. And that made me ponder why.

    I wanted to speak with the announcer about this to see if we could investigate the matter. However, I got the feeling the other people in the stadium would just get mad at me and try to kick me out if I tried that.

    And while I normally didn¡¯t care what people thought of me, in this case, I was just a guest who came into their home. So I wasn¡¯t exactly in the best position to do anything.

    Thus, I decided to watch and see how things would play out.

    ¡°Why is he repeating the same two moves?¡±

    That thought crossed my mind as I observed the attacks Floid inflicted on me.

    His attacks were painful, but nothing I couldn¡¯t handle. Still, it was abnormal for someone like him. Who didn¡¯t bother to train that often.

    Taking a moment to consider what to do next, I used the dust on the arena ground to create a smoke screen before flying past Floid and attempting to blast him with my fire breath.

    However, right before it made contact, he disappeared and tried to slam his tail into me.

    Ready for this, I grabbed hold of his tail before sending him flying into the wall.

    ¡°Gah!¡± he shouted before landing on the ground. Staying within the cloud of dust that I was using as a smokescreen.

    ¡°It makes no sense. Why stay down there where I can sneak up on him instead of flying up to get a better view?¡± I pondered.

    Just then, I heard a form of cracking sound and Floid came flying through the air as he dug his claws into my side. Causing me to wince in pain.

    I quickly grabbed his arm and slammed him onto the floor. Making the smoke screen vanish from the field, as well as leaving a crack in the floor where Floid''s body made an impact.

    It was when the smoke screen cleared and I flew into the air that I finally realized what that cracking sound from before was.

    From the looks of it, Floid had dug his feet into the ground in an attempt to leap high enough to attack me. Meaning instead of trying to use his wings, he simply jumped through the air.

    Seeing this, I felt like the whole duel was becoming more and more confusing by the minute.

    Getting up to his feet, Floid pointed his clawed hand up at me.

    ¡°Coward! Come down here and face me like a man!¡±

    ¡°Huh? In that case, why don¡¯t you fly up here like a true dragon!?¡±

    What the heck was this about being a real man!? This guy was making no sense.

    Letting out a loud growl, a small hairpiece that was on the back of Floid¡¯s scaly back started to glow brightly. And then...

    ¡°Ack-!?¡±

    A burst of pain shot through my body as Floid pushed me toward the ceiling. Making me hit the barbed wire and cutting my entire back to shreds. All while having a large grin on his scaly face.

    ¡°T-That¡¯s right! I can be stronger than you! I can be stronger than anyone! I can do anything!¡±

    After that, Floid started laughing to himself. Losing any form of composure and confidence he had at the start of our fight.

    ¡°HAHAHAHA! WITH THIS POWER, I CAN FINALLY MAKE HER MINE! I CAN FINALLY MAKE MY ONE TRUE LOVE MINE!¡±

    There was a crazy look in Floids eyes as he continued slamming my body into the ceiling again and again before finally letting me fall to the ground below.

    Once I felt my body hit the floor, Floid crashed on top of me. Pinning my arms to the ground.

    ¡°I¡¯VE BEEN WAITING FOR THIS MOMENT FOR OVER SIXTY YEARS! IT¡¯S TIME TO TAKE WHAT IS MINE ONCE AND FOR ALL!¡±

    As Floid said that, he opened his mouth wide.

    One look inside and I could tell he was preparing to launch fire from his mouth.

    Had this been a normal fire breath, I probably would¡¯ve easily been able to tank it.

    However, there was something off about this one.

    Not only did it seem to be growing hotter by the second, but the flames were shining a bright blue. A color you don¡¯t normally see from a dragon''s breath.

    ¡°Garb!¡± screamed out Valentina. Perhaps realizing what Floid was about to do, she looked ready to jump into the ring herself. However, her succubus friend held her back. Looking rather confused as she tried to settle Valentina down. All the while that crimson-eyed boy watch with a serious expression on his face.

    Looking back at the flames charging up in Floids mouth, I wanted to fight back. However, he had my arms completely pinned and there wasn¡¯t anything my legs could do at all. So all this could only mean one thing. And that was that I was about to die.

    This competition is supposed to just be till someone''s knocked out, but just one look at Floid and I can tell my death was his goal all along.

    Thus, all I could do was accept my fate. Leaving me to close my eyes.

    And as the heat from his mouth grew hotter, images of Giyu passed through my mind.

    I still remember the day I met her sixty-two years ago.

    We had met when our two countries were at war with one another and ended up falling for each other while we discussed the idea of a peace treaty.

    And then, before I knew it, I had asked her to be my lover.

    The sixty years that followed were some of the best years of my life. From uniting our nations together, to simply spending time and getting intimate.

    Even though those were a mere sixty years, they were the best sixty years of my life.

    And now, here I laid. With death staring me in the face. And all I could do was watch as it consumed me.

    ¡°Die Garb!¡±

    Those words gurgled out of Floids mouth as he prepared to fire his attack. And I prepared myself for death.

    But then...

    Shwing!

    A sound echoed in my ear as I opened my eyes wide. Watching as the fire in Floids mouth returned to its normal color while the hairpiece that had been attached to Floids head clattered to the ground. Sliced in half.

    Confused, I looked around the stadium before my eyes rested on a single individual whose finger was pointed toward Floids neck.

    Once the pieces started to connect in my head, I couldn¡¯t help but let out a small chuckle.

    ¡°You have my thanks,¡± I muttered as the grip Floid once held so strongly became infinitely easier to push past.

    ¡°W-What the-!?¡±

    Not able to process what was happening, Floid had no time to react as I got up and slammed my tail into his body. Sending him spiraling into the wall. Knocking him unconscious in an instant.

    ¡°...¡±

    The stadium was silent.

    From what seemed like a one-sided battle, Garb, practically out of nowhere managed to pull off a victory in just a single tail smack. Making everything up to this point feel like nothing more than a show.

    Still, seeing the current outcome, the announcer decided that was that.

    ¡°We have our winner! The leader of the country of Giyu, Garb Yanadal!¡±

    While this whole knockout felt completely out of nowhere, people were still happy with this outcome. So, after only a few seconds of silence, cheers erupted through the stadium. Valentina and Xara included. Meanwhile, I was simply trying to process what was happening through that match.

    I mean, I was happy to see Garb won. But even so, there was just something off about this fight. And all I had to go off of was what I had seen.

    Thus, I ended up leaving the other two to celebrate as I left the arena so I could think about everything that just went down.

    Once outside, I recollected my thoughts.

    From what I saw, in the beginning, it looked like that Floid guy was managing to beat up Garb. However, that all changed when Garb created a dust cloud to hide himself and go in for the attack. And just when it seemed like Garb had the upper hand, that weird hairpiece glowed on Floids back. Causing him to suddenly grow insanely strong in what seemed like seconds.

    Since I wasn¡¯t sure if that item was the cause, I decided to test the theory going through my head by casting a small ball of wind that broke the hairpiece. And sure enough, Floid seemed to lose all that power and Garb easily overpowered him. Meaning that headpiece really was the cause for Floids strength. And while that cleared the main situation up, there was still something I had on my mind.

    ¡°Where the hell did that hairpiece come from?¡±

    I wasn¡¯t able to get a clear look at it, but I could¡¯ve sworn it shot out sparks when I broke it. Which isn¡¯t exactly something normal magical items do. Actually, it looked more similar to the technology I was used to in my old world.

    ¡°Say, Sirin. Did you get a good photo of that hairpiece?¡±

    Sirin¡¯s blocky form appeared next to me.

    ¡°Of course. Here you are.¡±

    As she said that, a hologram appeared in front of me. It was a close-up shot of the hairpiece that had fallen to the ground. And one look was all I needed to know that my suspicions were on the mark.

    Sure enough, the hairpiece seemed to be made of some form of metal and had all sorts of wires poking out from its inner workings. Meaning it wasn¡¯t just some magic device, but rather a piece of technology.The author''s narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

    ¡°Say, did you get a scan of this thing?¡±

    ¡°I did. And from what I could figure out, it isn¡¯t too different from the same type of machinery used on your island.¡±

    Meaning that whoever made this is skilled with machinery the likes of which are similar to that of whoever created Sirin.

    ¡°Furthermore, I¡¯ve been able to pinpoint the region from which the metal used for this device is located.¡±

    ¡°Really? Where?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s from the town of Ryuz.¡±

    ¡°Ryuz? Where¡¯s that?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s a little ways off from where the island is currently stationed. Though, I don¡¯t believe it¡¯s worth a visit.¡±

    ¡°Huh? Why¡¯s that?¡±

    ¡°Because as it stands, the city of Ryuz is known for despising magic. Meaning you''d be looked down upon simply for visiting. And besides, my studies have taught me that the town simply trades its metal with other countries and nations. There doesn¡¯t appear to be any form of connection between them and the device from before.¡±

    ¡°Is that so? Well, that¡¯s a bit disappointing. I was ready to go out on an expedition to find out the reason for that item''s existence. Well, whatever. I¡¯m sure I¡¯ll head to Ryuz someday. So I¡¯ll be patient for the time being.¡±

    Putting my hands in my pockets, I found myself feeling a bit excited at the idea of finding technology in a world like this that relies on magic and other fantasy elements.

    But sadly, it seems like I¡¯ll need to put that on the back burner for now. After all, we still have a marriage ceremony to attend.

    With the duel finished, the rest of the preparations went on without interruption until it was finally time for the marriage ceremony.

    While Valentina was busy showing Xara around until it was time, I was sitting in the room Valentina had given Xara and I until the ceremony was over.

    I was sipping some tea as Nia, who had appeared in her physical form, helped herself to some of her own. However¡­

    ¡°Could you slow down a bit? You¡¯re drinking it too fast,¡± I said with a sigh. To which Nia ignored me and continued pouring herself more tea.

    ¡°Not happening. You¡¯ve been keeping me in there for so long, I wanna enjoy the sensations of a human body while I still can.¡±

    ¡°Geez. You make it sound like I¡¯m trapping you in a cage. And here I was thinking you liked it in there.¡±

    ¡°Well, I guess you¡¯re not wrong. It is pretty cozy. Even so, I like getting out once in a while to stretch my legs. So that¡¯s exactly what I¡¯m doing.¡±

    ¡°I see.¡±

    Not only was Nia zipping through her tea, she started chowing down on the snacks we were given as well. Soon enough, all the macrons, biscuits, and other tea treats vanished from sight.

    Getting up from my chair I stretched my arms out to the sky while letting out a yawn.

    ¡°Well, the ceremonie''s about to start soon. So hurry up. I don¡¯t wanna be late ''cause you wanted to eat snacks.¡±

    ¡°Just give me a minute! Geez. Can¡¯t a girl eat in peace sometimes?¡±

    Says the girl who just ignored my suggestion to eat slower. It¡¯s because of what you said before that I decided to tell you that you needed to hurry up. This girl really couldn¡¯t make up her mind.

    Rubbing my eyes, I let out another sigh as I waited for Nia to wrap up.

    Finishing off the last of the snacks, Nia put down her cup.

    ¡°Alright! All done!¡±

    ¡°Good. Then let¡¯s get moving already.¡±

    ¡°Right!¡±

    While saying that, Nia returned to the grimore and we stepped out the door.

    Outside, it seemed Valentina and Xara were just getting back and when Xara spotted me, she waved for me to come over.

    ¡°Come on Axel! The ceremonie''s about to start!¡± she shouted.

    ¡°Coming!¡± I shouted in response before walking toward them.

    I didn¡¯t know what exactly to expect from this ceremony. But even so, I was curious as to what it entailed.

    Hearing the sound of bells chiming in my ear, I found myself arriving at a set-up of white rocks with Garb, and the woman I assumed was his soon-to-be wife standing there in their dragon forms. Preparing themselves for what was to come.

    Finding some seats set for dragons who wanted to be in their human forms, the three of us sat down and waited for things to finally start.

    ¡°Say Valentina, what exactly happens at a dragons marriage ceremony?¡±

    I asked this since I wasn¡¯t sure how different they were from human marriages.

    ¡°Hm. I guess they aren¡¯t that different from human marriages. They simply exchange vows and prepare for their future together.¡±

    ¡°Huh. I see.¡±

    ¡°Wow. That sounds amazing,¡± said Xara with stars in her eyes. It was clear she was the one who was the most excited to watch this thing.

    ¡°Yeah. It sure is. I still remember seeing my first marriage ceremony when I was a kid. It was a truly amazing experience,¡± said Valentina. Looking like she was thinking back as her cheeks grew a light red.

    Was it really that romantic? I didn¡¯t really get it, but if it was a nice experience, I guess it wouldn¡¯t hurt to watch.

    Just as that thought crossed my mind, the torches around the area went out and everything got slightly darker. Meanwhile, a giant dragon who looked like the size of a mountain landed behind Garb and his lover. Huge enough that is was practically impossible to see the things head.

    ¡°Everyone. We are gathered here today to celebrate the union of Garb Yanadal and his lover, Giyu Huva. As they set off on a long path to grow both their own nation as well as the nation of the kin they will bear someday. But before we begin, would the groom like to say a few words?¡±

    Since the giant dragon was too big for us to see fully, their voice simply echoed down into everyone''s heads. Similar to what Nia always des when she wants to talk with me.

    In response to the voice''s question, Garb nodded as he turned and faced the crowd.

    ¡°Everyone, thank you from the bottom of my heart for gathering here today to celebrate the union of me and Giyu. As well as cheering me on in the duel earlier. To be honest, it still doesn''t feel real. I finally get to marry that woman I met sixty-two years ago. I wouldn¡¯t even be surprised if this was all a dream. Even so, I¡¯m happy to unite with the woman who changed my life forever. As well as someone I would go above and beyond for. No matter what. Which is why, before we say anything else, I¡¯d like to say something to my my dear Giyu.¡±

    Turning to Giyu, Garb stood his ground.

    ¡°I love you Giyu. I look forward to the future we have together, and I promise to make you happy for the rest of our lives.¡±

    As Garb said those words, it looked like Giyu was holding herself back from crying and I¡¯m not gonna lie, I really felt the passion in his words. They were something truly impactful and I knew he meant everything he said.

    ¡°That is all I have to say. Please continue Dragon God.¡±

    Dragon God? You mean that¡¯s who the mountain of a dragon was? I mean, the size made sense, but a dragon god? Did that mean the actual dragon god came down for them or something? If so, that was quite an honor. Though, also a bit excessive.

    Perhaps picking up on what I was thinking, Valentina turned to me.

    ¡°To be clear, that¡¯s not the real god of dragons or anything. It¡¯s just old man Gordo. He¡¯s a dragon that¡¯s lived for over eight thousand years. Making him the grandpa of all dragons. He¡¯s so old, that people gave the nickname Dragon God as a way of representing how old he was.¡±

    ¡°Oh. I see.¡±

    I guess that made more sense than an actual god of dragons coming down to watch over a marriage. Still, the fact that this old man Gordo guy was over eight thousand years old is still a pretty big deal in my book. But whatever. I¡¯m sure that if I dug too deeply, I¡¯d just miss out on the ceremony. So I¡¯d just leave it be for now.

    ¡°Alright. To start things, do you, Giyu Huva, take Garb Yanadal to be your partner for the remainder of your days?¡±

    ¡°...I do.¡±

    There was a slight pause for a moment. Perhaps a sense of nervousness kept her from saying it outright. Even so, Giyu said it in the end. Looking happy that she was able to get the words out.

    ¡°And do you, Garb Yanadal, take Giyu Huva to be your partner for the remainder of your days?¡±

    ¡°I do,¡± Garb responded with no hesitation.

    ¡°Then, let this day be carved in history, and act as a reminder for your future. One that you¡¯ll remember for the rest of your days.¡±

    As old man Gordo said those words, I felt them echo in my head as I turned my eyes to Xara. Who was still watching the ceremony with stars in her eyes.

    ¡°Now to officialize this paring, you may kiss.¡±

    When old man Gordo said that, Garb and Giyu embraced each other and the stands burst into cheers as confetti rained from the sky.

    And as you might have guessed, Xara and Valentina joined in on the cheering too. Meanwhile, I simply clapped. Feeling like if I cheered I¡¯d just embarrass myself.

    Eventually, the cheering settled down and the lights turned on one after another.

    Looking up at the sky, I hadn¡¯t noticed it before, but it had actually gotten pretty late. Now the moon shined high in the sky and the small whistles of the wind echoed in my ear.

    Figuring the lights turning on was a sign things were done, I started to get up from my seat. But just as I did so...

    ¡°Where are you going? The main event hasn¡¯t started yet,¡± said Valentina. Leaving me confused.

    ¡°What do you mean? Wasn¡¯t the main event the marriage?¡±

    ¡°Of course not! It¡¯s what comes after! The chance to witness the creation of their first child.¡±

    ¡°...What?¡±

    Before I had time to process what Valentina said, the lights went dark again and the only ones remaining were the ones focusing on Garb and Giyu.

    And what they started to do, I could only describe the whole thing as being way too graphic.

    Without going into detail, the best way I could describe it was they started going all the way.

    Feeling uncomfortable, I was about to teleport Xara and I away so we didn¡¯t have to keep looking at this only to find her watching the whole thing with the same starry eyes as before with only a small red blush appearing on her cheeks.

    Figuring I wouldn¡¯t be able to convince her while she had a look like that, I simply teleported away before things got too uncomfortable. Hoping Xara wouldn¡¯t get any ideas once the whole thing was done.

    The next morning, I let out a loud yawn as I got out my bed.

    Despite sleeping in the same room, both Xara and I had our own separate beds and it looked like I was the first one to wake up as she was still snoozing away.

    Thankfully, after quickly checking my sheets. I learned she hadn¡¯t tried to pull anything while I was asleep. So with that piece of mind, I left the room and took a look outside.

    From how the sky appeared, I figured it was probably around six or seven in the morning. Just early enough for us to leave.

    Thus, I went back into the room and started packing the few things the two of us had brought.

    Soon enough, Valentina came by to see how we were doing.

    ¡°Say, how come you left in the middle of the ceremony''s big event last night?¡±

    ¡°Er¡­Let¡¯s just say I was feeling tired. Hehe.¡±

    It¡¯d probably sound rude of me to say I simply was too uncomfortable so I left, so this was my best excuse.

    ¡°Oh. I see. Well, I understand then. But you completely missed how amazing it was. Just one look at Xara and I could tell she was just as into it as I was!¡±

    ¡°I-Is that so?¡±

    I didn¡¯t exactly like hearing that, but then again, I guess she is a succubus. This kinda stuff ran in her family for a long time. So seeing it in action probably wouldn¡¯t put her off as much as it did me.

    Noticing the bags were all packed, Valentina turned to me.

    ¡°So you¡¯re heading out?¡±

    ¡°Yep! We still got lots to do during the break, so we need to get back now.¡±

    ¡°I see. In that case, I¡¯ll be seeing you two at school. Just be sure to tell Xara that when she wakes up.¡±

    ¡°Sure thing. Bye Valentina.¡±

    ¡°Yeah. Bye Savoncho.¡±

    Savoncho? So she remembered my last name? I figured it was a pretty hard name for anyone to remember off the bat, but she nailed it perfectly.

    With a simple wave, she left the room and walked off.

    Figuring that would be the end of the goodbyes, I started putting everything together so we could teleport it all at once only to hear a knock on the door.

    Thinking it might¡¯ve been Valentina saying she forgot to say something, I opened it up. However, I was surprised to find none other then Garb standing there in his human form.

    He had long black hair that was set up like a mullet and he wore some sunglasses that, combined with his hair, made him look like some kind of gang boss.

    ¡°Say, you¡¯re that kid that came with Valentina¡¯s friend, right?¡±

    Did he mean Xara?

    ¡°Yeah. That¡¯s me. What do you need?¡±

    Instead of answering my question, Garb bowed his head.

    ¡°I thank you from deep in my heart for helping with that match. Had you not helped, I would¡¯ve no doubt lost my wife!¡±

    ¡°Uh¡­You¡¯re welcome?¡±

    So he knew it was me? Wow. And I really thought I hid it well. Dang.

    Well, whatever. I didn¡¯t really mind him knowing¡­unless he tattled on me. Which in that case, might be bad.

    Perhaps realizing what I was thinking, Garb gave me some reassurance.

    ¡°You have nothing to fear, I have no plans on telling anyone. Honestly, I¡¯m just grateful for your help. If you hadn¡¯t destroyed that weird item on Floids back, I could easily have seen it go the other way.¡±

    ¡°Well, thanks for letting me know. I wasn¡¯t really planning on intervening, but I felt like it was a bit of an unfair fight.¡±

    I scratched the back of my head.

    ¡°I see. Still, I thank you from the bottom of my heart.¡±

    Getting on one knee, Garb bowed his head once more.

    ¡°That¡¯s why, in a show of my thanks, I¡¯d like to make an offer.¡±

    ¡°An offer?¡±

    Garb nodded his head.

    ¡°In thanks for your assistance, I wish to let you know that, if you ever need assistance with anything, contact my country of Giyu. If you do, I guarantee that I will be there to help you out. It¡¯s the least I can do.¡±

    ¡°Wow. That¡¯s a pretty big offer for simply helping you out a bit.¡±

    ¡°Simply helping me out? You did far more than that. Not only did you help secure my victory, but you also saved my life. The fact this is all I can offer you saddens me to no end.¡±

    ¡°B-But it¡¯s really not that big of a¡­haaah.¡±

    Letting out a sigh, I knew it¡¯d be pointless to say anything else. So I just decided to accept his offer.

    ¡°I appreciate and accept your offer. If I run into any problems that I wish to call on you for, I¡¯ll be sure to do so.¡±

    ¡°You have my thanks. Now then, I must be off. Have a safe trip back to your homeland.¡±

    ¡°Thanks. And goodbye.¡±

    With one last nod of his head, Garb got onto his feet and walked off. Leaving me standing there scratching the back of my head.

    It wasn¡¯t my intention to form some kind of deal with a dragon while I was here. Even so, I guess it could be useful in the future at some point¡­right?

    Deciding to let it go for now, I finished the last of the packing. And once Xara was awake, the two of us teleported back. Finishing our little trip to the land of dragons.

 Chapter 47: Manly Adventure

    Checking to make sure Xara was sound asleep, I gave her a quiet apology as I finished changing into my adventurer clothes. Why was I doing that, you ask? It¡¯s because I¡¯m going on another dungeon-diving adventure today.

    Since the last one went so poorly, we decided we would meet up and try again. But since Ella couldn''t make it due to her sword training was only in its early stages, she wasn¡¯t able to be there.

    But since it might be awkward having Xara be the only girl there, the boys decided they would meet up and we would have a guy-only adventure.

    Now, I know that might sound a bit dumb. But even so, I was kinda curious about what those two might have learned during their training at school. And since I missed out on it last time being trapped with Ella and all, I wasn¡¯t planning on holding back on their offer today.

    Thus, I teleported away while Xara was sleeping. Making sure I¡¯d grab something on the way back.

    ¡°Hey there Axel!¡± shouted Roy waving at me.

    I waved back and approached him. It seemed I was the second person to arrive.

    ¡°Where¡¯s Flynn?¡±

    ¡°He should be here soon. If I remember correctly, he told me he would be a bit late since he had something he had to do.¡±

    ¡°I see. Do you know what that something is?¡±

    Roy shook his head.

    ¡°Nope. He didn¡¯t say. Still, it shouldn¡¯t be a big deal as long as he doesn¡¯t take long.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s true.¡±

    Thus, the two of us waited for Flynn to arrive. Which ended up taking another twenty minutes. And when he arrived, Flynn gave us a bow.

    ¡°My apologies for being so late. When I went to pick up my new sword at the blacksmith, the crowd was so long it took way more time than I initially anticipated.¡±

    ¡°Hey, it¡¯s no problem! Just glad you¡¯re here!¡± said Roy as what Flynn said drew my eyes to the sword scabbard at his side.

    It was an indigo blue with silver lines bleeding into a texture that represented Flynn¡¯s family crest.

    Despite just being a scabbard, it was quite a fancy design. Honestly, it was so flashy that it reminded me a lot of the swords you''d see heroes wield in fantasy stories.

    But moving past that for now, we made sure all our equipment was good to go and, once we were ready, we entered the dungeon.

    This is the same place we went to before, but with just three people in our group this time, it should be easier to move around without the risk of activating any traps. Still, we needed to remain cautious.

    Stepping through the halls of the dungeon, I tried whispering to Nia.

    ¡°Hey, Nia. Do you think there¡¯s anything nearby?¡±

    I waited for her to answer. However, all I was met with was an awkward silence.

    ¡°Nia?¡±

    Still no response. What the heck? Was she just not interested in talking?

    Looking at my belt, the grimoire shook from side to side in movement with my footsteps. However, that¡¯s all it did. Nothing more nothing less.

    Worried, I¡¯d considered leaving this adventure and heading back so I could figure this out. But then I thought about how weird it¡¯d be for me to just up and leave like this. So while it was a bit concerning, I continued forward. Hoping to wrap this up quickly and head home.

    As we went deeper into the dungeon, we encountered several kinds of monsters from goblins, to crab creatures, and even lizards that looked similar to those I¡¯d run into when I was trapped on the lower floors.

    Looking at the texture of the walls, they looked nothing like when I was pulled down into the deeper levels of this place a year ago. Meaning that wherever I was last time, it was pretty damn deep.

    But moving past that, we continued forward until we found ourselves standing at a door that was akin to the entrance of a boss chamber.

    ¡°Hm. According to this guide, this is where the first boss seems to be placed. Yaza the Undead Emperor,¡± said Flynn. Flipping through a book he pulled out of his pocket.

    ¡°Huh. Talk about a dramatic name,¡± I said. Looking at the door''s intricate design. Giving a once over, the texture reminded me of my grimoire to some extent. At least, the two looked pretty similar.

    ¡°Really? I think it¡¯s pretty accurate,¡± said Flynn who showed me the book.

    According to what it said, this guy was as giant as a pillar and summoned a small army of minions to fight and whittle down his opponents.

    It¡¯s because of this that it¡¯s a requirement to have at least four or more members in a party before fighting a thing like this. However, depending on your rank at the adventurers guild, that could change. This is why, since I was fourth rank, which was good enough, the school seemed fine with me acting as the team''s third and fourth party member. Which only gave me another reason to stick around instead of leave.

    Putting his book away, Flynn grabbed onto his sword while Roy, who I forgot to mention switched from gauntlets to an ax, pulled his weapon off his back. Ready for battle.

    ¡°Right then. What¡¯s the plan, Axel?¡± Roy asked. Excited to go and fight.

    I thought about it for a second before coming up with a strategy.

    ¡°Alright. Up to this point, I¡¯ve been having you guys take on most of the enemies. However, since we¡¯re going against a boss, I¡¯d like you two to handle the minions while I deal with the boss.¡±

    ¡°Huh!? You mean you can beat that thing on your own!?¡±

    Roy made it sound like crazy talk. But I nodded my head.

    ¡°I¡¯m well aware of your abilities Sir Savoncho. But I find it hard to believe you can handle that thing without a bit of assistance," said Flynn. Doubting my abilities.

    ¡°Please. You¡¯re talking to the guy who literally climbed from the deepest parts of this dungeon and made it back to the surface. I got this!¡±

    I mean, I teleported all the way to the surface, but I was still pretty confident in my own abilities. Plus, I¡¯d like to see just how well I¡¯d handle against a tougher opponent. Y¡¯know. To see if I¡¯m strong enough to do things like this on my own.

    ¡°Well, if you¡¯re confident, I suppose we¡¯ll need to trust you on this,¡± said Flynn. Accepting my words.

    ¡°Still, if you think you¡¯re starting to lose, just let us know and we¡¯ll try our best to help you out," said Roy.

    ¡°Thank¡¯s you two. Now then, let¡¯s do this!¡±

    ¡°Right!¡± both Roy and Flynn shouted in unison as we opened up the doors to the boss room.

    Stepping inside, I looked around at my surroundings.

    The room reeked of the dead corpses and had an eerie aura to it that reminded me a lot of Halloween.

    Having my magic at the ready, I cautiously stepped deeper into the room until I found myself standing in the middle of it.

    Roy and Flynn were right behind me with their weapons at the ready.

    And then, just as we seemed to reach a certain point, the torches that illuminated the room changed to a pale green and a creaking noise echoed in my ear.

    Turning to the origin of the sound, I saw a pile of bones sitting on a throne wearing a crown as small sags of flesh hung from all across its body. It was really freaking creepy.

    With red eyes glowing bright, the pile of bones, or rather, the skeleton, rose from its seat and let out a blood-curdling scream as a scepter appeared in its hand. Followed by troops of charred and burned smaller skeletons appeared at its feet.

    Gripping his blade tightly, Flynn started muttering a spell to himself as magic seemed to gather around his sword.

    And then as he drew it from its scabbard, he pointed it at the army.

    ¡°...Light Shot,¡± he muttered under his breath before a beam of light went flying off his sword into the army in front of him.

    ¡°Whoa! How¡¯d you do that!?¡± Roy asked. Looking rather thrilled from seeing what just happened.

    ¡°It¡¯s a spell I learned recently. It helps tear through the undead with ease. Though, it¡¯s clear that it didn¡¯t do much.¡±

    He was right. Despite blasting away a few skeletons. There was still a good chunk of the army left.

    ¡°Alright. You two take care of the rest of those guys. I¡¯ll try to finish things with the boss as fast as I can,¡± I said while preparing my first attack.

    ¡°Right. Good luck Axel!¡± shouted Roy.

    ¡°Right back at you!¡±

    Saying that, I charged forward and headed straight for the boss.

    Using my wind magic, I sent myself flying through the air. All the while Roy and Flynn started ripping through the army of monsters defending the boss.

    Nia still wasn¡¯t responding, so this meant I¡¯d have to fight this guy using only the spells ingrained in my own head.

    With that in mind, I flew forward as I formed a ball of fire within my hand.

    ¡°Haah!¡±

    Throwing the spell at Yaza the undead king, He simply smacked it away.

    I hadn¡¯t anticipated that, but I wasn¡¯t gonna let my surprise show. Thus, I kept throwing more fireballs. Hoping they would pierce his bones.

    Unable to knock away all the spells, several slammed into Yaza¡¯s body. Causing him to let out a growl as he pointed the scepter in his hand toward me.

    Moments later, a green light shot out of the scepter and flew right at me.

    Dodging it by flying up, I stopped right in front of him and cast my Iron Strike spell. Causing my arm to turn metal as I slammed it right into Yaza¡¯s face. Sending him flying across the room.

    Following his movements, I cast the spell once more and punched the monster into the ground. Causing the floor to break apart from the pressure.

    That seemed to do good damage. However, Yaza still wasn¡¯t down as he pushed himself to his feet and released a large amount of strange green smoke from his scepter before sending it flying toward me.

    It seemed this battle was far from being over.

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    Casting another light spell, Flynn knocked out more of the enemy army while Roy cut through them with his ax.

    ¡°Geez. It¡¯s like there¡¯s no end to these things. How¡¯s Axel looking?¡±

    Turning to look at the main battle, Flynn watched as Axel dodged some strange green smoke before blowing it away with wind magic.

    ¡°He seems to be handling himself okay. Still, we need to wrap things up here. Otherwise, our training would be for nothing.¡±

    ¡°Right! Then let¡¯s push through these guys already!¡±

    As Roy shouted that, he started swinging his ax like crazy while letting out a loud scream. Cutting through the army of minions one after another.

    Meanwhile, Flynn cut through the enemy in front of him as he turned to look at Savoncho once more.

    ¡°This boss is meant to be a group effort. But Sir Savoncho is handling it with no problem whatsoever. Just how strong is Sir Savoncho?¡±

    Flynn didn¡¯t understand since he wasn¡¯t there, but Axel had been through all forms of turmoil as he journeyed through this dungeon almost a year ago. And since then, he¡¯s only continued to grow stronger. So much stronger, in fact, that compared to some of the things Savoncho has fought, this boss was far from difficult.

    Dodging another one of Yaza¡¯s attacks, I let out an annoyed sigh.

    This guy only used the same three attacks over and over again. There was nothing about this boss that made him a challenge.

    Maybe it was because of everything I¡¯ve fought up till now, but compared to stuff like those crocodiles that could turn your body to stone or the butler who turned into a werewolf, this guy was just way too basic.

    Figuring I should probably wrap this up before long, I rushed forward and thrust a fireball right into Yaza¡¯s face. Blinding him and causing him to take a step back.

    Using that to my advantage, I used wind magic to sweep his feet out from under him.

    Crashing to the ground, Yaza didn¡¯t have any time to respond before I cast Iron Strike and smashed my fist into his bones. Cracking them and causing a collapse in his body structure which made it impossible to get up.

    ¡°Alright. I¡¯m done dealing with you. See ya.¡±

    Saying that, I cast Iron Strike one last time and crushed his face in. Causing all his bones to clatter to the ground before disappearing.

    Done with that, I turned to see how the others were doing and it seemed they were just finishing up the last of the minions and took a second to recover.

    Walking over to the two of them, I formed water balls and let the two drink out of them in order to quench any thirst they got from that battle.

    ¡°Thanks for keeping those guys off me. It would¡¯ve been a lot more difficult to beat the boss if you guys hadn¡¯t stalled all those minions.¡±

    Thanking them for their help, I sat down and waited for them to finish.

    Turning to me, Roy smiled.

    ¡°Of course! What are friends for!?¡±

    Flynn nodded his head.

    ¡°I admit, I¡¯m impressed you were able to beat the boss on your own. But the thanks are still appreciated. So you¡¯re welcome. I¡¯m glad we were able to help in some way.¡±

    Honestly, they really were a help. While this guy on his own wasn¡¯t much of a problem, I got the feeling that if I fought him and his minions on my own, I¡¯d probably be here for at least half a day.

    Finishing up our break, Roy put his ax on his back while Flynn returned his sword to its sheath.

    After that, the three of us started heading deeper into the dungeon.

    We had aimed to at least defeat the second boss today, so while I did wanna rush things along, I couldn¡¯t exactly do something like leave on them.

    Especially since going any further would be impossible without someone like me being there to watch over them.

    Thus, while I wanted to finish things early to see what was going on with Nia, it seemed that was unlikely to happen.

    Walking through the dungeon toward the lower floors, Roy decided to start up a conversation.

    ¡°Say Axel, how are things going with Xara?¡±

    ¡°What do you mean?¡±

    ¡°I mean how far have you two gotten? Are you already banging or are you still at the kissing stage?¡±

    ¡°Er¡­That feels a bit personal, don¡¯t you think?¡±

    ¡°Is it? Strange. My sibling always seem pretty proud when they describe how far they¡¯ve gotten with their lovers. Guess that¡¯s not for everybody.¡±

    Flynn let out a sigh.

    ¡°I think you¡¯re family is an exception. Not even my family has discussions of such matters. If we did, that would just be improper.¡±

    ¡°R-Really? Wow. Now I just feel awkward for bringing it up. Hehe.¡±

    Letting out an awkward chuckle, Roy scratched the back of his head before continuing to talk.

    ¡°Well leaving the banging part out of it, how about you Flynn? Got any lover in your life you enjoy spending time with?¡±

    ¡°No. And it doesn¡¯t matter anyway. I¡¯ve already had five women picked out among royalty whom I¡¯ve been arranged to marry to.¡±

    ¡°Wah-!? You¡¯re parents arranged to get you married to five women!?¡±

    ¡°Of course. Just like my father, and my father''s father, I shall continue growing our family''s influence and growing our name by marrying several partners we deem necessary to elope with.¡±

    ¡°Still. Five women is a lot. Do you even know who they are?¡± asked Roy.

    ¡°I¡¯ve never met them before. However, I¡¯ve memorized all their names so I should have no problem interacting with them.¡±

    ¡°I-I see.¡±

    Roy seemed to be struggling to wrap his head around this. I mean, it¡¯d come as a shock to anyone if they heard someone they knew was getting hooked up with multiple lovers.

    Though, I can¡¯t deny it surprised me a bit too.

    I was already aware polygamy was allowed in this world, but to have an arranged marriage to five women was crazy.

    Then again, I did kinda plan the exact same thing when I got here when I wanted to make all the game''s love interests fall for me.

    But since then, I¡¯ve been through a lot. And honestly, stuff like polygamy just doesn''t interest me that much. As long as I have Xara, that¡¯s all I need. But moving past that for now, it was time to turn this question around on Roy.

    ¡°What about you Roy? Do you have anyone special in your life?¡±

    Roy let out an awkward chuckle.

    ¡°To be honest, not really. I mean, there¡¯s someone I¡¯m interested in, but I don¡¯t know if she¡¯ll like me back. So for the time being, I plan to hold off until I¡¯m ready.¡±

    ¡°Is that so?¡± I asked to which Roy responded with a nod.

    Thinking back, I knew that Ella liked Roy, but if he liked some other girl, that could create a rather.. awkward situation.

    But in the end, it wasn¡¯t really my problem to dive into other people''s love lives so I wasn¡¯t gonna try and push anything. I¡¯m not Cupid after all.

    In response to what Roy said, Flynn looked up at the ceiling while giving his thoughts.

    ¡°I¡¯m not well versed in this field, as I¡¯ve said, but if I were to give you advice, I¡¯d say try interacting with your crush as much as possible. If you don¡¯t, you¡¯ll never know how to enjoy your time together.¡±

    ¡°I get what you''re trying to say, but won¡¯t she find me annoying if I try learning too much about her?¡±

    ¡°Perhaps. But I can¡¯t be certain. As I said before, I¡¯m not well-versed in this field. So you will need to take what I said with a grain of salt.¡±

    ¡°I see. Thanks Flynn. I appreciate the advice.¡±

    Flynn nodded and after that, the three of us went silent for a while.

    Girl talk wasn¡¯t exactly something we did that often, so instances like this always left an awkward atmosphere after they were over.

    Still, we continued pushing forward. Toward the next boss room. Ready for the challenge ahead.

    About an hour later, we arrived.

    ¡°Whoa! This thing is just as large as the last one,¡± Roy said as he looked at the oddly designed door.

    Pulling out the guide, Flynn flipped through it before stopping at the second boss.

    ¡°It says the next one is Bakuro the venomous serpent. A snake that burrows underground and strikes its enemy from below. As well as confuses its opponents by causing earthquakes around the boss room.¡±

    Crossing his arms, Roy looked at the door.

    ¡°Seems like this guy might be a bit annoying. What should we do Axel?¡±

    Thinking things over, I found myself coming up with a plan that I felt could probably work.

    ¡°I have an idea about how we can beat something like this. However, we¡¯ll all need to put our best effort into this. Are you guys willing to hear me out?¡±

    Hearing me ask that question, Roy immediately grinned.

    ¡°Of course! Your ideas have worked well thus far. So I trust your choice.¡±

    Flynn nodded.

    ¡°As he said, we¡¯ve listened to you this long, there¡¯s no point in stopping now.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s good to hear. In that case, this is what I had in mind¡­¡±

    Entering the boss room, we were immediately met with a hissing sound coming from above.

    Looking toward the ceiling, we watched as a giant snake crashed to the ground in front of us.

    It let out another hissing sound that was deeper than the last one as it prepared for its first attack.

    ¡°Alright! Let¡¯s do this!¡± I said.

    ¡°Right!¡± Roy and Flynn shouted in unison as we rushed forward.

    Casting wind magic on myself, I sped up my movement and arrived in front of the snake just as it was about to dive into the ground.

    Using Iron Strike, I slammed my fist into the snake. Sending it flying into the wall.

    However, instead of flinching from the pain like I¡¯d hoped, the snake immediately recovered and dove into the ground.

    ¡°Crap. Alright, you guys! You¡¯re up!¡±

    Nodding, Roy looked at the ground as it started to rumble under us.

    I pushed myself into the air using wind magic and waited for Roy¡¯s signal.

    Then, after ten seconds of watching the ground, the sound of the earth cracking entered our ears and the snake flew out of the ground under Roy¡¯s feet.

    As I had thought, since some snakes have poor eyesight, this guy would try to go for the easiest thing it could see. Which ended up being Roy who was the bulkiest of all three of us.

    Thus, when it came flying up from the ground with its mouth wide open, Roy brought down his ax and tried slicing off the snake''s neck.

    However, it seemed its scales were incredibly tough since all that swing ended up doing was send the snake flying out of the ground.

    Still, I anticipated this as well.

    ¡°Flynn!¡±

    Ready, Flynn started chanting a spell under his breath that strengthened his sword.

    Meanwhile, I flew at the snake and hit it with a ball of wind that sent it flying toward the ceiling.

    Crashing into the roof, rubble fell down from above as the snake''s body made a dent where it landed.

    Slamming down to the ground after that, the snake let out a loud hiss as its head rose up and glared at me. Making it clear this thing was pissed at what I just did. That¡¯s good.

    Now that I was positive its attention was on me, I started flying around the room as the snake gave chase.

    I had to stall this thing for as long as I could, so pushing myself forward, I flew around the room until the snake started to look a bit tired out.

    ¡°Sir Savoncho! I¡¯m ready!¡± shouted Flynn.

    Giving me the signal, I started flying toward Flynn with the snake right behind me.

    With his blade at the ready, Flynn raised it above his head and as soon as I flew by, he brought it down. Right on the snake''s body. Cutting its head off in an instant.

    Without making a sound, the snake''s body collapsed to the ground.

    In the end, the plan was a success.

    ¡°Phew! That thing was heavy! When I hit it, I felt like I was hitting a wall made of steel. Talk about a sturdy body,¡± said Roy.

    Flynn nodded.

    ¡°I admit, had I not put strengthening magic on my sword, I highly doubt I could cut that thing¡¯s head off. Still, it all worked out as planned, so it doesn¡¯t really matter at all.¡±

    As the three of us sat there recovering from that battle, I checked my grimoire again.

    Sure enough, Nia wasn¡¯t responding at all. So now that I was finished here, I want to figure out what¡¯s wrong.

    Getting onto my feet, I touched Roy and Flynn.

    Not sure what I was doing, the two of them were caught off guard when I teleported them outside the dungeon.

    ¡°Alright. We accomplished today''s goal, so is it okay if I head back home now? I need to take care of something.¡±

    ¡°S-Sure! Thanks for joining us today!¡±

    While Flynn tried to figure out what just happened, Roy responded to my words.

    It made sense they wouldn¡¯t understand teleportation. It wasn¡¯t exactly a common thing for someone to just use as they pleased. Still, I didn¡¯t have the time to explain. I needed to find out what was wrong with Nia.

    ¡°Hey. Are you finally done in there? I was starting to get a bit bored.¡±

    ¡°Wah-!?¡±

    I jumped in surprise as Nia¡¯s voice entered my ear.

    Roy and Flynn noticed my weird action and looked at me with confused expressions to which I smiled awkwardly before teleporting back to the middle of my island.

    Once I was there, I decided to get to the bottom of things.

    ¡°Where¡¯ve you been!? You didn¡¯t respond to me at all while we were in the dungeon!¡±

    ¡°Uh¡­Would you believe me if I said I was a bit sidetracked?¡±

    ¡°Sidetracked? With what?¡±

    She never left her grimoire, so was there something inside there she needed to take care of?

    ¡°Um¡­I¡¯d rather not say.¡±

    ¡°You-! Haaah!¡±

    Letting out a frustrated sigh, I started walking toward the mansion. Figuring there was no point to try and dig deeper if she was gonna be like this.

    Thus, the dungeon exploration came to a close and it ended with me getting complaints from Xara about me leaving her behind.

    However, since I ended up teleporting back and picking her up some food that I remember her saying that she liked, I was able to get off with just a short lecture. And that was something I could handle without much issue.

    And so, with that last little bit done, today¡¯s adventure finally came to an end.

 Chapter 48: A Day in the Life of the Creator of Magic

    Leaning back in his office chair, Alister the creator of magic, let out a yawn.

    With the start of the new school year only two weeks away, he had just finished off the last of the paperwork he needed to do before everything got started.

    However, he was all too aware this wasn¡¯t where his work was gonna end since not only was he the principal of the school, but he was also a member of the wizardly Six. Meaning that while the schoolwork was all done, he still had all the things he needed to do as a member of that group.

    Thus, rather than being glad his work was over, he let out a sad sigh before getting up from his chair and preparing to leave the room.

    The group''s next meeting was set to be in a couple of hours, so he still had time before that needed to be done. Even so, it didn¡¯t hurt to prepare himself for what was to come.

    ¡°If I remember correctly, the next thing we¡¯ll be discussing is how to track down all the stuff that¡¯s been going missing across the kingdom over the last few months. I just hope whatever it is will be entertaining. I¡¯m sick of doing nothing but paperwork,¡± Alister mumbled.

    Looking out his window, Alister¡¯s eyes scanned the school grounds below him.

    Since most of the students were away on vacation right now, only a few still remained. Those being the students who had nowhere to go.

    Alister noticed a kid here and there moving around the school, reminding him that even though school is out, that doesn¡¯t mean some people won¡¯t stick around.

    Continuing to look at the school grounds, Alister only stopped when he heard a knock on his door.

    ¡°Come in,¡± he said. Trying to get into principal mode.

    Opening the door, Alister found himself intrigued when someone he hadn¡¯t expected stepped into the room.

    ¡°Ah. Student Council President Haiko. What brings you to my office?¡±

    Haiko, a girl with long straight white hair and a consistently blank expression walked into the room.

    While being the student council president of the school, Haiko was also one of the love interests in Medival Fantasy. The game Axel had been playing before he first entered this world.

    Known as the cold princess among the games community, Haiko was someone who looked out for the student body and tried her best to recruit skilled personnel as well as improve the school for a better learning experience. Something she took great pride in creating. Though, it wasn¡¯t exactly showing on her face due to her past.

    In response to Alister¡¯s question, Haiko handed him a paper.

    ¡°I¡¯d like you to approve these forms for me. I want to make an announcement before school fully get¡¯s started, but I can¡¯t do it without you giving me permission.¡±

    Silently sighing at the extra paperwork, Alister scanned what was on the sheet. And the more he read, the more he was intrigued.

    ¡°So everything is in order now, huh? And are you sure they¡¯ll cooperate?¡±

    Haiko shrugged her shoulders.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know. All I can do is try my best. But if they say no, then that¡¯ll be the end of that.¡±

    ¡°I see. Well, I can¡¯t say I really like that mindset, but I respect your decision.¡±

    Alister was used to pushing people until he got what he wanted. So simply giving up at the starting line like what Haiko was saying really didn¡¯t sit right with him.

    Even so, he was curious to see exactly what would happen with this turn of events. Thus, he signed the papers and looked at Haiko.

    ¡°Alright. You¡¯re all good to go. Just give me some time to prepare the last few things and once I¡¯m done, I¡¯ll let you know.¡±

    ¡°I appreciate your help with this Principal Alister.¡±

    ¡°Of course. It¡¯s the least I can do if it means helping the students at my school grow.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m glad you see it that way. Well then, I must be off now. Goodbye, Principal Alister.¡±

    ¡°Goodbye Haiko. I hope your efforts bear fruit.¡±

    So, with a small bow, Haiko left the room.

    Once she was gone, Alister thought about the paper he had just read.

    ¡°Seems she¡¯s pretty intent on making this happen. Even so, determination can only get you so far when it comes to asking others for their help. Even so, I wish her the best of luck.¡±

    After saying that, Alister left the room to walk around the school until it was time to meet with the others.

    Roaming around the school, Alister noticed some students who were fighting it out with magic. They seemed to be having a duel of sorts where they tried seeing who fell first.

    Silently cheering them on, Alister stuck his hands in his pockets and went over to the cafeteria.

    ¡°Ah. Hello there Principal Alister,¡± said a lunch lady who happily greeted Alister with a smile.

    ¡°Hey there Lizzie. Do you have some food I could snack on? I¡¯m feeling a bit hungry.¡±

    ¡°Of course! Would you like an egg bagel or a hambugu?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll take the egg bagel today.¡±

    ¡°Coming right up!¡±

    Heading to the back, the lunch lady came out a few minutes later and handed Alister a hot and ready egg bagel.

    ¡°I heated it back up so enjoy it before it gets cold.¡±

    ¡°Right. I will. Thanks, Lizzie.¡±

    Waving the lunch lady goodbye, Alister took the bagel and formed a small stone plate that he placed the bagel on before letting the plate float next to him.

    Taking the bagel off for a second, he bit into it. Enjoying the delicious flavor before putting it back on the plate.

    ¡°Haaah. what a pleasant day,¡± Alister muttered as he walked out into one of the school''s many yards and took in the breeze blowing past him.

    It was peaceful times like this that reminded him just how nice life could be.

    Sitting down on a bench, Alister started to get comfortable when something suddenly echoed in his ear.

    ¡°Headmaster Alister, could you help me with something?¡±

    He recognized that voice. It was Durio. Another member of the Wizardly Six.

    He was using the special magic communication system Alister had created so they the Wizardly Six could easily talk with each other if needed.

    ¡°Depends. What do you need help with?¡±

    ¡°Well you see, I¡¯m currently away from my home at the moment and learned that bandits seem to be sneaking around inside. So if you could take care of them I¡¯d appreciate that.¡±

    ¡°You want me to do something as boring as stop bandits?¡±

    Alister was enjoying the peace fine enough, but fighting bandits wasn¡¯t exactly something he was that thrilled about doing.

    ¡°I know it doesn¡¯t seem that fun, but if you do this, I¡¯ll be sure to make good on that thing you asked me.¡±

    ¡°Hm? You mean about letting your daughter come to my school!? Really!?¡±

    ¡°Y-Yeah.¡±

    ¡°But is this really a big enough deal for you to change your mind?¡±

    Durio let out a sigh.

    ¡°I know it sounds a bit drastic, but I wanna impress my third wife when I bring her back to my home, so I want those guys cleared out before they steal anything.¡±

    ¡°Even though you live in such a cheap mansion? I mean you could easily buy a better one instead of asking me to take care of this. Maybe then she¡¯d be even more impressed.¡±

    ¡°Look, she¡¯s a commoner and since I¡¯m sure even a cheap mansion would impress her, I¡¯d rather not waste money on getting a new place.¡±

    ¡°Always the cheapskate, aren¡¯t you?¡±

    ¡°Can you just take care of it?¡±

    Durio completely ignored Alisters comment and tried to move things along.

    Thinking over for a second, Alister gave his response.

    ¡°Sure. How many bandits need to be taken care of?¡±

    ¡°About two hundred. How long do you think that¡¯ll take?¡±

    ¡°If I were to estimate, I¡¯d say about twenty minutes. That sound good to you.¡±

    ¡°S-Sure. Just be sure to clean the place up once you¡¯re done making a mess.¡±

    ¡°Got it. Well then, I¡¯ll call you back when I¡¯m done.¡±

    ¡°Sounds good. Talk to you soon headmaster.¡±

    ¡°Yeah. Talk to you soon.¡±

    Ending their communication, Alister stretched out his arms.

    He knew this would just be a boring job, but having the chance of bringing that prodigy of Durio¡¯s into the school, he couldn¡¯t pass this up. That much he was certain of.

    Thus, he got up from the bench, quickly chowed down the last of his egg bagel, and started casting a spell with a strange purple circle appearing below him.This novel''s true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there.

    Moments later, he vanished from sight.

    Appearing in the sky, Alister looked down to see what Durio said was in fact true.

    As of right now, two or so hundred bandits were trying to sneak into his house and steal his stash of money.

    It made sense why they¡¯d want to.

    With how much of a cheapskate Durio was, it was pretty obvious he¡¯d have a ton of money hidden away somewhere. Whether that be in his home or somewhere else nobody knew. Still, it was worth the risk to come here just in case.

    Although, a part of Alister doubted they knew this was Durio¡¯s house.

    They probably figured it was some rich nobles humble abode and decided to raid it for rare stuff. Having no clue it was the home of a member of the Wizardly Six.

    ¡°Now then, how should I do this?¡± muttered Alister.

    ¡°It¡¯d be easy enough to just teleport them outside and make them fall to their deaths, but I want something with more pazazz. Hm¡­Oh! I got it!¡±

    Coming up with an idea, Alister spotted where one of the bandits was on lookout duty and landed in front of them.

    Ah-! We got a-Mrph!¡±

    Before the guard could say anything, Alister knocked him to the ground and cast a sleeping spell. Knocking the bandit out.

    After that, he cast a spell to block him from the other bandit''s sight and started putting on the unconscious bandit''s outfit.

    Then, after getting a look at his enemy''s face, Alister cast a spell that made him look just like the guy he took out.

    Pulling a mirror from what seemed like out of nowhere, Alister looked himself over for a second.

    ¡°Oops! I missed a spot,¡± he said placing a mole that was slightly hidden by the end of his bandit''s mask.

    ¡°A bandit companion going rogue and killing all his teammates. Now that¡¯s much more interesting!¡±

    In order to make sure the guy¡¯s body wouldn¡¯t be found, Alister sunk the bandit into the ground leaving only a small hole for some air.

    ¡°Now then, let¡¯s enjoy this!¡±

    As he said that, Alister started walking toward the building. Ready to have a bit of fun.

    Looking through the place, the leader of the bandits growled in anger.

    He had hoped they could find treasure within this nobleman''s house. However, everything here wasn¡¯t worth more than ten or twenty silvr. Whoever the guy that lived here was, he seemed to be a cheapskate.

    Still, money was money. Thus, while he was annoyed at these results, the bandit started stashing things into a bag on his back.

    It was while he was doing this, that something unexpected happened.

    ¡°Boss! Boss!¡±

    Hearing someone''s voice, the bandit leader turned to one of his lackeys who was running up to him. Practically out of breath as she stopped in front of the leader.

    ¡°What is it?¡±

    ¡°I-It¡¯s Jeff! He¡¯s gone rogue and he¡¯s killing everyone!¡±

    ¡°Huh!?¡±

    Jeff, someone the bandit leader knew to be a pretty tame guy that stood on lookout most of the time, was going rogue?

    ¡°Explain! What do mean by that!¡±

    ¡°I-It happened out of nowhere! One moment things seemed fine but then Jeff came and started casting fire magic at everyone. It was like he felt no sympathy at all for his comrades!¡±

    This all sounded impossible to believe.

    ¡°Take me to him right now! I need to see this for myself!¡±

    ¡°Right away Boss!¡±

    He didn¡¯t understand what was happening, or why Jeff had started killing everyone. Even so, he needed to get to the bottom of things.

    Thus, he followed his bandit companion toward the center of the commotion.

    ¡°There he is!¡± shouted the bandit as she pointed at the man she thought was Jeff.

    Looking toward where the bandit was pointing, the bandit leader couldn¡¯t believe what he was seeing.

    Jeff stood there with a flaming ball of fire in his hand. Casually throwing it at someone the leader thought Jeff was close to and watching the man burn away until he was nothing but ashes.

    Growling in anger, the bandit leader grabbed the sword at his hip and pulled it out of his scabbard.

    ¡°Dammit Jeff. I don¡¯t know how you got so powerful with fire magic, but that ends right here and now!¡±

    Turning toward the bandit leader, Alister, who had disguised himself as Jeff, looked at his opponent.

    ¡°So the leader shows his face, huh?¡± muttered Alister who turned to his next enemy.

    It had been about fifteen minutes since Alister started and he¡¯d only managed to clean out around a hundred and ten bandits. Meaning he¡¯d need to speed things along if he wanted to wrap this up in the twenty-minute timeframe he gave Durio.

    Thus, even though it was boring, he knew what he had to do. But before that, he figured a minute with the boss wouldn¡¯t hurt.

    ¡°Raaah!¡±

    Charging at Alister, the boss attempted to slice his head clean off.

    However, Alister easily dodged it and turned his hand into a fist.

    ¡°Iron Smash,¡± Alister whispered as his arm turned strong as iron before slamming into the boss¡¯s stomach.

    ¡°Gawk!¡±

    The boss was sent flying backward into the wall. Leaving cracks in the design''s exterior.

    ¡°Crap! Now I¡¯m gonna have to patch that up. Damn it. And here I was thinking taking care of bandits was all I¡¯d have to do.¡±

    The boss couldn¡¯t hear what Alister was saying at all since he was too busy forcing himself onto his feet.

    ¡°W-Where the hell did Jeff get that kind of strength!?¡± the boss thought as he staggered while attempting to stand up.

    That blow was enough to break a few bones in his body. Something he never once considered Jeff was able to do.

    Not giving him a second to think, Alister appeared in front of the boss and hit him with another attack. Breaking the wall completely. All while muttering how since it was already broken, he might as well keep going.

    Feeling his body being absolutely battered, the bandit leader coughed up some blood.

    ¡°Boss!¡± shouted the bandit who¡¯d brought him here.

    ¡°Haah. I guess there needs to be at least one witness among these guys, otherwise they might come back,¡± muttered Alister as he cast a sleeping spell. Knocking the bandit out in an instant.

    ¡°Bonnet!¡± the boss tried to shout out only for more blood to fall from his mouth.

    ¡°Hm. I guess you know her. Oh well. That doesn¡¯t really matter right now.¡±

    Turning to the bandit leader, cracking his knuckles in intimidation.

    ¡°Look, I don¡¯t have much time left. Sorry bout this, but I¡¯m gonna have to finish you off real quick.¡±

    ¡°H-Huh!?¡±

    ¡°Those words sounded way too casual for someone like Jeff. That means this guy''s a fake!¡±

    Despite reaching that conclusion in his head, it didn¡¯t matter anymore. Since as the bandit leader laid there, Alister held out his hand and a cold black circle appeared in front of the bandit leader.

    ¡°Mini Black Hole.¡±

    As Alister said those words, a small charcoal-colored ball appeared in front of him. Sucking up the bandit leader and erasing any trace of him from existence.

    ¡°Alright. With that done, I guess I should finish things up with the rest of them,¡± Alister said aloud before teleporting out of the mansion.

    Looking down below, the whole place was in a massive panic. And everyone was starting to run away.

    ¡°Blah blah don¡¯t think you¡¯ll get away so easily or whatever,¡± mumbled Alister. Uninterested in all this.

    And then, Alister simply held out his hand and in an instant, all the remaining bandits appeared in the air next to him before all falling to their deaths. Screaming the entire way down.

    ¡°Man. Who would¡¯ve guessed pretending to be the enemy would be so time-consuming? I¡¯m definitely gonna avoid doing that again. Plus, I can¡¯t explain why, but the whole thing just feels¡­wrong. Like, extremely messed up.¡±

    Realizing just how screwed up this whole plan ended up being, Alister fixed up the house before returning to the school.

    ¡°So it¡¯s all taken care of?¡± asked Durio.

    ¡°Pretty much yeah. However, I did leave two of them alive so I could create a fun story that should keep other bandits away. Is that fine with you?¡±

    ¡°Yeah. That¡¯s no problem. I¡¯m just glad everything went as planned. And just like you promised, it only took twenty minutes.¡±

    ¡°I aim to please.¡±

    ¡°Well then, I¡¯ll talk to you at the meeting later headmaster. Goodbye for now.¡±

    ¡°Yeah. Talk to you later.¡±

    After saying that, Alister heard Durio end communication on the other end.

    Having made it back to his office, Alister sat down in his chair and looked out at the school below.

    He was fond of this school and the people it created. Even if there were still cracks to be filled up.

    That was why, even if it took time, he¡¯d never hesitate to help out a student. Even those who worked alongside him now like Durio.

    That also includes a particular boy with greyish-white hair and crimson-red eyes. A boy with a particular strange book that always stayed on the belt at his waist. Someone that Alister found quite intriguing and couldn¡¯t wait to learn more about.

    ¡°Achoo!¡±

    I let out a loud sneeze as I sat up in bed.

    It was far too early to get up, but thanks to that sneeze, I was wide awake.

    Stretching out my arms, I got up and looked out at the sky from my window.

    The sun was just coming up over the horizon. Making it clear it was still pretty dang early.

    Letting out a sigh, I rubbed my eyes.

    ¡°Guess it¡¯s time to get moving for the day,¡± I muttered before slipping on some casual clothes.

    ¡°So what are we gonna do today?¡± asked Nia from within the grimoire.

    ¡°At this point, I don¡¯t know.¡±

    There was only two weeks left until school started back up again, but despite there still being time left beforehand, I couldn¡¯t really think of how else to pass time until we were supposed to head back. Especially with how Xara was here and wanted to spend as much time with me as possible.

    ¡°Hm. How about you and Xara go out and visit that Matsuri Empire place?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯d rather avoid that place for the time being, personally.¡±

    Last time wasn¡¯t exactly the best for me, so until I felt like I could handle it, I¡¯d rather put off visiting again.

    ¡°In that case, why not just go on a date? You two have been hanging out a lot, but never really gone on an actual date.¡±

    Thinking it over, that was actually a pretty good idea.

    ¡°Good thinking Nia. It¡¯s true we¡¯ve been hanging out for a while, but we still haven¡¯t gone a date since¡­well..since the school year I guess.¡±

    ¡°All the more reason! Go on and ask her about it already!¡±

    ¡°Right!¡±

    ¡°A date!? Really!?¡±

    ¡°Yeah. I figured it¡¯d be nice to go on an actual date instead of just hanging out. What do you think?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯d love to!¡±

    I was caught off guard when Axel, who normally was fine with anything, actually asked me to go out on a date with him. I was ecstatic.

    ¡°Just let me get myself ready!¡±

    ¡°O-Ok!¡±

    Quickly chomping down the rest of my food, I dashed out of the cafeteria and hurried toward the guest room Axel had let me borrow.

    Rushing inside, I immediately opened up my bag and started digging through my stuff.

    Clink

    As I did so, I suddenly heard the sound of glass and turned to look at one of the back pockets of my bag. When I opened it up, I was caught off guard when I saw what was inside.

    It was a pink liquid that gave off a nice aroma with its effects only being held back by the bottle itself.

    ¡°T-This is the aphrodisiac I was trying to leave at home!¡±

    I thought I¡¯d convinced my mom to let me leave it behind. Did she sneak it in when I wasn¡¯t looking? But I double-checked before I left. When did she have the time to do that?

    Well, I guess it didn¡¯t matter since it was here now.

    Looking at the aphrodisiac, I was reminded of that whole dragon marriage ceremony thing.

    I was used to that sort of thing thanks to my parents, but it was still fascinating to see. Even if I haven¡¯t actually experienced it myself.

    And as my mind drifted to that, it eventually led to me thinking about what would happen if Axel and I tried something like that. And when my thoughts drifted there, I couldn¡¯t help but blush.

    I mean, I wasn¡¯t opposed, but perhaps waiting until we graduated would be the best choice. Though, if Axel was interested¡­

    ¡°N-No! I can¡¯t think indecent thoughts right now! I need to focus on my date with Axel!¡±

    As I thought about those words, I finished digging through my bag and found a dress I liked.

    Putting it on, I looked at myself in the mirror. Smiling.

    After that, I packed a small purse with some things I figured I might need and once I was positive I was good to go, I stepped out of the room. Ready for the date ahead of me.

 Chapter 49: Future Preparations

    ¡°Hah! Hah! Hah!¡±

    Swinging his sword with a tremendous amount of force, Riko ignored the sweat falling from his face as he tried to improve his swing strength even by a little bit.

    He¡¯d done this time and time again with little improvement.

    He hadn¡¯t anticipated this, so Riko, or rather, the man who reincarnated as Riko, found himself growing frustrated by his lack of progress and all he could do was keep swinging. Hoping that might calm him down if even a little bit.

    Taking a minute to rest, Riko sat down and rubbed his eyes.

    Back in school, he figured it¡¯d be easy enough to play out his role and nail a girlfriend before living the rest of his life in peace.

    However, when Axel Savoncho entered the picture, that changed everything and ruined his plans of hooking up with Xara.

    Not wanting to give up, Riko tried going for Dianne next. But it didn¡¯t take long for him to notice something was different when the scene that was supposed to be her confession to him ended up being a cop-out. Not only that, but he noticed her constantly glancing at Savoncho time and time again whenever the three of them were in the same room. It angered Riko to no end when he didn¡¯t just lose one, but two love interests to this guy.

    Even so, he couldn¡¯t deny the Axel''s abilities. Which was why, despite hating the guy, led Riko and Xara to making a little deal with him during the hunter games and now, it wouldn''t be long before that bargain was set be completed.

    And with the day they were supposed to meet fast approaching, all Riko could do was swing his sword.

    Thus, once he was done with his break, he returned to swinging. Working hard to improve himself bit by bit so that one day, if possible, he could surpass the man he hated and maybe even take back what he deserved.

    In a similar fashion to Riko, Ella was training hard with her sword. However, unlike Riko, Ella was training with a partner.

    ¡°Begin!¡± shouted an old man as he waved down his hand.

    On that signal, Ella dashed forward with her sword at the ready.

    ¡°Haah!¡±

    Trying to catch her off-guard, her opponent slid to the side and tried to fake her out.

    Sensing this, Ella took a step back and avoided the weapon just before it cut into her.

    Looking caught off guard, the opponent tried to take a step back which Ella took advantage of and aimed to sweep them off their feet.

    However, she never could¡¯ve figured that this was also a fake out.

    ¡°Watch out,¡± her opponent said casually before jumping over her attack and elbowing her in the face. Knocking her to the ground.

    ¡°Ow!¡±

    Landing on her butt, Ella rubbed her rear only to find a sword pointing at her neck.

    ¡°Looks like I won again," said her opponent as they returned their sword to its sheath.

    Getting onto her feet, Ella chuckled awkwardly.

    ¡°You really are skilled Flynn. I just can¡¯t seem to win.¡±

    Flynn, who crossed his arms, shook his head.

    ¡°No. You saw through my first fake-out with ease. Not only that, but our previous battles showed me that despite your lack of training, you have an understanding of the blade.¡±

    ¡°Eheheh. Thanks.¡±

    ¡°With that said, there is still much to improve. So for the time being, we should keep training.¡±

    ¡°R-Right¡­¡±

    It had only been three days since Ella had first asked Flynn to help with her training.

    She figured since he had an understanding of the sword, he was someone she could rely on for help. But to her surprise, he was far better than she could¡¯ve ever anticipated. Not only that, he was a good teacher who explained what she needed to improve on. It made her wonder how he was a student instead of a teacher. Even so, she still really appreciated the help.

    ¡°Alright. Are you ready to try again,¡± Flynn asked. Pulling his blade out to which Ella responded by getting into position.

    Standing between them, the old man from before raised his arm high.

    ¡°Ready? Begin!¡±

    As he brought his hand down, the two of them charged at each other. Continuing their training for the rest of the day.

    In her room, Dianne was standing above her bed using a ladder to take down the photos of Riko she still had set up.

    ¡°Just two more,¡± she muttered as she grabbed at one of the two remaining photos. Pulling it off and dropping it to the ground which was now completely covered with the torn-down pictures.

    Reaching out for the last one, Dianne peeled it off and looked at it.

    The photo was one that she was given after the events during that one school trip she¡¯d planned to confess her feelings to Riko.

    However, right before she confessed, she found herself hesitating.

    At the time she didn¡¯t know why, but she just found herself struggling to really say the right words. Like what she was trying to say just sounded wrong.

    Not only that but as she tried to force out the words, she found herself thinking about Axel. Which only confused her even more.

    But now, she finally understood.

    She didn¡¯t know when it happened, but at some point, she had fallen in love with Axel. Was it because of his help with Riko, or what he did during the hunter games? She had no idea. Even so, the fact of the matter was that she¡¯d fallen in love with him and hoped that one day when she knew how to say the words, she would be able to tell him that. But until then, she was fine just being friends.

    Getting down from the ladder, Dianne picked up all the photos and walked over to her desk. Opening one of the drawers, she put the pictures inside and closed it up. Ready to move on and keep walking forward.

    Suddenly, she heard a knock on her door.

    ¡°Princess Dianne, dinner will be ready soon and your parents wished for me to escort you to the dining room.¡±

    A maid spoke through the door with a formal tone. Making it clear she was focused on doing her job.

    ¡°Right. Just give me a minute and I¡¯ll be right out.¡±

    ¡°Understood Princess Dianne.¡±

    After that, Dianne changed into something a little more formal and walked out of the room. Following the maid toward the dinner table.

    Arriving a few minutes later, the king and queen were already sitting there waiting for her.

    Sitting down herself, the maid walked off as Dianne got comfortable.

    Turning to her, the king looked like he was about to say something, only for the queen to interrupt.

    ¡°So Dianne, have you spoken with that boy since we met him a few weeks ago?¡±

    Dianne was a bit surprised by this question. Still, she responded in a calm and collected tone.

    ¡°I have not. He¡¯s been busy with other things so we haven¡¯t spoken since. More than likely we won¡¯t be seeing each other again until school starts back up.¡±

    ¡°I see. That¡¯s disappointing. I thought he had some nice charm to him. Though he could learn to be a bit less tense when around other people.¡±

    ¡°Mother¡­I¡¯m pretty sure he was only that tense because he was with the king and queen.¡±

    ¡°Oh? Do you really think so?¡±

    The king crossed his arms.

    ¡°That¡¯s sad to hear. With what he¡¯s done for you, I¡¯d love to see how he acted normally. I¡¯m sure he¡¯d be an interesting fellow that¡¯s for sure.¡±

    ¡°...Why are you guys even talking about Sir Savoncho? It seems like a rather odd conversation to have.

    ¡°Huh? Why wouldn¡¯t we talk about my future son-in-law?¡± asked the King.

    ¡°Huh!? Son-in-law!?¡±

    ¡°Well of course. You like him, don¡¯t you? I¡¯d say put a ring on it as soon as possible.¡±

    ¡°Wah-!? W-W-What are you saying, father!?¡±

    Dianne was bright red. Causing her father to let out a small laugh while his wife smiled.

    ¡°You don¡¯t have to pretend. We know you like the boy. It¡¯s fairly obvious even to me,¡± said the queen.

    ¡°Yeah. And considering how long it took your mother to realize I was interested, I think it¡¯s best you let your feelings be known sooner rather than later!¡±

    B-B-But¡­¡±

    Steam rose from Dianne¡¯s head. Causing her to struggle with making a coherent sentence.

    In the meantime, the food arrived and was placed in front of the three family members.

    The King and Queen happily started eating as Dianne just sat there stuck in place with a beet-red face.Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.

    After a few minutes, Dianne managed to calm herself down and started eating.

    ¡°I mean, it¡¯s true that I¡¯m rather fond of Sir Savoncho, but even if there was anything romantic, it wouldn¡¯t work. We¡¯re of different statuses after all.¡±

    ¡°Hm? And why would they make a difference?¡± asked the King.

    ¡°Huh? Isn¡¯t status important when two people wed?¡±

    ¡°Well in some cases that might be true, but for you, this would just be a good opportunity to achieve your goal.¡±

    ¡°My¡­goal?¡±

    ¡°Yes. You want to close the difference between royalty and commoners, correct?¡±

    ¡°Erm¡­Well yes. But what does that have to do with anything?¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re saying it¡¯s not obvious? I¡¯m basically trying to tell you that marrying him would get you closer to that goal. Since it means even common folk have a chance at finding life with royalty.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s¡­true.¡±

    She had never thought about it like that. She just figured it was something she¡¯d have to work around when confessing to him. However, when she thought about it as a chance to get closer to her goal, it made sense. Even so, marrying him not only seemed like a bit much, but she needed his consent. Since romance without giving the other the right to say yes or no wasn¡¯t a true romance at all.

    ¡°Even so, I¡¯m not ready to speak with him about such things yet. So if you could let me move at my own pace, I¡¯d appreciate that.¡±

    The king and queen were silent for a second before responding.

    ¡°I see. Well, we understand. Just please do when you can, I¡¯d love grandchildren as soon as possible,¡± said the queen.

    ¡°Mother!¡±

    Giving a light chuckle to her daughter''s screaming voice, the queen continued eating her food with the king following suit. All the while Dianne sat there with steam rising high above her head. Flustered by the words her parents had just said.

    Entering the meeting room of the Wizardly Six, Alister looked around only to find no one else had arrived yet.

    It made sense considering he arrived early, but he was used to seeing at least Royil in there with how much of a stickler for time he was.

    However, not a single person was inside.

    Thus, Alister just got into his seat and sat there awkwardly waiting for the others to arrive.

    As he did so, he looked at the papers that were important to today''s meeting.

    It seemed they were going to be discussing some details involved in some of the developments moving across the world. A topic they discussed fairly frequently due to how often things changed.

    Although as he thought back on it, he still remembered the day he heard something crazy that even he couldn¡¯t have anticipated when it was revealed that someone had found a floating island and claimed it as their own.

    He didn¡¯t know at the time it belonged to the infamous Axel Savoncho he¡¯d heard so much about, but a part of him really wanted to go see the island for himself.

    But with how busy he could be, he never found the time to do so.

    Even when he had time off he just couldn''t find a good way to approach Savoncho and ask him if Alister could come onto the island. Thus, he still hadn¡¯t given it a visit.

    But despite that, his interest was still peaked. So if he was given the chance to check it out, he was sure to leap at the opportunity.

    However, with that chance seemingly quite far off, all Alister could do was keep moving forward.

    Click

    Hearing a sound, Alister looked up from the papers and saw Durio enter the room.

    Spotting Alister, Durio gave him a wave.

    ¡°Hey there Headmaster. It¡¯s good to see ya. Oh! And thanks for your help earlier.¡±

    Alister smiled.

    ¡°No thanks necessary. I simply kept my end of the deal. Speaking of which, do you plan to keep yours? It was quite dull having to clean up the mess once I was done.¡±

    ¡°Yeah yeah. I¡¯ll be sure she joins this school when she starts her freshmen year. Though that won¡¯t be for a good minute.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m happy to hear that. With her abilities, I¡¯m positive she¡¯ll be a great student.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m sure. But anyway, where is everybody? I figured at least Royil would be here, but there¡¯s no one else.¡±

    ¡°I find myself wondering that as well. They haven¡¯t called in at all, so I assume their still coming. But this is a bit unusual.¡±

    As Alister said that, a voice suddenly entered his ear. Causing him to put his finger to his ear like he was wearing an earpiece.

    ¡°Hm? Is that so? Got it. I understand. Thanks for letting me know.¡±

    Finishing whatever call he just got, Alister turned to Durio.

    ¡°It seems Yamito won¡¯t be joining us today.¡±

    ¡°Again!? This is the fourth meeting in a row!¡± shouted Durio

    Alister let out a sigh.

    ¡°Well we can¡¯t really blame her, she actively runs a whole nation after all. I¡¯d be more surprised if she had all the free time in the world with how many things go down around there.¡±

    ¡°I guess you¡¯re right. She is the only person brave enough to form a whole nation close to demon territory. Either that or the most stupid.¡±

    Alister let out a chuckle.

    ¡°Can you stop calling it demon territory already? Demons haven¡¯t held settlement there since the last demon lord was killed fifty years ago.¡±

    ¡°Well, it¡¯s not like I can just forget about that place. It¡¯s where I lost a lot of comrades after all.¡±

    ¡°I guess that¡¯s fair. Still, leaving demon stuff aside, taking care of a nation is a big responsibility. So we need to respect when Yamito can¡¯t make it.¡±

    Staying silent for a moment, Durio responded with a sigh.

    ¡°Alright. I understand. I just hope she can make it next time. There¡¯s a lot of things I need to talk with her about.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m sure she¡¯ll be here next time. So for now, just sit down and wait for the others.¡±

    ¡°...Okay.¡±

    Deciding to let the whole thing go, for now, Durio sat down.

    Just as he did so, two more people walked into the room.

    ¡°Oh? Alister and Durio are here first. Strange. I really thought Royil would beat us all to the punch.¡±

    The one who said that was a man in his early thirties with slick back silver hair that seemed to sparkle. This man was known as Fruis.

    ¡°Really? Talk about strange,¡± said another man behind him who had a bulky feature, short brown hair that made him look practically bald, and skin tanned to the point he looked like he cooked himself to a crisp. This man was Elbrick.

    Sitting down, the two men looked around the room.

    At this point, four of the wizardly six had gathered, with a fifth absent due to personal reasons. Meaning there was only one missing.

    ¡°Did Yamito call in absent?" Elbrick asked Alister who nodded his head.

    ¡°She said she had to deal with a dispute involving a neighboring nation. So she couldn¡¯t make it.¡±

    ¡°Damn. That¡¯d sure be a pain to take care of. Makes me glad I don¡¯t have to deal with things like that.¡±

    ¡°So you say, but don¡¯t you literally run a country of your own, meathead?¡± asked Durio with a bored tone.

    ¡°That¡¯s different. The people run everything. I just do what I please.¡±

    ¡°Oh, how I envy such freedom.¡±

    ¡°Hmph. Do you think I can¡¯t tell when you¡¯re being sarcastic? Well news flash cheapskate, beating punks with your kind attitude are a cakewalk for me!¡±

    ¡°Is that so? In that case, how about we have another duel? I¡¯d love to beat you into the ground like I did last time.¡±

    ¡°Wah-!? You little-!¡±

    ¡°Relax Elbrick. We aren¡¯t here to pick fights with the others. Stuff like that should be saved for after we¡¯re done here,¡± said Alister.

    ¡°Grr¡­Understood Headmaster.¡±

    Calming Elbrick down, Alister neatly aligned the papers in his hands and placed them on the table.

    As he did so, the final person they were waiting for stepped into the room.

    ¡°Ah. Royil. So good of you to finally join us,¡± Durio said in a sarcastic tone.

    Instead of responding, Royil simply sat down and turned to Alister.

    ¡°I apologize for being late Headmaster. I was being kept up by some personal matters so I was a bit delayed. I hope I didn¡¯t keep you.¡±

    Alister shook his head.

    ¡°Not at all. We¡¯re just glad you could make it.¡±

    ¡°I see.¡±

    Royil looked around the room.

    ¡°Is Miss Yamito not joining us?¡±

    ¡°No. She had some business to attend to,¡± replied Alister.

    ¡°Understood. In that case, shall we get started then?¡±

    ¡°Of course.¡±

    Looking down at the papers for a moment, Alister brought his attention to the people in front of him as he clasped his hands together.

    ¡°Now then, here¡¯s what I wanted to discuss first.¡±

    Pointing at the paper, Alister started talking to the others and another meeting between the members of the Wizardly Six had officially begun.

    ¡°Hm. Are you sure this looks good? It feels a bit off to me,¡± I said looking at myself in the mirror.

    ¡°Haah. For the millionth time, yes. You look great. I know you don¡¯t understand fashion that well, but you¡¯re way too paranoid.¡±

    ¡°This coming from the girl who wears the same outfit all the time.¡±

    With it almost being time to leave for my date with Xara, I asked Nia to come out of the grimoire and tell me what her thoughts were on my outfit since she might understand what girls would like a guy to wear on a date.

    However, despite her saying it was all fine, the whole thing just didn¡¯t feel right when I looked at myself in the mirror.

    I wasn¡¯t wearing anything too fancy, but it wasn¡¯t exactly casual either.

    I had a white shirt that was covered by a black overcoat, along with a grey tie, and black pants which wrapped up with shiny leather boots.

    ¡°I really don¡¯t know about this,¡± I muttered.

    ¡°Look, you¡¯re fine. It¡¯s not as big of a deal as you''re making it out to be.¡±

    ¡°But...¡±

    ¡°No buts! You. Are. Good!¡±

    I still didn¡¯t think it fit right. But at this point, I was just delaying our departure. So, deciding to suck it up, I took in a deep breath and checked to make sure I had everything I needed. All while Nia returned to the grimiore on my belt.

    Once I was confident that I was good to go, I walked out of the room and started making my way toward the entrance of the mansion.

    I made sure Sirin told Xara to meet me at the front of the house, so if she was ready, she¡¯d be there by now. But if she wasn¡¯t, I would simply wait for her.

    Wanting to calm my heart down, I decided to walk to the door instead of teleport and thankfully, that seemed to help me calm down a bit.

    And when I finally made it to the door, I was surprised to find Xara wasn¡¯t there yet.

    ¡°Weird. With how excited she was, I was positive she¡¯d beat me here.¡±

    Well, whatever. I¡¯d simply wait until she got here.

    Thus, I waited¡­and waited¡­and waited for about ten minutes.

    I didn¡¯t know what was keeping her since this was the time I had told us to meet, but if she wasn¡¯t here within the next few minutes, I was gonna check and see if everything was okay.

    So, I continued waiting. And then two minutes later, I finally heard footsteps.

    ¡°Sorry Axel! I was struggling to put my dress on and it took me some time to figure it out.¡±

    ¡°Er¡­It¡¯s fine. I¡¯m just glad you¡¯re...¡±

    Just as I was about to finish my sentence, I got a look at Xara¡¯s outfit.

    She wore a fluffy black dress with a rose design covering the entire bottom of the dress.

    The skirt of the dress stopped right above her feet and she had a purple purse on her right arm that she casually adjusted while I looked at her.

    ¡°You look¡­amazing,¡± I muttered. Amazed at how beautiful she looked.

    ¡°R-Really? I¡¯m glad to hear that. You look great too.¡±

    Xara looked a bit embarrassed as she said that. But even so, she smiled and grabbed my hand.

    ¡°Well then, shall we get going?

    ¡°Y-Yeah.¡±

    Holding her hand tightly, I found it a bit hard to focus on casting my teleportation spell.

    Even so, I attempted to calm my mind and thought about the first location I wanted to visit for this date and once I was confident I could pull it off, I cast my spell. Teleporting us there in an instant.

    Watching me struggle to focus like that, Nia told me later how funny she thought I looked. To which I gave her a light hit to the noggin. But that wasn¡¯t important right now.

    What was important was that it was time for my date and I was ready to give it my best effort.

 Chapter 50: A Date to Remember

    So arriving at our first destination, Xara and I entered a favorite restaurant of mine.

    Welcome to Dave¡¯s Diner! Oh? Hey there Savoncho. I haven¡¯t seen you since that school break of yours started. How¡¯s it going?¡±

    ¡°Pretty good. In fact, I¡¯m here on a date right now. You¡¯ve met her before.¡±

    Looking next to me Dave saw Xara standing there bowing her head.

    ¡°Ah. That girlfriend of yours. That¡¯s nice kid. Though, is my place the best spot for a date? It¡¯s not exactly fancy.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m sure. No one makes as good of a burger as you.¡±

    ¡°Heheh. Thanks. In that case, give me a few minutes and I¡¯ll come by and take your orders. In the meantime, find a table for yourselves. There are a few other people here, but it should be easy enough to find one.¡±

    ¡°Right. Thanks, Dave.¡±

    ¡°Yes. Thank you!¡±

    Xara was trying to be as polite as possible, repeatedly bowing her head before following me.

    Trying to look around for a table, I found a nice corner to sit down and eat. However, just as I was about to head over there, I heard someone''s voice.

    ¡°He,y Axel! Over here!¡±

    Turning to the voice, I found none other than Roy sitting there with Ella on the opposite side.

    Curious as to what was going on, I walked over to the two of them.

    Roy seemed ecstatic to see us, but Ella seemed to be a bit annoyed.

    She wasn¡¯t the only one either. Xara looked rather displeased at this date being interrupted. So for the time being, I needed to try and wrap this up quickly.

    ¡°Er¡­Hey there Roy. How¡¯s it going?¡±

    ¡°Pretty good. Ella and I were just meeting up to talk about school stuff we needed to prepare for in the new school year when I happened to see you. Speaking of which, why don¡¯t you join us?¡±

    I could tell Roy was trying to be nice here, that was clear enough. But considering I had eyes drilling into me from both Xara and Ella, I got the feeling that accepting his invitation would be a bad idea.

    ¡°Thanks for the offer, but I¡¯m on a date with Xara right now and we¡¯d rather spend it on our own. Is that okay?¡±

    ¡°Hm? Sure. No problem. Sorry for interrupting.¡±

    Wow. That was a pretty reasonable response. I had expected him to ask something like join us on the date to see if it was any fun, but apparently, I was just jumping to conclusions.

    ¡°Thanks, man I appreciate it.¡±

    After saying that, I waved goodbye to Roy and Ella before heading to the back part of the diner with Xara who had calmed down and sat down next to me.

    ¡°That Roy. He just can¡¯t pick up on an atmosphere can he?¡± muttered Xara. To which I let out an awkward chuckle.

    ¡°That¡¯s just how guys are sometimes. When it comes up to picking up signals, we tend to be a bit oblivious sometimes.¡±

    ¡°Really? Does that mean you¡¯ve done stuff like that Axel?¡±

    ¡°Er¡­Maybe?¡±

    I mean, my character in visual novels did, so maybe that counted for something. As for real life though, I can¡¯t recall of any instance where that¡¯s happened¡­I think. Unless I really do have something I¡¯m oblivious too.

    As to what that is, I have no idea. But there was probably something out there.

    But leaving that be, for now, I decided to change topics.

    ¡°Well anyway, is this place alright for you? I know for nobles usually want somewhere fancier, so if you wanted someplace better I would¡¯ve accepted your decision.¡±

    I had asked Xara before we came here if it was okay, and she said it was fine. But I didn¡¯t wanna make her uncomfortable if she didn¡¯t like it in what was akin to a fast food restaurant.

    In response to my question, Xara shook her head.

    ¡°It¡¯s fine. I mean, this is your favorite restaurant isn¡¯t it?¡±

    ¡°Well¡­yeah. I really like the vibe here.¡±

    ¡°Then it¡¯s perfectly fine. I¡¯m just glad we''re here together.¡±

    Feeling my cheeks burn up a bit as she said that, I only calmed down when Dave came over with a paper to write our orders on.

    ¡°Alright. What¡¯ll you guys and gals be having today?¡±

    Collecting my thoughts, I pondered about what to order when Xara spoke up.

    ¡°Could we order this please?¡±

    Pulling up a restaurant menu that was on the table, Xara pointed to something that I couldn''t really see since the menu was just out of my view, but when Dave saw what she was pointing at, he gave her a big smile.

    ¡°I haven¡¯t seen someone order that in a good minute.¡±

    ¡°Is it possible?¡±

    ¡°Of course. I¡¯ll have it out in ten minutes.¡±

    Once he was done taking the order, Dave walked away. Leaving the two of us alone.

    ¡°Uh¡­What did you order?¡±

    When I asked that, Xara put a finger in front of her lips while giving me a small wink.

    ¡°It¡¯s a secret.¡±

    She looked adorable when she did that. Even so, I wasn¡¯t in the mood to guess. So, before she could realize what I did, I snatched the menu from her hands and looked through the list of options.

    ¡°Hey!¡±

    Ignoring Xara¡¯s upset expression, I scanned through everything until I stumbled on something that even I ignored all the time. Though in fairness, it was pretty fitting for a date.

    ¡°It¡¯s this, isn¡¯t it?¡±

    In response to my question, Xara crossed her arms.

    ¡°It was supposed to be a surprise.¡±

    I chuckled awkwardly and patted her head.

    ¡°Sorry. Sorry. I was just too curious to wait. I promise I won¡¯t try something like that again.¡±

    ¡°...You promise?¡±

    ¡°Of course.¡±

    ¡°...Okay. I¡¯ll hold you to it then.¡±

    Once she was convinced I meant it, Xara¡¯s pouting face returned to a smile as the two of us waited for our food.

    ¡°Alright. Here you two go,¡± said Dave. handing us something massive.

    What was in front of us now was something you¡¯d normally see at a maid cafe.

    ¡°That¡¯s a big omelet,¡± I found myself muttering.

    The thing Xara had ordered was the ultra extravagant super special date omelet.

    A giant cheesy omelet that was not only massive but also had a heart on top with the names of the people who ordered it put in the middle. A truly massive dish that was only really something lovers who liked eating could really enjoy.

    This was my first time seeing it, but it really was massive. Just how many eggs were needed to make something like this?If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

    Ignoring my shocked expression, Dave handed us some spoons and napkins before walking away.

    ¡°Enjoy it you two,¡± he said as he returned to the kitchen to work on his next order.

    ¡°We will!¡± Xara said in response before starting to dig into the dish.

    Meanwhile, I just tried to recompose myself.

    I was quite hungry since all I had to eat today was a slice of toast, but even if the two of us ate as much as we could, I highly doubt we¡¯d be able to finish this thing.

    Even so, Xara picked it for us. So, against my personal feelings on the matter, I put my spoon into the omelet and started eating.

    As we ate, I decided to start a conversation.

    ¡°Say Xara, are you sure we can finish this? It looks a bit big for just two people to eat?¡±

    With her mouth full of eggs, Xara turned to me.

    ¡°Thaph not impophent. What¡¯ph important is enjoying a niph meal togepher.¡±

    ¡°Please don¡¯t talk with your mouth full.¡±

    Nodding, Xara swallowed her food and repeated herself.

    ¡°I said that¡¯s not important. What¡¯s important is enjoying a nice meal together.¡±

    ¡°Even so, isn¡¯t this a little too big?¡±

    ¡°As I said, we should just enjoy it. After all, sharing a meal together is an important part of a couple going on a date.¡±

    ¡°Is that how it works?¡±

    I didn¡¯t date anyone before Xara so I couldn¡¯t confirm.

    Even so, she was pretty serious about the two of us eating it.

    So, against my better judgment, I picked up my spoon once again and started scooping the eggs into my mouth.

    A minute or so of eating later, just as I thought, the two of us were already close to feeling full.

    The worst part of that, though, was that we weren¡¯t even a third of the way through the omelet yet.

    Letting out an exhausted sigh, I laid my head down on the table.

    I really wanted to make it through this whole thing, but I just didn¡¯t think it was possible.

    That¡¯s when Xara suddenly tapped me on the shoulder.

    Turning in her direction, I was surprised to find she had scooped up some of the omelet and held it in front of my face.

    ¡°Alright Axel. Say aahh.¡±

    ¡°Huh? Um¡­Okay. Aahhh.¡±

    Opening up my mouth, I bit down on her spoon. Eating what was on it. Causing Xara to giggle happily.

    Figuring I might as well return the favor, I stuck my own spoon into the omelet and held it in front of Xara who seemed all too happy to help herself.

    ¡°Say ahh.¡±

    ¡°Ahhh.¡±

    She ate off my spoon and then repeated the same offering me more.

    We continued this back in forth for about twenty minutes until we were a bit over halfway through the omelet.

    However, despite making such progress, we had run into a new conundrum.

    ¡°I can¡¯t¡­eat¡­another¡­bite¡­¡± Xara muttered. And I was in the same boat.

    Neither of us could go any further. The omelet was just way too big and we couldn¡¯t get through it.

    If we tried to go any further, we¡¯d surely pass out. Or worse, throw up.

    And since there were still other things I wanted to do with her today, I knew we wouldn¡¯t be able to finish this whole thing. Which meant we had to leave the rest behind. Although, it felt like a bit of a waste to leave the rest of the omelet untouched.

    ¡°Hey Axel, are you guys gonna finish that?¡±

    Looking up, I saw Roy standing there staring at the omelet.

    ¡°We haven¡¯t eaten much, so Ella and  I are both really hungry. If you can¡¯t finish it, we¡¯re more than welcome to take it off your hands¡±

    Relieved to hear that, I gave Roy a nod.

    ¡°Sure. Knock yourselves out.¡±

    ¡°Alright! Thanks, Axel!¡±

    Picking up the rest of the omelet, Roy took it over to his table and both he and Ella started enjoying it.

    Meanwhile, I turned to Xara who looked like she was ready to pass out.

    ¡°Say, how about we get out of here?¡±

    ¡°Y-Yeah. That sounds like a good idea.¡±

    Agreeing with me, I could tell she probably regretted ordering that meal. Still, we got out of our seats, paid for our food, and left the building.

    Taking a small walk in order to help recover from that whole experience.

    "where should we go next?¡± I asked Xara once we were fully recovered.

    ¡°Hm. How about there?¡± she suggested. Pointing at a poster that said some kind of play was going on in town a little ways away.

    ¡°It says it''s the story of Romiet and Julio. A romantic tale following two people who fall in love but can¡¯t be together due to something or other. That sounds really interesting!¡±

    Wait a minute. Romiet and Julio?

    Taking a closer look at the poster, I realized just from looking at it that it was like an exact replica of the movie poster for the Romeo and Juliet play back in my world. Was this just a coincidence?

    Turning to me, just one look made it clear Xara wanted to check this out.

    ¡°Come on! Let¡¯s go see it!¡±

    ¡°S-Sure.¡±

    Seeing those stars in Xara¡¯s eyes, all I could do was agree and follow her toward the play location.

    ¡°It was literally an exact copy,¡± I muttered.

    To make a long story short, we checked out the play and sure enough, it was an exact retelling of the entire Romeo and Juliet story but with slightly altered names.

    It was honestly hilarious just how much copy and paste there was in this script.

    Seeing such a blatant copy made me curious as to who the hell claimed this story as their own. Pretending they were the true Shakespeare of this world.

    But when I tried to ask about it after the play was done, I learned that apparently, the original author who wrote the story behind this play was already dead. Meaning any chance of talking with them was impossible. So all I could do was feel baffled at the blatant copyright infringement and keep moving forward.

    Those were my feelings at least. As for Xara¡­

    ¡°What a beautiful story. And the romance felt so real. Even though all of it took place in a mere few days, the love gave us a truly thrilling and compelling tale. Even the ending, as sad as it was, is still a great way to wrap up everything. Whoever wrote it must¡¯ve been a genius!¡±

    All I could do was let out an awkward chuckle as she gushed about it.

    But leaving that be for now, we continued walking around for a little while longer. Exploring different stalls and even came across someone selling a necklace that I ended up buying Xara.

    And as we continued walking, we found ourselves reaching for each other and holding hands while we kept moving.

    Before I knew it, the entire day flew by in the blink of an eye and it seemed like we had barely done anything at all.

    Still, we couldn¡¯t end this date yet. I still had one more thing I wanted to do for Xara before we called it quits for the day.

    ¡°Alright, Xara. Before we go any further, could you do something for me?¡±

    ¡°Hm? Sure. What is it?¡±

    ¡°Just close your eyes and wait till I tell you to open them.¡±

    ¡°Uh¡­Okay.¡±

    Not exactly sure what I was getting at, Xara simply closed her eyes.

    After checking to make sure wasn¡¯t trying to peek, I grabbed her arm and started dragging her to a nearby store.

    ¡°Alright. Please sit down.¡±

    ¡°A-Alright.¡±

    Placing a chair behind Xara, I had her sit down on it before heading off into a nearby store.

    A few minutes later, I stepped out with something and placed it in front of Xara.

    ¡°Alright. You can open your eyes now.¡±

    Nodding, Xara did as I said, and, to her surprise, she was sitting in front of a giant ice cream bowl that was filled with sparkling chunks of ice cream that glowed in the dimmed sunlight.

    ¡°Whoa! This thing is beautiful!¡± she said looking at the ice cream in front of her.

    This was a special dessert I had stumbled across when I was looking for places to spend our date.

    It was called Cystral Cream. A special type of ice cream that, while having the same flavor as normal ice cream, shined in the sunlight. And when it was dusk, that¡¯s when this ice cream looked truly amazing.

    This was the only place I really wanted to visit today, but since I needed to stall until it was time, I tried as many things as I could to keep this date going. And just one look at Xara¡¯s face, as she stared at this ice cream, was all worth it.

    Rather than being something behind the ice cream, she shined along with it and it just made her look even more beautiful. It was an amazing sight to see.

    Sitting down in front of Xara, I handed her a spoon.

    ¡°Well then, shall we?¡±

    As I asked that, Xara nodded her head and we started to share the ice cream.

    Thankfully, it wasn¡¯t as big as the omelet so eating it was much easier.

    And once we finished, the two of us laid back in our chairs with looks of satisfaction on our faces.

    ¡°That was delicious. I can¡¯t believe I¡¯ve never had that ice cream before.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m glad you liked it. I really wanted to wrap this up on a nice note, so I¡¯m happy you like what I chose.¡±

    Sitting up Xara looked at me.

    ¡°I really appreciate it. Although, you didn¡¯t have to wrap it up with such an extravagant dessert.¡±

    ¡°Maybe not, but I wanted you to be happy. So if that¡¯s the case, getting something like this was worth it.¡±

    Getting up from her chair, Xara walked up in front of me, and to my surprise, kissed my lips. Causing me to jump from my seat.

    I hadn¡¯t been prepared for it at all, so I wasn¡¯t sure how to respond to that.¡±

    Chuckling at my reaction, Xara smiled at me while the setting sun made her silhouette shine.

    ¡°You goofball. It doesn¡¯t matter what we do during a date. As long as you¡¯re with me, I¡¯ll always be happy.¡±

    ¡°I-Is that so?¡±

    ¡°Of course it is. I love you after all.¡±

    ¡°I-I see. Heheh.¡±

    When she put it like that, I guess I still have a lot to learn about dates and other romance stuff.

    ¡°Now then, let¡¯s get back. I¡¯m feeling a bit tired,¡± Xara said before walking up next to me and hugging my arm.

    ¡°...Yeah. Let¡¯s go home.¡±

    As I said those words, a large smile stretched across my face and I activated my teleportation spell. Sending us back home in an instant.

 Chapter 51: An Unexpected Aftermath

    Returning home with Xara clinging to my arm, I stepped inside and headed straight for my room.

    I greeted one of Sirin¡¯s robots along the way, but other than that, I simply entered my room with Xara before lying down on my bed. I was about ready to pass out.

    Xara seemed to wanna do the same. However, right as she tried to get into bed next to me¡­

    ¡°Gah!¡±

    She tripped on the floor and the purse she had on her went flying off her arm. Hitting the nearby wall.

    Crack!

    Hearing the sound of glass breaking, Xara got to her feet and immediately started shifting through the bag to see what had broken.

    ¡°What was that? I asked.¡±

    ¡°Give me a minute. I¡¯m looking right now.¡±

    After about a minute, Xara seemed to find what had broken and she gasped in shock.

    ¡°W-What¡¯s wrong!?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know how it happened, but I accidentally packed the aphrodisiac Mom gave me along with all my other things.¡±

    ¡°You packed what!?¡±

    I thought she said she left that thing at home! Crap! We gotta get out of here before-

    ¡°-Wah!¡±

    I tried getting off the bed and leaving the room when sI suddenly felt something crash onto my back, I turned around to see Xara looking up at me with a red blush on her cheek.

    "Axeeelll...Let''s dooo iiiit..."

    It seems that thing worked fast!

    This wasn¡¯t good at all. I needed to get out of here before it affected me too.

    Using wind magic to gently push Xara off, I started dashing toward the door.

    ¡°Axel! Wait! Axel!¡±

    Hearing Xara behind me, I knew she wasn¡¯t in her right mind, so I had to wait until it wore off for the time being.

    Thus, I burst out the door before sealing it shut with earth magic by using on the ground below to form a barrier in the shape of an X.

    Once I was confident she wouldn¡¯t be able to get out easily, I let out a sigh of relief.

    ¡°You aren¡¯t gonna do it with her?¡± asked Nia.

    ¡°In that state? Hell no.¡±

    While I may have never done the deed myself, I knew that stuff like first times were important. So all I could do was let her get it out of her system and we could do it when we were both mentally ready, as well as prepared for any of the aftermath, then I¡¯d push forward with getting it on.

    ¡°Still, that means she¡¯s in a vulnerable state right now. What¡¯ll you do if she does something crazy like jump out the window or break through the door?¡±

    ¡°...We just have to hope the aphrodisiac doesn¡¯t make her that desperate.¡±

    Still, to be safe, I stuck by the door. Keeping an ear out in case anything happened.

    I ended up staying there the whole night. And while I was tired, as long as my girlfriend was okay and didn¡¯t do anything rash, then it was worth it.

    Waking up, I let out a loud yawn.

    I found myself lying on the floor, naked and dripping with sweat.

    Not sure how I got that way, I headed over to the shower and washed myself down before drying off and putting on a new set of clothes.

    Once I was done with the shower, I checked to make sure I was all good for the day and after a quick glance at the mirror, I smiled and prepared to leave the room.

    ¡°Hm. Is Axel up already?¡± I thought as I left.

    The last thing I remember was how we¡¯d gotten back from our date and were about to head to bed. But for some reason, everything after that I''m drawing a blank. Weird.

    Deciding to leave it be for now, I left the room and found a floating cube flying in front of me.

    ¡°Ah. You¡¯re awake. How are you feeling Miss Femishito?¡±

    There were pieces of rock lying all around the place for some reason, but I wasn¡¯t in the mood to ask right now so I simply responded to the cube''s question.

    ¡°I have a slight headache, but other than that, I¡¯m fine.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s good to hear, that means the aphrodisiac wore off.¡±

    "Huh? Aphrodisiac?¡±

    Ignoring my confused look, the cube floated past me with some weird metal guys in tow.

    ¡°I need to dispose of it as soon as possible. So for the time being, please head to the cafeteria. Master should be there right now, so you can enjoy breakfast with him.¡±

    ¡°Uh¡­Okay.¡±

    So Axel was in the cafeteria? Got it. Guess I should go catch up with him.

    Thus, I left the cube thing to do its business while I went to grab some breakfast.

    ¡°Ugghhh¡­.¡±

    ¡°Whoa! Are you okay Axel!?¡±

    When I arrived at the cafeteria, I was shocked to Axel staring at his food with an exhausted expression on his face. It was like he hadn¡¯t slept a wink the entire night.

    Turning to my voice, Axel gave what I thought was a smile.

    ¡°Oh¡­Morning Xara. How are you feeling?¡±

    As he asked that, he tried fishing some of his breakfast into his mouth, but completely missed the mark. Causing the food to hit his cheek.

    ¡°We aren¡¯t talking about me right now! Why do you look like you''re on the verge of passing out!?¡±

    ¡°...Well¡­you see¡­I¡­¡±

    Axel tried to speak, but his voice was so quiet that he kept murmuring in between words. Making it impossible to understand what he was saying.

    ¡°He was awake all night.¡±

    ¡°Gah!¡±

    Appearing out of nowhere, the cube thing caused me to jump in surprise.

    ¡°Can you please not scare me like that?¡±

    ¡°...As I said, he was awake all night.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t ignore the question.¡±

    Also, wait a minute. He up all night? Why?

    Turning back to him, I watched as he once again tried to eat his food only to completely miss.

    ¡°Last night, you were affected by an aphrodisiac. And in order to keep you safe and make sure nothing bad happened to you, he stayed up the entire night and watched over you.¡±

    ¡°I was affected by a¡­Wait a minute!¡±

    I remember now. Right after we got back I tripped and my Mom¡¯s aphrodisiac which I accidentally packed along with all my other things broke. And I ended up inhaling it directly.

    So while I was in that state, Axel locked me up and kept watch until it wore off?

    I wasn¡¯t sure how to feel about the locking up part, but what was important to take away from that was Axel was watching over me the entire night. Meaning he didn¡¯t get a wink of sleep.

    This leads me to realize that the reason Axel is like this right now is entirely my fault.

    When I thought about it that way, I couldn¡¯t help but feel guilty when looking at his state right now.If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

    ¡°Well, can¡¯t he get some sleep now? I¡¯m feeling better after all.¡±

    ¡°As nice as that would be, he has several things he needs to take care of involving the island. So while I can¡¯t let him sleep, I can at least offer him some caffeine to wake himself up.¡±

    Turning to look at Axel, I knew there wasn¡¯t much I could do about the situation. Even so, I wanted to help him as best I could.

    ¡°In that case, can I take on his duties in his place?¡±

    ¡°You want to take on the island duties? But you¡¯re our guest.¡±

    ¡°Even so, I¡¯m responsible for what happened. So if my help can let Axel get some sleep, then I¡¯ll do everything I can!¡±

    ¡°...I see. Very well then. I¡¯ll have Master put into one of the guest rooms and let him get some sleep. While I do that, please go over this list and make sure you understand what must be done.¡±

    ¡°Got it.¡±

    Being handed a paper, I started to scan it while one of the metal things took Axel off to a guest room to get some rest.

    Thus, I ended up spending my entire day working myself to the bone.

    From picking up crops to making sure the island''s infrastructure was all good to go.

    I didn¡¯t understand all of it. But even so, I was helping Axel get some rest. So I was gonna do my best to get things in order.

    Letting out a loud yawn, I got up from a bed I¡¯d never seen before. Or rather, a bed I¡¯d never slept in before.

    ¡°Is this one of the guest room beds?¡± I muttered. Confused as to how I got here.

    The last thing I remember clearly was breaking down the X blockade in front of my room since it was nearly morning. But everything after that is kind of a blur.

    ¡°...I wonder if Xara¡¯s okay,¡± I muttered. Looking out the guest room window.

    ¡°She is perfectly better Master.¡±

    ¡°Gah!?¡±

    Jumping from the sight of Sirin appearing out of nowhere, I turned toward her.

    ¡°Could you please not scare me like that?¡± I asked.

    ¡°...I''ll try to avoid it in the future.¡±

    I appreciated it. However, that wasn¡¯t the focus right now.

    ¡°So you¡¯re saying Xara¡¯s all better?¡±

    ¡°Indeed. She was actually the reason why you were able to get some sleep today. She took on all the days jobs while you slept¡±

    ¡°She did?¡±

    I had no idea. Though now that I thought about it, there was a lot that was supposed to get done today. So that meant she must¡¯ve worked hard.

    That makes me feel a bit bad when I think about all the tasks I was supposed to do being handed over to my girlfriend. Still, the fact that she gave me this chance to sleep was something I was grateful for.

    Sitting on the bed, I turned to Sirin.

    ¡°How are things looking then? Is everything going smoothly?¡±

    In response to my question, Sirin pulled up several screens that seemed to have recorded everything Xara had been doing all day.

    From getting a look around the island for any potential threats to cleaning out a section of trees near the mansion.

    ¡°Since most of the required tasks are quite menial. She¡¯s had little to no problem. However, there are some tasks that require your personal attention. So when you get the chance, I¡¯d you to take a look at them.¡±

    ¡°Got it. Send me a list and I¡¯ll take care of them after I get something to eat.¡±

    ¡°Understood Master.¡±

    I wasn¡¯t that hungry, but I knew since I hadn¡¯t eaten anything since this morning that it¡¯d be a good idea to get something in my stomach.

    Thus, while Xara worked hard on wrapping up all the smaller tasks on the list of things to do, I ended up spending the rest of my day doing things like preparing traps for intruders and patching up some of the infrastructure that hadn¡¯t been taken care of during that one robot incident earlier in the break.

    Before I knew it, night had arrived. And sadly, I wasn¡¯t tired at all.

    Lying down in bed, I looked up at the ceiling in silence.

    Xara had apparently worn herself out completely and said she wanted to head straight to bed, so I let her be and figured I might as well get some sleep too.

    But as I said, I wasn¡¯t tired at all. So all I could do was just wait around until my body was ready to get some shut-eye.

    ¡°...I can¡¯t sleep at all.¡±

    It had been almost an hour since I decided I would wait till I passed out. However, despite all my waiting, nothing happened. I just continued staring at the ceiling completely bored.

    ¡°Hm. Maybe I should try counting sheep?¡± I suggested to myself.

    That was all I could think of to pass the time.

    A part of me wanted to try and talk to Nia, but one look at the grimoire and I could tell she was probably out cold in there¡­I think.

    I don¡¯t know if spirits actually slept or not, but it¡¯d probably be rude to disturb her if she was.

    Thus, I started counting.

    ¡°One sheep¡­two sheep¡­three sheep¡­four sheep¡­¡±

    I continued this for another ten minutes. Bored out of my mind. And that¡¯s when it happened.

    Knock knock!

    Hearing a knock on my door, I sat up. Turning to the door with a look of curiosity on my face.

    ¡°A-Axel. Are you awake?¡±

    ¡°Xara? Uh. Yeah, I¡¯m awake.¡±

    When I said that, I heard Xara sigh in relief on the other side of the door before opening it up and walking inside.

    ¡°Thank goodness. I would¡¯ve felt awkward about this if you were asleep.¡±

    ¡°Is that so?¡±

    Awkward? About what?

    Nodding her head at my words, Xara looked into my eyes.

    ¡°I heard about what you did for me during that incident last night. And how you stayed up all night watching over me until it was all over. I¡¯m sorry for causing you trouble.¡±

    In response to her words, I shrugged.

    ¡°Heh. It¡¯s fine. I just did what I could to make sure you were alright.¡±

    As well as not assaulting me but we didn¡¯t need to bring that up at all.

    ¡°Plus, you already made up for everything by helping me out with my schedule today. So it¡¯s no big deal.¡±

    ¡°S-Still. It was my fault everything happened in the first place. And you ended up suffering from it. When I think about how hard it must¡¯ve been for you to stay up all night knowing you had work to do the next day, it made me feel horrible.¡±

    I mean, one night without sleep wasn¡¯t the worst thing ever. All I¡¯d need is some coffee and I could keep moving.

    I mean, I would¡¯ve been in a pretty sorry state, but I could manage¡­probably.

    With a small blush on her cheek, Xara looked into my eyes before doing something I hadn¡¯t expected. She¡¯d started to strip.

    ¡°Even if you don¡¯t see it as a big deal, I wanna make up for my mistake. That¡¯s why, I want to give you something I hope you¡¯ll enjoy.¡±

    Her face growing redder, Xara took off the rest of her clothes showing herself dressed in some rather revealing lingerie.

    ¡°So? What do you think Axel?¡±

    ¡°I..uh..I¡­¡±

    I could feel my face warming up a bit. Did this mean the effects of the aphrodisiac hadn¡¯t actually worn off? Or was this something else?

    ¡°The aphrodisiac is no longer in her system. These are her honest feelings,¡± Sirin said next to me in a quiet voice while remaining completely invisible.

    ¡°Is that so?¡± I muttered while looking at Xara.

    Despite blushing red, she got closer to me. Once she climbed onto the bed, she started reaching toward my pants. Taking my silence as I sign I wanted this.

    Thinking things over in my head, I found myself pondering what to do here. And then, in a nervous tone, I grabbed her shoulder.

    ¡°A-As long as we don¡¯t go all the way, that¡¯s fine with me¡­at least until we¡¯re a bit older.¡±

    ¡°...O-Okay.¡±

    Xara seemed a bit relieved when she heard that. Whether it was because I accepted her advances or because she wasn¡¯t ready to go all the way herself I had no idea.

    Even so, there was one thing I knew. And that was that I loved Xara. So if she wanted to do this with me, I was more than willing to accept it.

    Thus, what followed was a night of bliss between the two of us. Something I¡¯d remember for the rest of my life.

    The next day, I woke up staring at Xara¡¯s face.

    She was sound asleep next to me. Completely naked.

    As I requested, we didn¡¯t go all the way. Even so, we got pretty close. But since I was technically only seventeen in this world, it seemed a bit early for us to take that next step. At least for now.

    Leaving that be, I got out of bed and started putting on some clothes.

    ¡°You two sure made a ruckus last night,¡± said Nia. Her voice sounded a bit annoyed.

    ¡°Well, there wasn¡¯t much I could¡¯ve done about that. Sorry.¡±

    ¡°Haah. It¡¯s fine. I¡¯ve got other things I need to focus on anyway.¡±

    ¡°You do? Like what?¡±

    ¡°...It¡¯s a secret.¡±

    ¡°...I see.¡±

    Knowing Nia probably wasn¡¯t gonna tell me anything, I decided to move on.

    ¡°Hrgn¡­¡±

    Hearing Xara behind me, I turned around to see her rubbing her eyes while letting out a yawn.

    ¡°Morning Axel.¡±

    ¡°Morning. How¡¯d you sleep.¡±

    Xara grinned.

    ¡°Pretty good. Heh heh. I just find it hard to believe we went as far as we did.¡±

    ¡°Same here. But we¡¯ll have to leave it be for now. We got other things to do today, remember?¡±

    ¡°Huh? Oh right! We¡¯re meeting up with Riko today!¡±

    That¡¯s right. With our vacation just about to wrap up, I wanted the MC to help me out with a dungeon diving expedition which we were set to do today.

    ¡°J-Just give me a second! I¡¯ll get ready right away!¡±

    Getting out of bed, Xara started putting on her clothes.

    ¡°There¡¯s no need to rush. We aren¡¯t meeting up for another couple of hours. So you have plenty of time to get ready.¡±

    ¡°R-Really? In that case, do you mind if I grab a shower?¡±

    ¡°Go ahead. I¡¯ll make sure everything''s good to go while you¡¯re in there.¡±

    ¡°Understood. See you in a bit then.¡±

    With that, Xara walked into the bathroom.

    A few minutes later, I started hearing a shower running and I turned to Sirin who had appeared next to me. Looking between me and the bathroom.

    ¡°You¡¯re not going in?¡±

    ¡°Of course not.¡±

    ¡°...I see.¡±

    Why did she sound disappointed when I said that?

    ¡°Anyway, make sure she has a towel and a fresh set of clothes. Got it?¡±

    ¡°Of course. I¡¯ll fetch them right away.¡±

    Thus, Sirin flew off toward Xara¡¯s room and I walked over to the giant window in my room.

    The sun had risen high in the sky and for some reason, looked really beautiful this morning.

    ¡°Something tells me today¡¯s gonna be a good day,¡± I muttered as I looked up at the sky.

    In the end, I considered this to be one of my best summer vacations ever.

 Chapter 52: Summer Draws to a Close

    Eating my breakfast, I let out a small yawn as I stretched out my arms.

    ¡°So today¡¯s finally the day,¡± I muttered as I ate my eggs with indifference.

    What was I referring to, you ask? None other than the day Xara, the MC, and I go on an adventure as a repayment to me for working with them during the Hunter Games a little while back.

    Now, there was still time before we needed to be at our meeting location, so Xara was getting a bit more sleep while I got up to take care of some business on the island.

    To be honest, a part of me really didn¡¯t wanna do this since it meant I had to spend time with the MC, but at the same time, it was a chance to get some loot, so I couldn¡¯t pass up a chance at an adventure especially since I haven¡¯t gotten the chance to go on that many since I enrolled at the school. Well, with the exception of a few with my friends. But in my eyes, the more adventures the better.

    But as I said, there was still time before that had to happen. So once I finished my breakfast, I got up from my seat and headed off to the first thing I had to take care of.

    What was that exactly? Well put simply, while Sirin took care of most of the things on the island, there was still some stuff I needed to check on myself since Sirin could only take care of so much as once even if she was a robot. So I had my own checklist which consisted of checking the power on the island to ensure it ran smoothly, making sure all the traps set up for intruders had been reset, and finally, checking the islands trajectory to ensure Sirin didn¡¯t hit anything the scanners might¡¯ve missed and so on.

    Thankfully the third thing will work itself out soon enough because Sirin said she was almost done fitting a device that could help her with extra surveillance, so I wouldn¡¯t have to take care of that part for much longer.

    But still, I couldn¡¯t stop just yet, so I simply let out a sigh and started getting to work.

    Pulling out my bag, I found myself grumbling curses to myself as I thought about today''s events.

    You see since Xara ended up asking for help from that idiot Savoncho during the Hunter Games, we were forced to join him on an adventure and help him gather some treasure.

    Personally, doing anything with him sounded like a waste of time, but if I ever wanted to win Xara back, I¡¯d have to learn what she finds attractive about Savoncho and use it to help win her back.

    Why do I need to win her back, you ask? Well you see, back when I first reincarnated into this world, I realized I was none other than the protagonist of Medival Fantasy. And after the terrible way my life went back in my old world, I planned to enjoy the role I was given as I got together with one of the main heroines.

    However, that all fell apart when I met with Axel Savoncho. Another person who came to this world.

    He messed with Xara nonstop and ended up wooing not just her, but my next love interest Dianne. Making it impossible for me to win over either of them.

    Not to mention, I spotted the grimoire I was supposed to obtain on his belt, reminding me once more just how much he had taken from me.

    The whole thing pissed me off to no end.

    And now, I had to help him out on some dumb adventure and didn''t get a say in the matter at all.

    The whole thing leaves me feeling frustrated.

    So, as I finished packing up what I needed to, I slugged the bag over my shoulder and started heading out of my room. That was when I was interrupted by someone.

    ¡°Oh? So you¡¯re really doing this Little Bro?¡±

    In front of me was a girl with long orange hair.

    She had a round pair of glasses on her face and a small mole next to her left eye.

    To briefly explain, there were four kids in the protagonist''s household.

    And the one I reincarnated into is the youngest sibling. And the one before me is the second youngest at the age of nineteen. Jessie Toyazoto. And unlike me, She was shown to be incredibly smart from a young age and was already in college.

    The only odd thing about her is despite getting enough marriage proposals to have a harem, she keeps declining them all saying she¡¯s waiting for the right man. To which I can only let out a sigh as I think about how low of a chance it would be that she¡¯d get married at this rate.

    Still, she helps me out on things I don¡¯t understand, and despite going to a nearby college, she stops by to visit the family a ton which everyone appreciates. Including me.

    ¡°Yeah. I promised Xara I¡¯d do it. So I don¡¯t have a choice,¡± I replied in response to Jessie¡¯s question.

    ¡°Dang. It¡¯s gotta be awkward being in the position you¡¯re in. Stuff like this is why I avoid all those romance shenanigans.¡±

    ¡°You say that, but then you keep going on about finding the perfect man despite no one fitting the bill for what you¡¯re looking for.¡±

    ¡°Hmph. A girl can have interests.¡±

    ¡°Really? And what would those be?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s simple! I just need a guy who can add some thrill to my life, but also care about me enough to keep me safe, but also isn¡¯t afraid to risk my life when necessary.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re contradicting yourself right now.¡±

    ¡°Heh. Well, either way, I know there¡¯s a man like that out there somewhere. I just need to find him.¡±

    ¡°...I see. Well good luck with that,¡± I muttered before trying to walk past her and leave the area. Only for Jessie to grab hold of my arm.

    ¡°Hey, if you need someone to go in your stead, I¡¯m more than happy to take your place.¡±

    I could tell she was asking out of concern since it wasn¡¯t hard to imagine the conflicted expression I had on my face.

    However, I pulled away my hand and shook my head.

    ¡°Sorry. But if I don¡¯t go, I won¡¯t hear the end of it from Savoncho. So I have no choice.¡±

    ¡°Hm. Sounds like you and this Savoncho guy really don¡¯t get along.¡±

    ¡°Yeah? Well, you can blame him for that. He¡¯s the one who ruined my life at school.¡±

    That¡¯s right. If not for Savoncho, my life at the school would¡¯ve been perfect. So even if he suddenly turned a new leaf and started helping me around every turn, I could never forgive him. Though I doubt he¡¯d do something like that. He¡¯s too much of an asshole to respect other people and support them.

    ¡°He sure sounds like a jerk. Are you positive you don¡¯t want me going and giving him a piece of my mind?¡±

    ¡°I-It¡¯s fine Jessie. I don¡¯t need you to do that.¡±

    After all, if she did go off on Savoncho in front of Xara, she might think less of me and might even hate me more than before. And I can¡¯t risk that.This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author''s work.

    ¡°Well if you¡¯re sure. Have a safe trip Little Bro.¡±

    ¡°I will. Bye.¡±

    After saying those words to my sister, I continued walking forward through the halls of my family''s mansion until I reached the entrance.

    When I got there, a familiar maid stood there with a forced smile on her face.

    ¡°I take it you¡¯re about to set off Master Riko?¡±

    ¡°Er¡­Yeah. I¡¯ll be back soon.¡±

    ¡°Understood. Have a safe trip.¡±

    The maid in front of me was a twenty-year-old woman named Aisha. A demi-human with horns on her head and pointed ears.

    Her tanned skin tone shined in the sunlight of the nearby window as her pitch-blade pupils looked completely disinterested in everything around her.

    As a deer demi-human, her kind often got hunted down and turned into servants due to being the only kind of demi-human who mass produces on a massive scale compared to others of their species.

    In fact, Aisha was one of those types of deer demi-humans. Where she was hunted down, and then trained to serve royalty before being bought by my family.

    Honestly, I tried romancing her when I first reincarnated since we were of similar age, but no matter how hard I tried, she just wasn¡¯t interested and simply did what she was told. So all I could do was give up and go back to my plan of conquering one of the main heroines of this world.

    So, with that said, I simply let out one last sigh before stepping out the door as Aisha closed it behind me.

    And as I stood outside my home, I could feel the nice breeze blow through my hair as the warmth of the sun washed over me.

    It appeared it was finally time to get out of here.

    So, walking over to a small floating carriage that awaited me, I got inside and took off toward my destination.

    ¡°You all good to go?¡± I asked as I turned to see Xara coming out of the mansion wearing a set of adventuring armor I had Sirin prepare for her.

    ¡°Yep! I¡¯m all good to go!¡± shouted Xara as she showed off her armor.

    The set included a breastplate that had been measured to her size, as well as a chainmail skirt that was wrapped in cloth to make it look like normal clothes over a pair of shorts I lent her.

    Under her breastplate, she had a purple shirt that lacked any sleeves and shoulder plates that didn¡¯t restrict her movements.

    Add all that to the fact that she tied her hair back into a ponytail and I¡¯d say she looked ready for adventure.

    ¡°That looks really good on you,¡± I said with a smile. To which Xara lightly chuckled as her cheeks turned slightly red.

    ¡°Thanks. So where are we meeting Riko?¡±

    ¡°At a dungeon that appeared a little ways away. I was thinking of going there early so I could remember what it looked like in order to teleport us there. However, I thought that maybe¡­you¡¯d like to fly there for the first time¡­together?¡±

    Xara looked thrilled when I said that.

    ¡°You mean it!?¡±

    ¡°It wouldn¡¯t hurt to have a bit of time with each other before having to meet with Riko, right?¡±

    Xara smiled from ear to ear as she hugged me from behind and I felt her breastplate hit my back.

    ¡°You¡¯re the best! Come on! Let¡¯s get moving!¡±

    After shouting that, Xara flew off into the air with the brightest expression I¡¯d seen all day with her wings spread wide as I followed close behind her.

    While we were flying, Xara closed the distance until we were right next to each other.

    ¡°So what kind of dungeon is this like?¡± she asked.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know. The only info that seems to have come up so far is that the place was only found recently. Meaning it hasn¡¯t been explored much yet. And I want to take advantage of that.¡±

    ¡°I see. But why would you need Riko and my help for that?¡±

    ¡°Because I don¡¯t know what¡¯s in there. And I¡¯d rather have other people there to help me out in case I get in a bind.¡±

    ¡°That makes sense. Well, you can count on me! I¡¯ll keep you safe no matter what!¡±

    ¡°I appreciate it.¡±

    I said that, and I meant it. But in actuality, I was only planning to bring Riko along as a meat shield in case things got rough. So with Xara tagging along, I had to prioritize her safety as much as my own.

    ¡°Hey, should we have invited Dianne and the others along too? I feel like they''re missing out," asked Xara. To which I shrugged my shoulders.

    ¡°Meh. They¡¯re enjoying their breaks so it¡¯d be weird to throw this at them out of the blue.¡±

    ¡°I guess that¡¯s true.¡±

    ¡°Besides, why bring Dianne? She¡¯s not a fighter. Or a healer either. We¡¯d only be putting her in danger, right?¡±

    ¡°Actually, I heard she¡¯s been taking her lessons in magic pretty seriously. So if we gave her a chance, she might be able to hold her own.¡±

    ¡°Oh? Is that so?¡±

    I had no idea. I mean, in the original game, we never went into any dungeons during her story, so I just assumed she wasn¡¯t the fighting type.

    Then again, she might just be taking her magic lessons to make her life easier, so there¡¯s that.

    Either way, I didn¡¯t wanna bring her along unless I was positive she could handle herself.

    And as for the others, honestly, I did try and invite them. But Roy was returning to the school early for something the club he joined was doing, and Flynn was still training Ella in the art of the sword. So they couldn¡¯t make it. I just didn¡¯t want Xara to feel bad about interrupting their schedules for this, so I came up with that excuse on the spot in order to smooth things over. Even if it was kind of a lie.

    But moving past that, we continued flying toward the dungeon while chatting with each other for a good while before finally arriving at the dungeon entrance.

    Thankfully, the whole ride had gone smoothly and now all we had to do was take care of this dungeon. After that, this break would be at its end and we would finally go back to school.

    Thus, we simply stood around waiting for the MC to arrive.

    With summer about to end, a woman with long white hair strutted through the halls of the school with a tame expression on her face.

    This woman was Haiko. The president of the student council and someone who took care of the school when Alister, the principal and creator of magic, was too busy to do so.

    Not having any family to go back to, she had remained in the school dorms taking care of the papers for the next school year.

    She ended up finishing faster than she had anticipated though, so she was currently just wandering around the school with nothing to do. Her face never changing from its stilted expression.

    ¡°Hello there President Haiko,¡± said a female student who waved over at her to which Haiko waved back before continuing to walk forward.

    Despite not showing much expression, Haiko had gained the respect of the student body thanks to her grades and her skill to connect with people.

    Add all that with the fact that she understood how to make the school better, and it was practically a given that she¡¯d take the role of the president of the student council.

    Even so, not everyone could understand her thought process. As many a time, there were students who she¡¯d speak with and ask strange questions. And every time, she¡¯d leave once she got her answer.

    No one knew why she did this, but they tried their best to respond as quickly as they could. Hoping their answer would make her happy.

    That is, except for two people. Who took her question into consideration and gave responses that didn¡¯t sound like they were fake, however, they somewhat contradicted the vibe she got from those individuals.

    However, despite dealing with these confusing results, Haiko listened to their responses before being on her way. And now, she found herself thinking the two people''s responses over in her head.

    She had already come to a decision on what to do when it came to those two, but even so, there was a part of her that couldn¡¯t wrap her finger around them. Like they stood out compared to everyone else in the school. And it left her feeling rather intrigued about them.

    ¡°Life certainly helps you meet interesting people,¡± Haiko muttered as she continued walking through the halls while looking out at the nearby window.

    ¡°Now then, I wonder just how this school year is going to turn out.¡±

    After saying that to herself, Haiko closed her eyes. Pondering what the future had in store.

    ¡°You¡¯re late,¡± I said as the MC stepped out of his flying carriage with an annoyed look on his face.

    ¡°You set things up at an inconvenient time for me. So you¡¯re the one to blame here.¡±

    I crossed my arms.

    ¡°Oh is that so?¡±

    Seeing there might be a chance of tension, Xara stepped between us.

    ¡°H-How about we get on inside the dungeon, okay?¡±

    The MC and I glared at each other for a few seconds before turning our heads away.

    ¡°Fine,¡± growled the MC. But I simply rolled my eyes and turned around.

    ¡°Come on you two. We need to get that treasure before anyone else. Let¡¯s move," I said as I started walking.

    ¡°R-Right!¡± shouted Xara. But the MC simply scoffed while the two of them followed close behind me.

    And as we entered the dungeon entrance, the smallest of grins came onto my face.

    Because with the school about to begin once again, I was looking forward to enjoying one last adventure.

 Chapter 53: The End of Summer Adventure

    Seventeen years ago, my family wasn¡¯t huge in any way. However, my father and mother both loved the world of science. And when magic was discovered, they were ecstatic to learn how it worked. But that excitement turned to horror when my father went overboard and almost drove my mother to insanity for an experiment. After that, they figured it was too dangerous to try things out on each other, so that¡¯s where I came along.

    From when I was very young, they did experiments and tests on me time and time again to the point I had given up almost all my emotions. My grandmother eventually managed to help me escape from that nightmare, but the damage was already done.

    Apparently, my mother was eventually found dealing with illegal chemicals and was sent to prison. What came of my father, however, is still unknown to me.

    Even now, I still fear those days. But thanks to all those experiments, I could never show it.

    However, since I didn¡¯t want to put my chance at life to waste, I worked hard in my studies and became the student council president at the High School of Magic and Swordsmanship. Using my instinct to help choose my staff, I hope to help those at this school have the best life they can and make the most of their lives.

    My name is Haiko Ariyama, and I get the feeling that my life was about to change more then I ever could¡¯ve imagined.

    ¡°Don¡¯t just dodge! You¡¯ll never kill it if that''s all you do!¡± I shouted at the MC as he ducked away from a giant crab claw.

    ¡°That¡¯s easy for you to say! You have that dumb shield up!¡±

    I watched as the MC fought while a shield of wind floated around me and guarded me against the enemies attacks.

    ¡°That¡¯s because I¡¯m here to monitor you guys. Or did you forget what you owe me?¡±

    The MC let out an annoyed growl as he clenched his gloves and turned to face the giant crab in front of him.

    From behind, Xara made a black pitchfork with heart tips appear in her hand and she charged at one of the monsters from behind.

    ¡°Haaaah!¡±

    Swinging it down, she stuck the trident deep into the crab¡¯s back and pierced through its shell.

    Taking this chance, the MC pushed himself forward and smashed into the monster''s face.

    It let out a screech from its mouth before vanishing into thin air.

    Xara and the MC took in several deep breaths.

    ¡°Why do we have to do this?¡± the MC huffed.

    ¡°As I mentioned before, it¡¯s your part of the deal for my help in the Hunter Games. In exchange for my help, I wanted you to clear this dungeon. Though I guess you¡¯re still not strong enough to take on such a challenge. Should we come back another day?¡±

    In response to my words, the MC let out a loud growl before giving me a huff.

    ¡°This is nothing! Let¡¯s keep going!¡±

    Not bothering to make sure we were following him, he trudged off deeper into the dungeon without a second thought.

    ¡°That seemed to put him in a bad mood,¡± Xara stated.

    I shrugged.

    ¡°Meh. He just needed a little push. If that means I have to be a bit cruel, then that¡¯s what I¡¯ll do.¡±

    Following the MC, we dove even deeper into the dungeon.

    Since this looks like it¡¯ll take a while, I guess I¡¯ll explain what¡¯s going on.

    My name is Axel Savoncho. After being brought into the world that was almost an exact replica of the world from the dating sim game I played around six years ago, I was currently living a life within this world as one of its residents.

    Over my time here, I¡¯ve gone through a lot of experiences. Some good, and some bad. Nonetheless, I don¡¯t hate my life here.

    I mean, not only do I have a group of friends that¡¯s fun to be around, but I was also lucky enough to get a girlfriend. That girlfriend was the one named Xara who I mentioned earlier.

    Then there''s the MC called Riko Toyazoto. Normally, he acted as the protagonist However, after everything that¡¯s happened, he¡¯s more of a side character in his own story.

    I didn¡¯t figure this out until recently, but apparently, the MC is a reincarnate who came from another world like me. Only unlike my experience where I was brought here in my body from my previous world, the MC was a guy who had his memories placed inside the mind of Riko Toyazoto and has basically replaced his role as the protagonist. Although, as mentioned before, he¡¯s become more like a side character in his own story.

    I¡¯d go into more detail as to why, but I get the feeling most of you probably already know pretty much the whole story. So for your sake, I¡¯ll just skip over the rest and talk about what we''re doing here.

    As I stated to the MC, I had found a dungeon that recently appeared and knew it¡¯d be difficult to beat on my own. So in exchange for helping the MC and Xara out with their team''s list, they had to help me out with clearing this dungeon.

    Things were actually going pretty smoothly for the most part, but there were still a few monsters that were causing problems¡­at least for Xara and the MC. I wasn¡¯t actually doing anything. Why? Because I fully intended on making these two pay what they owe me...though mostly the MC.

    As we dove deeper, the monsters slowly got stronger and stronger. Eventually, I had to step in to ensure the two''s safety.

    ¡°Get down!¡±

    As Xara and the MC ducked, I sent a slash of wind straight through the giant lizard-like monster in front of me.

    It vanished into shards instantly as its body split in two.

    Sighing, I glanced down at my grimiore.

    It faintly glowed on my belt. For some reason, ever since we entered this dungeon, Nia, the spirit residing within this grimiore, has gone completely silent.

    Weirdly enough, this isn¡¯t the first time she¡¯s remained silent while I went into a dungeon. Pretty much every time I went dungeon diving, she¡¯d immediately go silent and not make a peep until I¡¯ve left.

    She never did this with the MC when I played through the game, so I was lost on why the heck she was doing this. Thankfully, I can still cast magic so it¡¯s not a huge issue. However, this still bothered me a little bit. Something about it just didn¡¯t feel right.

    But moving past that for now, the MC glanced around the room as if looking for something.

    ¡°What¡¯s got you being so frisky?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Hm? Well¡­it just feels like we''re being watched.¡±

    ¡°Really?¡±The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

    I didn¡¯t get a feeling like that. Was it some special power the person who was meant to be the MC had?

    To be safe, I began pushing forth my expanded thinking.

    To briefly explain it, my expanded thinking acts as an enhanced version of my own mind.

    I don¡¯t use it that often, but it helps whenever I need to keep my wits about me as well as get a read on the situation.

    Looking around the room, I tried to notice any odd disturbances. That¡¯s when I saw a rather suspicious-looking hole.

    ¡°What¡¯s this?¡±

    The other two gave me looks of confusion as I moved closer to the hole. I began casting an enhancement spell on my hand and slammed it into the wall. Thankfully, I¡¯d remembered to use my robotic hand. One issue about the enhancement spell is that it still affected my body. So if I tried using my human arm with this spell, I could risk breaking it like the first time I used this spell.

    As my hand smashed into the wall, it began to crack before crumbling and someone behind it jumped back in surprise.

    ¡°HEEEE!!¡±

    They backed up and tried to run only for me to grab them by their collar.

    ¡°A bandit, huh?¡±

    The MC walked up next to me.

    ¡°A bandit? What makes you say that?¡±

    ¡°This person¡¯s outfit.¡±

    The one I¡¯d grabbed hold of was a short girl in clothes you¡¯d normally see on an adventurer.

    ¡°She just looks like a little girl to me,¡± said the MC.

    ¡°That¡¯s how they get you.¡±

    Grabbing the bag the girl had on her to the side, she struggled in my arms as I handed the bag to the MC.

    ¡°Take a look.¡±

    Confused, the MC opened up the bag before screaming and throwing the bag away.

    The bag fell to the floor and one of the things inside it fell out.

    Xara held up her hand to her mouth to hide a gasp.

    The item that had fallen out was the decapitated head that I assumed belonged to an adventurer at one point.

    ¡°If I had to guess, this girl uses earth magic to hide from unsuspecting adventures and take their lives so she can steal their items.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s¡­disgusting," muttered Xara.

    Throwing the girl to the ground, I cast some earth magic to pin down her arms and legs, as well as seal up her mouth so she couldn¡¯t chant anything.

    She struggled and tried to free herself, but I knew she wouldn¡¯t be getting out of those restraints any time soon.

    Leaving her behind, I began walking deeper into the dungeon.

    ¡°W-Where are you going!?¡±

    ¡°She can¡¯t go anywhere, so I figured we could just turn her in after we were done here. You two coming?¡±

    Not even bothering to think about it, Xara immediately followed after me as the MC looked at me, completely dumbfounded.

    ¡°Say, how were you so calm during all that?¡± the MC asked me after catching up to Xara and me.

    ¡°When you¡¯ve spent as many years as I have adventuring, you get used to stuff like this.¡±

    As I said that, memories of the different adventures I¡¯ve been through in the past flashed through my mind.

    Thankfully, nothing too terrible has happened to me¡­for the most part. Strange as it is, the most horrible things that have happened all occurred during my first year at the High School of Magic and Swordsmanship. Talk about weird.

    But moving past that for now, we continued moving a bit further before coming into a giant room containing loads of light blue crystals that were sticking out all over the place.

    ¡°Whoa¡­¡± mumbled the Mc as he stared at the glittering shard in amazement.

    Xara picked up one of the crystals and looked it over.

    ¡°Say, aren¡¯t these Froya crystals?¡± said the MC.

    ¡°Froya crystals?¡± I said. Titling my head.

    That sounded familiar for some reason.

    ¡°Yeah. They¡¯re normally quite rare to find. Thanks to that, they not only cost a lot of money, but they¡¯re often used as wedding rings for royalty who wish to propose to their lover.¡±

    ¡°That so?¡±

    Glancing at the stones, an idea came to my mind.

    ¡°Let¡¯s start gathering them then!¡± I shouted

    ¡°Really!? What for!?¡± asked Xara who seemed really excited.

    ¡°For the money of course!¡± I responded.

    That seemed to immediately ruin Xara¡¯s mood.

    ¡°Er¡­¡±

    Crap. Was she mad I didn¡¯t want to collect it for a wedding ring?

    ¡°And¡­Maybe for something else.¡±

    Awkwardly, I turned my head away while saying that.

    Xara¡¯s mood instantly improved.

    ¡°Yeah!¡±

    Dammit! Why did she look so happy when I said that?

    Actually, I already knew why, but it was still embarrassing to think about. I mean I loved Xara a lot, but I feel like marriage isn¡¯t something I¡¯m ready for quite yet. I¡¯m not against spending the rest of my life with her, but I wasn¡¯t ready for something as big as marriage. At least not yet.

    Having settled that matter, Xara, the MC, and I went about collecting the crystals within the cavern.

    ¡°Say, shouldn¡¯t we leave some in case other adventurers come into these dungeons?¡± the MC asked.

    I shook my head.

    ¡°Rule four of adventuring: take what you can when it¡¯s given to you. If we tried to be nice and leave some crystals behind, the next adventurer to come in would probably just take the rest without leaving some for anyone else. Because of this, it¡¯s best just to take it all while you can.¡±

    ¡°I¡­see.¡±

    Quickly fishing out all the crystals and placing them in a bag I¡¯d brought with me, I tossed the bag over my shoulder and turned to Xara and the MC who were checking to see if we missed any.

    ¡°Nothing over here.¡±

    ¡°Not here either. I guess we got them all.¡±

    Running a scan over the room with my expanded thinking, it seemed like we had indeed cleared out the whole room.

    ¡°Well then, let¡¯s get moving.¡±

    I began making my way deeper into the dungeon when the MC gave me a confused look.

    ¡°You mean we''re going even deeper? Don¡¯t you think we¡¯ve already gotten enough as is?¡¯

    I shook my head.

    ¡°If there¡¯s one thing you need to know about dungeons, it¡¯s that the deeper you go, the rarer the treasure that¡¯s lying within.¡±

    Beginning to move again, Xara quickened her pace so that she could move up next to me. Probably lost on my thinking, the MC let out a sigh and followed behind while tossing his bag of crystals over his shoulder.

    Passing through a few more levels, we found ourselves standing in front of a set of giant doors that looked like something from one of those treasure hunting movies.

    Carefully pushing the doors open, I was met with gleaming lights that I had to put up my arm to block.

    Once my eyes adjusted, I found what appeared to be a gem of some kind lying on a pillar in the middle of the room.

    It shined a crimson red with a black center that gave me a rather cold vibe.

    Not bothering to think much of it, I walked into the room and picked up the item.

    ¡°Hey! What¡¯re you doing!¡±

    The MC shouted as he reached out his hand to warn me when the room suddenly burst into flames and both the MC and Xara were blasted away as I was engulfed by the fire.

    ¡°Axel!¡± Xara screamed in fear. Horrified that I''d been burned to death.

    ¡°Geez. Talk about a scare,¡± I said aloud as the wind barrier I surrounded myself with kept the fire from burning me to a crisp.

    Getting a look at the fire, I could almost feel the heat resonating from it. From that feeling alone, I could tell that had I not put up this barrier, I would¡¯ve been dead in seconds.

    Stepping out of the room, Xara looked at me with relief as the MC gave me an expression of shock.

    ¡°If I¡¯m being honest, I¡¯m kinda surprised that¡¯s all the this dungeoncould come up with in terms of traps. I would¡¯ve expected at least a monster or two. Not just some flames,¡± I muttered.

    As I slipped the stone into my bag, I could hear the MC muttering ¡°Well most people can¡¯t activate a spell like that in such a short time¡± and I guess that made sense. Had it not been for my grimiore, which let me cast magic without needing to chant anything, I¡¯d probably have died there.

    ¡°Well now that we got the main treasure from this place, we should get going. Come on you guys.¡±

    ¡°Right!¡± shouted Xara.

    ¡°Er¡­Yeah," responded the MC.

    Thus, Xara followed me with enthusiasm while the MC begrudgingly trailed behind. Ending this small adventure of ours.

 Chapter 54: Different Outcomes

    Once we returned to the kingdom where our school was located, I presented my findings to a merchant who specialized in selling jewelry.

    Like the MC had said, the Froya crystals sold for quite a bit and I managed to make enough money to last me at least five or six years if I used it wisely.

    Add that on to the compensation money I received from the Acantha family to make up for their daughter''s actions against me and this makes me probably the richest I¡¯ve ever been.

    As Xara and the MC gave over their own crystals, the merchant was clearly surprised by how much we had found.

    However, none of that compared to when I showed him that stone we found at the end of the dungeon.

    His eyes nearly bulged out of their sockets as he examined the stone before offering me a hundred Platnm for it. To Quickly explain it, a single Platnm is equivalent to a thousand U.S. dollars. If you do the math, this man had just offered to buy this stone off me for around a hundred thousand dollars. The most anyone''s ever offered for something I was selling.

    Not giving him time to reconsider, I agreed to the price and he handed me the Platnm coins before taking the stone and putting it away with the crystals.

    Thanking us for doing business with him, the man began walking off with a spring in his step as he guided the horse that was drawing his carriage, as well as the crystals and that stone, off into the distance.

    Once everything was said and done, the three of us went to my island.

    ¡°Welcome back Master,¡± said a floating cube as it approached me.

    ¡°Thanks, Sirin. If you could, please open up the vault for me, I got some money I need to put in there.¡±

    ¡°Right away Sir.¡±

    I don¡¯t think I need to mention this, but Sirin was the computer AI that ran my island.

    I don¡¯t know how such high-tech machinery found its way into what¡¯s supposed to be a medieval world, but as long as she helped me maintain this island, I didn¡¯t care.

    Keeping hold of their own earnings, Xara and the MC began making their way toward my mansion while I went to drop off my money in the vault I previously mentioned.

    As I was doing that, a person appeared next to me out of thin air.

    ¡°Greetings Master,¡± said Nia with a smile.

    ¡°Finally able to talk again huh? Are you still not gonna explain to me why you suddenly go silent whenever we go into dungeons?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m¡­afraid I still can¡¯t answer that.¡±

    ¡°Figures.¡±

    Having finished putting the money in my vault, I began making my way to my mansion while Nia, the previously mentioned spirit in the grimoire in her human form, walked next to me with a smile on her face.

    ¡°You seem happy.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m always happy when I¡¯m with you Master.¡±

    ¡°I see.¡±

    I don¡¯t know why, but Nia¡¯s been quite friendly with me for a while. Weird considering the weird interactions we had when we first met.

    But moving past that, right before the house came into view, Nia vanished back into the grimoire and I used wind magic to fly the rest of the way back since my legs were getting tired.

    As I flew back, I thought about everything I¡¯d been through over the last few years.

    ¡°I wonder how the past me would react if he saw me now,¡± I pondered to myself.

    ¡°Was your past self different Master?¡± Nia asked me telepathically.

    ¡°Completely. He came to that school dreaming of nothing but being a harem king. The old me was a total idiot.¡±

    ¡°Sounds like you really don¡¯t like your old self.¡±

    I let out a laugh.

    ¡°Yeah. I really don¡¯t.¡±

    When I¡¯d made it back to the mansion, I gave the MC and Xara some tea when Xara decided to start up a conversation.

    ¡°Say, isn¡¯t school starting up again soon?¡±

    ¡°Yeah. It¡¯s kinda crazy. It only feels like yesterday when the break started," I responded.

    That¡¯s right. The break was almost over. And pretty soon, all three of us would be second years.

    ¡°Speaking of which, have you two already got your new uniforms?¡± I asked.

    Xara and the MC nodded.

    ¡°Yep. Although to be honest, I still can¡¯t believe the break is already over,¡± said Xara.

    ¡°I know what you mean.¡±

    The summer really has been quite eventful. At least when it came to small things. Nothing major happened, but several small things occurred that kept this break interesting.

    Like the time Xara and I had to fight a robot who went crazy, or when Dianne invited me out to the entertainment empire, as well as other things as well. But again, they weren¡¯t that big. Nothing worth writing home about.

    Trying to take another sip of her tea, Xara lost her grip on the cup handle.

    ¡°Wah!¡±

    The tea spilled over her clothes.

    ¡°Are you okay Xara!?¡± shouted the MC in a concerned tone.

    ¡°Yeah. Just got a little stain on my clothes is all.¡±

    Not moving from my seat, I whispered some orders to Sirin who I could hear flying off to complete what I¡¯d asked.

    ¡°Even if it¡¯s a little stain, you should change clothes. We don¡¯t need your parents getting angry at me for letting you walk around with stained clothes,¡± I said. To which Xara let out an awkward chuckle.

    ¡°You might be right. Alright then, I¡¯ll be back in a bit.¡±

    Getting up from her seat, Xara left the MC and me to ourselves.

    ¡°I still hate you,¡± said the MC.

    ¡°Geez. Blunt much.¡±

    Sipping on my tea, I struggled to come up with anything to talk about with this guy.

    ¡°Even so, you¡¯re Xara¡¯s current boyfriend. If I¡¯m gonna try to win her back, I¡¯ll need to make sure you don¡¯t try anything by keeping an eye on you. Even if I hate it.¡±

    I sighed.

    ¡°What kind of bullshit are you sputtering?¡±

    ¡°You¡¯ve already ruined all my plans with both Xara and Dianne. So even if it takes the entire time I¡¯m at that school, I¡¯ll win back over Xara no matter what it takes.¡±

    ¡°Since when did I ruin your plans with Dianne?¡±

    Wasn¡¯t she still into him? Or did something happen?

    ¡°And besides that, aren¡¯t there still three other girls to choose from?¡±

    That¡¯s right. Even if you exclude Xara and Dianne, there was still Talia, Haiko, and Kimichi.

    I may have met the three of them, but I¡¯ve barely interacted with any of the three. Not to mention I¡¯m not on very good terms with Tailia after our first meeting. Even if the two of us hung out more, I highly doubt we¡¯d get close enough for anything. And since I don¡¯t plan to interact with the other two either, it should be easy for the MC to win any of them over without issue¡­as long as he thinks of them as more than just love interests.

    ¡°But I¡¯ve¡­barely interacted with them¡­¡± responded the MC.

    ¡°Hm?¡±

    Did I hear that right?

    ¡°What did you just say?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve¡­barely talked with them at all.¡±

    Deciding to add some drama to my reaction, I took a sip from my tea before spitting it out.

    ¡°You¡¯ve gotta be kidding me!? If you¡¯ve actually been following the same story as the MC, you should¡¯ve met and hung out with them plenty of times!¡±

    The MC glared at me.

    ¡°You think I haven¡¯t been following everything to a T!? You¡¯re the one who¡¯s been throwing the whole story out of balance! Had you never interfered, things would¡¯ve played out as they were meant to!¡±

    ¡°Oh, so it¡¯s my fault!?¡±The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

    ¡°Of course, it¡¯s your fault!¡±

    Rubbing my eyes, I let out a frustrated sigh.

    The MC¡¯s love life didn¡¯t bother me that much, but if this world followed the same concepts as the game, then the girl''s stories were all playing out simultaneously.

    If that¡¯s the case, then the MC had to at least hang out with them enough that he could alter their stories. If what he just said was true, then that means things are probably gonna go even more off-script than it already had.

    ¡°So¡­you said you¡¯ve barely interacted with them. Does that mean you¡¯ve at least met them?¡±

    The MC nodded.

    ¡°I met Kimichi during the trip event like normal, but thanks to the stuff with Xara, I never had the time to go to her other events. And even though Talia met me at the same spot as she did in the original game, she didn¡¯t have the same thought process as she did before.¡±

    ¡°What do you mean?¡±

    ¡°You¡¯ve played the games right?¡±

    ¡°Yeah. The first one.¡±

    ¡°Well, you know how when you first meet Talia and she¡¯s surprised by your rather girly face?¡±

    ¡°Yeah,¡± I said with a nod.

    It¡¯s one of the only reasons she interacts with the MC. As shallow as it is, that¡¯s probably the only excuse the writers could come up with.

    ¡°Normally, when she sees your girly face, she thinks of you a lot more kindly than the other guys and even considers becoming friends with you. However, this time, she just looked at me with disgust. Even after she saw my face.¡±

    ¡°That so?¡±

    Strange. The MC¡¯s face still looked quite girly and I highly doubt the dude who reincarnated into the MC¡¯s body made any massive changes that would alter her perception of him. So it¡¯s weird that she doesn¡¯t like him that much.

    ¡°What about Haiko?¡±

    The MC tried thinking back for a moment.

    ¡°Well when I met her for the first time, it was the day right before the end of the break when she asked me a weird question.¡±

    ¡°You mean you didn¡¯t meet her during the Hunter Games event?¡±

    The MC shook his head.

    ¡°Thanks to you taking my spot in class, I wasn¡¯t able to follow the same path as before.¡±

    ¡°Why not?¡±

    ¡°You said you played, right? Then you should remember that Dianne was the reason you even met Haiko in the first place as she had an item you were looking for on your list.¡±

    Oh yeah. Honestly, it¡¯s been kinda hard to remember how the whole game played out with how long it¡¯s been since I last played. I was bound to forget something here or there.

    ¡°So you met her at a different time?¡±

    ¡°Yes. As I mentioned before, I met her the day before the break started when she asked me a strange question.¡±

    ¡°What was the question?¡±

    ¡°Hmm¡­I don¡¯t really remember. I think it had something to do with puppies and rain.¡±

    Puppies and rain? That sounded familiar for some reason.

    But moving past that for now, I got up from my seat and was about to leave when the MC glanced down at my waist.

    ¡°Say, isn¡¯t that my grimiore?¡±

    I glared at him.

    ¡°What do you mean your grimoire?¡¯¡±

    ¡°I mean exactly what I say. That grimoire¡¯s supposed to belong to me.¡±

    Annoyed by his words, I sighed before beginning to leave.

    ¡°Hey! Don¡¯t start ignoring me!¡±

    Not letting him get in another word, I shot a ball of water under his chair which caused it to flip and he slammed into the ground.

    Letting out a groan of pain, he rubbed his head as I vanished from his sight.

    On the roof of the mansion, I looked out at the dark sky. I hadn¡¯t even noticed how late it¡¯d gotten.

    Appearing next to me, Nia gave me a concerned look.

    ¡°Say, is what that guy said, true Master?¡±

    ¡°Hm?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s just, back when I was sealed away, I was told the one who¡¯d retrieve me would be a boy that looked quite similar to the way that Riko guy looked.¡±

    Thinking it over for a second, I shrugged and then petted Nia¡¯s head to ease her concerns.

    ¡°Even if that¡¯s what you were told, as things are now, you belong to me. I took the grimoire into my possession, and I fully intend to hold onto it for the rest of my life. And you along with it.¡±

    ¡°So you aren¡¯t considering giving me over to that other guy?¡±

    ¡°Not even a little bit.¡±

    For some reason, that made Nia smile.

    Honestly, there had been a time I¡¯d actually considered it.

    But after everything that¡¯s happened, I knew it¡¯d be impossible for me to live a life in this world without Nia and my grimoire.

    And considering how much I hate the MC, there¡¯s no way in hell I¡¯d hand Nia over to him at this point.

    Nia and I continued talking for a few minutes before she vanished back into the grimiore just in time to avoid being spotted by Xara who flew up next to me.

    ¡°So this is where you were. Once I got back from changing, Riko was lying on the ground and you were nowhere to be seen. What happened?¡±

    ¡°Nothing really. He just said something that pissed me off.¡±

    ¡°That¡­sounds like something Riko would do.¡±

    Considering she knew him better than most, that was really saying something.

    The two of us laid down on our backs as we looked out at the star-filled sky in silence.

    ¡°Say, remember the time we had our first night together?¡±

    That¡¯s a weird thing to bring up.

    ¡°Yeah. What about it?¡±

    Xara chuckled.

    ¡°I was just remembering how serious you were throughout the whole thing. It made me happy to see you so dedicated to it all.

    I turned away in embarrassment.

    ¡°How could I not? Any guy would who isn''t an asshole would want to make his girlfriend happy.¡±

    ¡°That so? And would any guy who saw me naked next to him the next morning grow a tent?¡±

    ¡°Of course!¡±

    This was so embarrassing. I didn¡¯t want to be reminded of it.

    ¡°And then there¡¯s what I did afterward.¡±

    Xara licked her lips and I sat up while trying to keep myself in check.

    ¡°Could you please explain why you brought this up?¡±

    ¡°Hm? No reason. Just teasing you.¡±

    Feeling my face grow hotter by the minute, I cleared my throat and stood up.

    ¡°I¡­I¡¯m going to bed!¡±

    Jumping off the roof, I was stopped by some wind magic right before hitting the ground and rushed into the building to hide what was starting to perk up. All the while, I could picture Xara giggling to herself. Something about that thought was both irritating and adorable at the same time.

    With the school year coming to an end, I resided inside the student council and was currently looking at the papers of two students I¡¯d been keeping my eyes on.

    One was Axel Savoncho who I¡¯d heard many amazing feats about and even witnessed some firsthand.

    His grades were also quite good despite his teacher constantly reporting how little he actually listened in class.

    From what I¡¯ve seen, he always speaks for himself and never lets others mess with him. While not a bad trait, several issues could arise because of such an attitude. Such as creative differences.

    I had, at a time, considered him worthy enough to join the student council as its treasurer, but after watching his rematch against Riko Toyazoto, I¡¯ve thought of a much more fitting role for him.

    The other student I was keeping my eye on was the previously mentioned Riko Toyazoto.

    While he isn¡¯t unique in any aspect, both his physical as well as magical abilities are much stronger than your average student.

    He may not outshine others in any regard, but I had a feeling he was someone I should keep around.

    Thus, I signed the paperwork necessary for both Savoncho and Toyazoto before handing them off to the student council vice president. And before I knew it, the remainder of the school year was brought to a close. And

    On the last day before break, I found Riko Toyazoto walking in the halls and decided to ask him the same question I¡¯d always asked when studying interesting people.

    You¡¯re Riko Toyazoto, correct?¡±

    ¡°Hm? Oh. Yes. What is it you need of me President Haiko.¡±

    Apparently, he already knew who I was. Well, considering my position, it wasn''t that surprising.

    ¡°I was wondering if you would be willing to answer a question for me.¡±

    ¡°A question?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    ¡°Um¡­Sure.¡±

    ¡°Thank you. I was just curious. If you saw a puppy lying out in the rain, what would you do?¡±

    ¡°What would I do if I saw a puppy out in the rain?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s correct.¡±

    Putting his hand to his chin, Toyazoto seemed to be thinking about his answer before finally responding.

    ¡°I¡¯d take it in and care for it until I could find someone willing to take it in.¡±

    ¡°Really? And why wouldn¡¯t you just keep it?¡±

    Toyazoto scratched the back of his head and laughed awkwardly.

    ¡°Honestly, I¡¯ve never really seen myself as responsible enough to care for animals. I mean, there¡¯s a cat at my dorm, but usually, the other people who live there take care of it. Even if I wanted to take care of an animal, I just couldn¡¯t see myself doing it alone. Because of that, I¡¯d prefer to just care for the animal until someone more qualified comes along rather than trying to raise one myself until the very end. I don¡¯t know if that makes much sense or not.¡±

    How interesting.

    ¡°I see. Thank you. I¡¯d best be going now. I appreciate you taking the time to answer my question.¡±

    ¡°Er¡­Yeah. No problem.¡±

    With that, I left Toyazoto behind.

    The next day, right before it was time for me to give my final speech before the break, I spotted Axel Savoncho among the students making his way toward the auditorium where I was meant to be giving my speech and decided to walk up to him and ask him the same question.

    ¡°That¡¯s a weird question.¡±

    ¡°Is it? I see. Please still answer it.¡±

    Unlike Toyazoto, Savoncho didn¡¯t seem to think about who I was. I couldn¡¯t tell if it was because he had no idea or if he didn¡¯t care, but he kept a relaxed simple tone.

    After thinking about it for a moment, he responded.

    ¡°I guess¡­I¡¯d see if anyone¡¯s willing to take it in.¡±

    Intriguing.

    ¡°And if no one does?¡±

    ¡°Then I¡¯d just leave it off somewhere that someone else is bound to find it.¡±

    Really? I wasn¡¯t expecting that answer.

    ¡°You wouldn¡¯t take it in yourself?¡±

    ¡°Nah. I¡¯m not softhearted enough to raise an animal.¡±

    Slightly taken aback by his answer, I quickly collected my thoughts.

    ¡°I see. Thank you for answering my question.¡±

    ¡°Sure. No problem.¡±

    What a fascinating individual.

    To quickly explain, this question was something I came up with that would let me read people both through facial expressions as well as vocal answers.

    For example, say you¡¯d be willing to take in the puppy. However, while you¡¯re saying so, you avert your eyes. That tells me you don¡¯t actually mean it.

    When discussing the question with Toyazoto, he gave me a sincere look and clearly meant every word.

    However, as I heard Savoncho¡¯s response, I struggled to get a read on his expression. He didn¡¯t avert his eyes, but his words sounded like they were both shallow and sincere at the same time. Like he was conflicting with his own thoughts.

    Even after I left him in order to make it to the auditorium on time, that expression he made still remained stuck in my head. There was just something about it that I couldn¡¯t get a read on.

    Even now, I struggle to get an understanding of it.

    Nonetheless, I had made my final decision and was ready to see what would become of it.

    Even if it means going against my best friend''s wishes, I planned to see this through to the end.

 Chapter 55: An Undesired Position

    The day for school to start back up had finally arrived. Which I had already teleported back to.

    And As I let out a yawn, I stretched my arms out into the air while making my way toward the auditorium.

    I had no idea as to why I needed to go there, I was just reported to be there first thing in the morning. Because of that, I woke up a bit earlier than Xara and was now on my way there.

    ¡°Ah....¡±

    Stopping right at the entrance to the auditorium, I was met with the MC standing there and giving me an annoyed look.

    Unsure what to say, I was about to ask him why he was there when a voice spoke up behind me.

    ¡°What are you doing here?¡±

    Hearing an irritating voice behind me, I turned around to find none other than Talia standing there. One of the many people I found myself disliking at this school.

    Despite being one of the heroines, I¡¯ve never really been a big fan of how she treats guys. Maybe other dudes enjoyed her, but I personally hated her. Even more so after I played through her slog of a route.

    ¡°Dunno. I just came here because I was told to. Got a problem with that?¡± I replied.

    Talia let out an irritated huff.

    ¡°Whatever. Just don¡¯t ruin the mood with your disgusting attitude, Scummy Man Commoner.¡±

    ¡°Right back at you Princess Jackass.¡±

    She let out another huff before walking past me. What a pain.

    ¡°Are you two not on good terms?¡± asked the MC.

    ¡°Nope. Not in the slightest. So if you want to win her over and keep her out of my life, you¡¯re more than welcome to.¡±

    ¡°Um¡­Okay?¡±

    Not sure of what else to say, the MC turned around and walked into the building and I followed shortly after. Why did this year have to start on such a low note?

    Once inside, I took a seat a bit farther behind the others in the room and had a look around.

    The building wasn¡¯t much different from what I remembered. That made sense considering it¡¯s only been about two months since I was last here for the end of year words from the student council president.

    Glancing at the other people in the room, I noticed a majority of them were women.

    There were a few guys here and there, but eighty percent of the people here were women.

    Now that I think about it, I was pretty sure most of the people here were from the school disciplinary committee. Weird

    A few minutes later, Haiko, the student council president, stepped up onto the stage in front of everyone wearing the same blank expression she always had.

    ¡°Greetings everyone. Today, I have an important announcement to make. Throughout the entirety of last year, I¡¯ve been keeping an eye on several different individuals in hopes of acquiring their help in improving this school bit by bit to become the ideal institution for education. Which is why...¡±

    Haiko continued babbling on for another five minutes about her ideas for an ideal school and even managed to bring a few students in the room to tears. I still didn¡¯t get what was so heart-wrenching about what she was saying, so I decided I might as well tune her words out. Thus, I was about to close my eyes and catch a little shut-eye when something she said caused an alarm to go off in my head.

    ¡°So in order to see these goals through, I¡¯ve selected two new students I wish to recruit to help in making this school an even better place to learn.¡±

    Feeling my body tense up, I listened quietly.

    ¡°First up, I¡¯d like to request a student who has drawn my attention through his struggles in this school. He may not have the best record in some areas, but his grades in both physical as well as magical abilities are exceptional enough to deserve the role I wish to offer him. So without further ado, I would like to ask for Riko Toyazoto to come up on stage.¡±

    All eyes immediately turned to the MC who was trying to hold back the look of surprise on his face as he made his way up to the stage. Nervously shaking Haiko¡¯s hand, the MC seemed to be trying to gather his thoughts.

    More than likely, he hadn¡¯t been told this in advance.

    ¡°Riko Toyazoto. Would you be willing to join the student council as its treasurer?¡±

    When Haiko asked this, the MC¡¯s eyes darted around nervously before nodding his head.

    ¡°I¡­I would be honored.¡±

    Shaking Haiko¡¯s hand once more, he was guided over to the other members of the student council before Haiko went back to talking.

    ¡°Moving on, I would like to announce the second student I wish to recruit. Despite his many achievements, this boy is hated by the majority of the student body due to his stance at this school. However, I see potential in him and want to make sure that potential can take form.¡±

    Huh? Why does this sound familiar?

    The eerie feeling I had was causing my heart to quicken with worry. Then, the next words that left Haiko¡¯s mouth caused my blood to run cold.

    ¡°In order to improve our school, I wish to bring the individual known as Axel Savoncho on as a member of the disciplinary committee. Would Axel Savoncho please step up to the stage?¡±

    All eyes immediately turned to me. All except Talia who was standing next to and staring at Haiko with an expression of shock on her face. It was pretty obvious she didn¡¯t know about this.

    Getting up from my seat, I made my way up to the stage and stopped right in front of Haiko. Next to her, Talia gave me a rather threatening glare.

    Holding out her hand to me, Haiko tried her best to smile. Too bad her blank expression made that pretty much impossible.

    ¡°Axel Savoncho. Would you be willing to join our disciplinary committee and help make this school a better place?¡±

    Emotions swelling up inside me, I smiled and shook Haiko¡¯s hand. Then, I opened my mouth.

    ¡°No way in hell.¡±

    Silence hung over the room after my answer.

    ¡°Really? Well, that is a shame,¡± replied Haiko before looking out at the crowd and preparing to move on.

    Figuring I should use this chance to leave, I turned around and started making my way off the stage.

    ¡°Hold it right there Scummy Man Commoner!¡±

    ¡°Woah!¡±

    Feeling someone grab onto the collar of my school uniform, I looked back to find Talia grabbing hold of me.

    ¡°What kind of answer was that!? Do you even realize the offer President Haiko just gave you!?¡±

    Everyone had their eyes on the two of us.

    Sighing, I rubbed my eyes.

    ¡°I don¡¯t have time to bother with boring shit like disciplinary committee duties. I have a life of my own to live. Not to mention, if I worked on the disciplinary committee, I¡¯d have to spend a bunch of time with a pain in the ass like you. So thanks but no thanks.¡±

    Trying to leave again, I was stopped once more.

    ¡°Look, I don¡¯t like the idea either. But if Haiko sees potential in a jackass like you, Then I have no choice but to bury my frustration and let you join.¡±

    ¡°But I don¡¯t want to join.¡±

    ¡°You don¡¯t get a say in the matter!¡±

    ¡°Like hell, I don¡¯t!¡±

    The two of us continued bickering with each other for a few more minutes before Haiko stepped in.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry. It appears my decision has caused a fuss.¡±

    I rubbed my eyes.

    ¡°You can say that again.¡±

    Talia glared angrily at me again.

    ¡°Is glaring all you can do?¡± I asked.

    Irritated by my words, Talia grabbed my shirt from the front.

    ¡°What''s your deal? Are all commoners as scummy as you?¡±

    Using some wind magic to apply strength to my grip, I clenched onto Talia¡¯s arm which caused her to wince in pain and let go of my shirt.

    Taking a few steps back, I decided it was time for my departure and jumped off the stage.

    Talia tried to reach out and grab me, but I was already out of her reach.

    Making my way out of the auditorium, I turned back and looked at Talia for a second.

    "If rejection is scummy to you, then you''re not ready for the real world in the slightest."

    Turning my head away, I had no idea what expression Tailia made after that. And I didn''t care. I simply made my way out of the room. Finished with making my stance on the matter.

    Disappointed at Savoncho declining the offer, I tried my best not to let it show as I returned to giving my speech to the rest of the students. I figured this would happen, but I still held onto the hope that he might¡¯ve been interested.

    From the way Savoncho and Talia interacted though, it was safe to assume they didn¡¯t like each other.

    With an issue like that, it¡¯d be close to impossible for me to convince him to join the disciplinary committee.

    But after seeing everything he¡¯s done, I felt confident he¡¯d be able to protect the school with ease. So thinking of what to do next, I thanked everyone for coming and departed. Heading off to the student council office.

    And as I walked over to my desk, I decided to come up with some ideas to convince Savoncho while waiting for the rest of the student council to arrive.

    As failed idea after failed idea flew through my head, I rustled my hair lightly.

    Resting my head on my hands, I glanced at the photo next to me on my desk. It was a picture of me and my grandparents.

    Despite not being my real parents, they were far better at raising me than my family ever was.

    Memories flashed through my mind as I thought about my real parents.

    ¡°Alright, Haiko. Just stay still until the experiment is done. If you don¡¯t, then you¡¯ll be skipping dinner tonight. Though, you¡¯ll probably be skipping it regardless of if you complain or not with an experiment like this.¡±

    ¡°Hey, Haiko, can you test this liquid out for Mommy? She needs to know if it¡¯s deadly or not.¡±

    They were truly terrible people.

    Actually, now that I think about it, it¡¯s been almost ten years since my grandparents took me away. I wonder if my parents have improved at all.

    Deciding to move past that for now, I went back to brainstorming ideas to convince Savoncho to join the disciplinary committee.

    ¡°So that¡¯s why you had to leave a bit early.¡±

    Meeting up with Xara at the front of the school, I sighed in exhaustion.

    ¡°Yep. My first morning back to school has been nothing but a pain.¡±

    Walking through the gate, we made our way over to a board that would tell us about our classes for the year.

    Scanning it, a sense of excitement welled up inside me. Suddenly, Xara hugged me tightly.

    ¡°We¡¯re in the same class this year!¡±

    I chuckled.

    ¡°Yeah. That¡¯s pretty awesome.¡±

    Yep. Xara and I were in the same class this year.

    This narrative has been purloined without the author''s approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

    ¡°Axel Savoncho - Class 2-A¡±

    ¡°Xara Femashito - Class 2-A¡±

    I couldn''t explain why, but seeing both our names up there caused a happy warmth to rise up inside me.

    ¡°Hey, it looks like Dianne is in our class too!¡± shouted Xara.

    ¡°That so?¡±

    Spotting her name among the list in our class, I guess it was true.

    ¡°...Wait a minute, did you just call her Dianne?¡± I asked. To which Xara nodded.

    ¡°Yeah. Is that weird?¡±

    ¡°Well, whenever we hung out with her before, you always called her Miss Dianne.¡±

    Xara scratched the back of her head awkwardly.

    ¡°Oh. Well, you see, back when you went missing, the two of us got closer after she helped me handle my emotions.¡±

    ¡°Really? Interesting.¡±

    So the two of them bonded over my absence. I wasn¡¯t sure whether to be happy about them growing closer, or mad that it happened thanks to me going missing.

    But moving past that for now, it might just be best for us to go to our new classroom.

    ¡°Well, let¡¯s get moving," I said.

    ¡°Right!¡± Xara shouted in response.

    We began to walk away when...

    ¡°Savoncho.¡±

    Hearing my name, I turned around to find Haiko standing there looking at me.

    ¡°What do you want?¡±

    As the two of us stood in front of each other, the students around us instantly went silent.

    ¡°I still want you to join the disciplinary committee. Would you be willing to reconsider?¡±

    Why did she word it like she hadn¡¯t just asked me to join less than an hour ago?

    ¡°My answers not gonna change. I¡¯m not interested. If you want someone to join, ask literally anyone else. I¡¯m sure they¡¯d be more than happy to join.¡±

    People began to mutter amongst themselves.

    ¡°He¡¯s turning down such an amazing offer?¡±

    ¡°She wants a disgusting commoner like him on the disciplinary committee?¡±

    ¡°Does this commoner truly not see the gracious gift he¡¯s been given?¡±

    Some seemed surprised I was even offered the chance to join, while others were disgusted at the idea of me joining.

    ¡°I see. Still, if you¡¯d be willing to listen to me, I wish to speak with you further. If you¡¯re able, can you come to the student council office after school today?¡±

    Well wasn''t she persistiant.

    Rustling my hair in frustration, I sighed.

    ¡°I¡¯ll think about it.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m grateful. When then, goodbye for now," Haiko said with a bow.

    Taking her leave, Haiko made her way off towards the school building.

    From behind me, Xara looked at Haiko¡¯s back as she left.

    ¡°For some reason, she smells kinda stressed,¡± said Xara.

    ¡°Stressed?¡±

    I almost forgot. Succubi had the ability to smell a person¡¯s aura or soul or something. That¡¯s how she initially met with and hung out with the MC before she and I got close.

    ¡°Yeah. Like she¡¯s trying her best to keep her life going but worries it¡¯ll all fall apart at any moment.¡±

    ¡°That so?¡±

    Honestly, I wasn¡¯t surprised to hear that. I didn¡¯t know someone could smell stressed, but I imagine it¡¯s probably intense being the student council president.

    But she can¡¯t exactly take a break. Especially since she still has to get through at least another few months before she¡¯s allowed to resign.

    You see, apparently in this world, when a student council president is elected, they have to run for at least a year and half years. Since Haiko¡¯s already been president for for a year, she still has to make it through a few more months before leaving the role to someone else.

    But deciding to move past that for now, I went back to making my way toward class.

    ¡°Anyways, let¡¯s get moving," I said.

    ¡°Um¡­Right!¡±

    Feeling the glares of my classmates resting on me, I responded by glaring back with a smirk which just seemed to irritate them more. Hilarious.

    Arriving to class, we spotted Dianne among the students who had already arrived.

    Spotting us, she ran over with a look of¡­concern?

    ¡°Axel, is it true you turned down a role on the disciplinary committee?¡±

    ¡°Er¡­Yeah. What of it?¡±

    Dianne let out of huff of frustration.

    ¡°Being given such an offer is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. How could you turn down such an amazing honor?¡±

    Even Dianne was grilling me about this?

    I sighed.

    ¡°As I¡¯ve said before, it sounds like a pain I don¡¯t need in my life. Simple as that.¡±

    Dianne appeared completely dumbfounded by my words.

    ¡°You really are a strange one Axel.¡±

    I shrugged.

    ¡°Well moving past that for now, it¡¯s good to see you again Dianne. ¡°

    Wanting to move along as well, Dianne smiled.

    ¡°You too Axel.¡±

    Other than helping her out with something at the during the break, I hadn¡¯t seen Dianne in a long time. And I took a look at the uniform she was wearing.

    It looked almost exactly like last years. However, there were subtle changes to it that didn¡¯t come with the previous uniform. One such thing is the bowtie that changed colors from a pinkish red to a more dark green color.

    There were also a few extra pockets and was fit to be a lot more adjustable in comparison to the previous year''s uniform.

    I don¡¯t know why they had different uniforms for each year, but the system does make it easier to tell seniors and juniors apart from freshmen.

    Personally, I think the reason behind the different uniforms was that the artist working on this game thought some of the heroines didn¡¯t look very good in the same uniform. But that¡¯s still just a theory of mine.

    Moving past that though, I noticed Dianne seemed to have something to say as her face suddenly lit up.

    ¡°Oh! I just remembered something. My younger sister is actually enrolling in to this school starting this year as well.¡±

    ¡°That so?¡±

    Sister? Did Dianne ever have a sister in the game?

    ¡°Yeah. She¡¯s only a year younger than me, but she¡¯s always seen me as her big sister. Because of that, she¡¯s been wanting to enroll ever since I came to this school last year. Would you two be fine if I introduced you?¡±

    I shrugged.

    ¡°Sure. I don¡¯t have a problem with that,¡± I replied.

    ¡°You¡¯re more than welcome to do that,¡± replied Xara.

    Dianne gave us a beaming smile after hearing our responses.

    ¡°In that case, would you two be willing to meet her after school today?¡±

    I thought about it for a moment.

    It¡¯s true I said I¡¯d only think about coming to the student council office after school, but did I really want to go?

    This sounded like the perfect excuse, but a strange sense of guilt caused me to hesitate to give Dianne a response.

    Rustling my hair a bit I sighed.

    ¡°Sorry. I have somewhere to be after school today. Maybe sometime in the near future?¡±

    Dianne nodded in understanding.

    ¡°Sure. Just tell me when you¡¯re available and I¡¯ll see if my sister is too.¡±

    ¡°Thanks. I appreciate it.¡±

    In the end, the sense of guilt won. Dammit. And here I was thinking I could fully make my own decisions without anyone pushing me around. Just goes to show I still have a lot of work to do if I wanna make my way in the world without being guided by others.

    The school day went by pretty slowly, but I managed to make it through without any major issues.

    Waving goodbye to Dianne and Xara who were going off to meet with Dianne¡¯s sister, I made my way to the student council office where I found Haiko and Talia waiting.

    Talia clearly didn¡¯t like my presence there and showed it by eyeing me up and down with a suspicious look on her face. It made me feel like I was being interrogated for something I didn¡¯t do.

    Haiko talked about a bunch of boring duties that the disciplinary committee did. Probably in hopes that something would catch my interest. But it all just felt like pointless jibber jabber that I couldn¡¯t care less about.

    Probably seeing my lack of interest, Haiko seemed to make something up in her mind and proposed an offer to me.

    ¡°A temporary stay on the disciplinary committee?¡±

    Haiko nodded.

    ¡°In exchange for your absence from classes during the first half of the day, you will work as part of the disciplinary committee as a temporary member until the end of the month. This means that while getting good grades, you¡¯re free to just relax for the majority of the morning and don¡¯t have to return until around halfway through second period. Does that sound appealing?¡±

    I rolled my eyes.

    ¡°There¡¯s no way you¡¯d make a deal like that without a catch. I seem to remember you saying something before about wanting to make this the best educational institution you can. Wouldn¡¯t me skipping classes kind of contradict that?¡±

    Haiko closed her eyes and clasped her hands together.

    ¡°You¡¯re quite right. Sorry. I guess that deal would sound suspicious coming from me.¡±

    Getting up from her seat, Haiko began walking toward me with her arms behind her back.

    ¡°In truth, we have disciplinary committee members take extra classes to cover what they missed. So even if you skipped first period, you¡¯d just catch up on it after school.¡±

    Yeah. I figured there¡¯d be a catch like that.

    Rubbing my eyes, I let out an exhausted sigh.

    ¡°Could you just tell me why you want me on the disciplinary committee so bad? You never did explain that.¡±

    ¡°I didn¡¯t? But I thought I already told you this morning. It¡¯s because I¡¯ve been keeping an eye on you and see you have potential as a member of the committee.¡±

    ¡°And that¡¯s all?¡±

    ¡°Do I need more reasons?¡±

    ¡°If you consider someone with my attitude and reputation, yeah. I highly doubt you¡¯d bring someone like me on without a better reason than that.¡±

    Seeing I wasn¡¯t gonna take that reasoning as an answer, Haiko seemed to make a decision in her head.

    ¡°You raise a very good point. Fine then. I¡¯ll tell you. This might sound crazy to believe, but I actually wish to bring you on because I want to use you as a shield.¡±

    ¡°Use me as a shield?¡±

    Seemingly picking up on what Haiko meant, Talia gasped in disbelief.

    ¡°Wait a minute Haiko! You shouldn¡¯t be telling him something like this!¡±

    Haiko shook her head.

    ¡°If it helps bring him onboard, I have no choice.¡±

    Stopping a few feet in front of me, Haiko continued.

    ¡°Back before I enrolled in this school, I had a rough childhood. Because of things my parents did, I had to run away from home and be taken in by my grandparents. Even to this day, I still live with them.¡±

    I see. So she¡¯s just like her game counterpart in that aspect.

    ¡°I became student council president in hopes of protecting others from the same fate as me by showing them support as the student council president. But as much as I want to do so, there still lies a fear inside me that my parents will one day come looking for me. So for my own protection, I¡¯ve carefully selected people who I see as strong and brought them on as members of the disciplinary committee. In other words, a shield to protect myself.¡±

    Huh. That part¡¯s different than in the story I was familiar with. In the game''s story, she grew frightened of her parents after the experiment and left them behind to go live at her grandparent''s house. That seemed to be as far as these stories matched.

    In the game, after Haiko hangs out a lot with the MC, she comes to realize she misses her parents and decides to reunite with them and learn that they have become better people. Thus the family was brought back together and that helped Haiko find her emotions again which led to her falling in love with and confessing to the MC.

    With the way this world¡¯s Haiko is wording it, she appears to still fear her parents and what they might want to do with her. Honestly, this whole thing started to sound like a hassle.

    Letting out a frustrated groan, I crossed my legs which caused Talia to glare at me. Still, I finally caved in.

    ¡°Well, I guess that¡¯s a better reason than the previous one. So you want me to work on the committee for a month, correct?¡±

    Haiko seemed slightly surprised by my sudden agreement before returning to her static expression from before.

    ¡°While I¡¯d like you to stay on it for longer than that, I¡¯m fine if you only join in as a temporary member for this month alone.¡±

    ¡°Alrighty then. That means I¡¯ll only have to deal with Princess Jackass for a month. Shouldn¡¯t be too hard.¡±

    Hearing that, Talia jumped at me and tried smashing her fist in my face. I instantly jumped out of the way and used some wind magic to make her lose her footing and she crashed to the ground with a thud.

    ¡°D¡­Damn you¡­¡± Talia muttered.

    Trying my best not to laugh at her, I stood in front of Haiko and held out my hand.

    ¡°Glad to be aboard¡­President Haiko.¡±

    It looked like she tried to smile, but her facial expression barely managed to change as Haiko reached out and shook my hand.

    Thus, I became a temporary member of the disciplinary committee.

    Talia grumbled curses under her breath as she handed me a book containing all the things I needed to know as a member of the committee.

    Reminding myself to hand this over to Nia later so she could help me memorize it, I slipped the book into my bag and began making my way out of the room.

    As I opened the door, I passed the MC who was making his way into the room with a stack of papers he appeared to be delivering to the student council.

    Ignoring him, I began walking down the hall.

    It was only then that I finally realized something.

    ¡°Shit. I just got involved with the story again. Why am I so bad at keeping my nose out of stuff like this?¡±

    Rubbing my eyes, I left the school to return to my dorm.

    The place looked just like it had when I left it.

    ¡°Sir Savoncho!¡±

    To my surprise, someone hugged on to me tightly.

    ¡°Whoa. Quite hyper aren¡¯t you Vey?¡± I chuckled.

    Releasing me from the hug, Vey grinned.

    ¡°I¡¯m just happy to see you again after such a long time Sir Savoncho. It feels like ages since we¡¯ve last seen each other.¡±

    ¡°Really? It''s only been like two months though,

    Vey had wanted to come to the island, but her parents said no. So while it may have been a while, it''s not like it''s been years or anything.

    ¡°Even so, I missed you Sir Savoncho!¡±

    ¡°Er¡­Is that so?¡±

    Was being around me really that great?

    I mean, Vey said I saved her from something during my adventuring days and that¡¯s why she was currently serving as my squire here at the school, but with everything I¡¯ve been through, I still can¡¯t recall the time she was talking about.

    Nonetheless, I appreciated her company.

    ¡°Well, I¡¯m glad to see you too.¡±

    She looked ecstatic when I said that. Chuckling, I began making my way over to the kitchen my room had.

    ¡°Anyway, I was just gonna makeup something quick to eat before bed. Got any suggestions?¡±

    ¡°Really!? Then¡­Then how about that pizza stuff you introduced me to?¡±

    ¡°Well that¡¯s a bit much for a quick meal before bed, but I¡¯ll see what I can do.¡±

    ¡°Yay!¡±

    Smiling, I began preparations to make the pizza dough.

    Weirdly enough, this world didn¡¯t have pizza. A bit strange when they have things like burgers, fries, and hot dogs.

    I was just glad I still knew how to make one. However, I honestly forgot why I learned how to make them in the first place. I think it had something to do with impressing either my co-workers or my step-sister, but I couldn¡¯t remember which.

    But moving past that for now, I focused on making the pizza.

    Forty minutes later, it was done.

    Appearing out of thin air, Nia sat down with me and Vey and we began chowing down on the pizza with grins on our faces.

    Once we were done, I began washing the dishes as Vey made her way to bed.

    After I was done, I got into bed and closed my eyes.

    Nia laid down next to me like she always did and shut her eyes while clinging to me.

    Feeling sleep beginning to take over, I thought about everything that had happened today.

    With my disciplinary duties starting up tomorrow, I found myself wondering what kind of rabbit hole I¡¯d fallen into this time.

 Chapter 56: The Annoying Sis-Con

    ¡°You want me to guide a first-year around campus?¡±

    When I arrived at the disciplinary committee''s office the next day, this was the assignment given to me by Talia.

    Within the office, several girls crowded the area and whispered among themselves. Most of them were in disgust at my presence, while others gave me looks of confusion. They had probably figured I wasn¡¯t actually gonna join the committee and didn¡¯t expect to see me here.

    ¡°That¡¯s right. Yesterday, a girl who enrolled ended up missing the first day due to duties she was forced to attend to. Thus, she¡¯ll need your help today with going around the school and teaching her about the different locations it houses.¡±

    ¡°Why do I need to do something like that? I¡¯ve never seen the disciplinary committee do stuff like that before.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s because you¡¯ve never worked on the disciplinary committee before. Just suck it up and show her around. And please, don¡¯t sexually harass her. Otherwise, I won¡¯t hesitate to kick you out of this committee.¡±

    ¡°Geez. Talk about intense. Do you treat all your members like this? Or am I that special?¡±

    I grinned sarcastically to which she merely responded with an annoyed glare.

    ¡°Just get out of here already.¡±

    ¡°Right.¡±

    Casually walking out the door, I sighed.

    ¡°Dammit. Something tells me this job is gonna be a massive pain in the ass.¡±

    With that, I made my way to the front office of the school to meet with the new student.

    ¡°It¡¯s a pleasure to make your acquaintance. My name is Julia Riosha. I thank you for taking time out of your day to help me with this endeavor.¡±

    Once I made it to the front office, I was met by a girl who appeared to be around the age of sixteen. She had long blonde hair, sky-blue eyes, and a cute smile that made it easy for me to believe she¡¯d be popular with the guys.

    Actually, now that think about it, her name sounded familiar.

    ¡°Riosha? Say, does that mean you¡¯re related to Dianne Riosha?¡± I asked.

    The girl named Julia nodded.

    ¡°That¡¯s correct. Dianne is my older sister. You sound like you know her. Do you perhaps happen to be acquainted?¡±

    ¡°If that¡¯s what you want to call it, then I guess so.¡±

    I mean she has been trying to be friends with me for ages so I¡¯d say we''re well acquainted at this point.

    ¡°I see. Well moving past that for now, please take good care of me during the tour today.¡±

    ¡°Uh¡­Sure.¡±

    She certainly was a polite one.

    Leaving the office, I began taking Julia on a tour around the school.

    I had been excused from first period to do this, so I tried my best to make sure I could cover as much as possible.

    Our first stop ended up being Julia¡¯s first-period classroom.

    It wasn¡¯t too far from mine, so I had no trouble showing her where she needed to go.

    Her second period, however, was quite a ways away from mine since my schedule got changed around a bit to the point I had PE second period rather than third this year. Julia, however, had to make her way to a classroom that was almost halfway across the school building from her first period. This meant that she¡¯d be cutting it close pretty much every day. Not the most ideal situation. Unless she spent at least ten minutes of her break period getting to class, things would end up being rather difficult for her.

    ¡°Sorry. This probably isn¡¯t the most ideal situation for you,¡± I said.

    ¡°Think nothing of it. If this is what I have to do in order to be at the same school as my sister, I can handle it without issue,¡± Julia said.

    ¡°That¡¯s¡­good?¡±

    Strange way to look at it, but okay.

    For her final period, I guided her out to the spot where her class would always take their physical education classes which thankfully was almost right next to her second period so she¡¯d be fine.

    Going over her schedule only took around forty minutes, so I decided I¡¯d show her around the rest of the school.

    From the cafeteria to the dorms, as well as a few extra spots that might come in handy for her to know about, we finished things up right before first period was about to end.

    Standing in front of my first-period classroom, Julia bowed in thanks.

    ¡°I appreciate you taking time out of your day to help me. I apologize if I caused any inconvenience.¡±

    I shrugged.

    ¡°It¡¯s fine. I¡¯m not too bothered by it. Besides, it¡¯s my job as a member of the disciplinary committee. So no apologies are necessary.¡±

    ¡°I see. Well, thanks once again. Now I know my way around the school that my sister holds high esteem for.¡±

    I rested my hand on my side as I heard her say that.

    ¡°You..uh¡­seem to have a lot of respect for your sister.¡±

    Julia proudly puffed out her chest.

    ¡°Of course. As the next queen, she¡¯s always been someone I¡¯ve looked up to. While I may never sit on that throne, I know that as long as my sister is in that chair, this kingdom will be all the better for it.¡±

    ¡°I¡­see.¡±

    I¡­don¡¯t think she realizes she just outed her sister as a princess as well as a future queen. Well, whatever. I already knew about that so it¡¯s not like she¡¯s spoiling a story thread or something.

    Although, from looking at how proudly she talks about her sister, I¡¯m starting to believe she has a sister complex.

    ¡°However, as much as I build her up, my sister does have one problem.¡±

    ¡°That so?¡±

    A problem? I thought Dianne was developed to be one of the most flawless of the heroines. What possible problem would she have?

    ¡°You see¡­my sister¡­she¡­¡±

    Julia looked me dead in the eyes.

    ¡°Hm?"

    ¡°She won¡¯t shut up about a stupid commoner she met at this school!¡±

    A vein sprung onto my forehead.

    ¡°A stupid commoner you say?¡±

    ¡°Yes. I don¡¯t know how she could be so obsessed with someone of such low social standing. As such, I¡¯ve sworn that if I ever get the chance to meet that lowly commoner, I won¡¯t hesitate to destroy him for polluting my sister''s thoughts with his disgusting words.¡±

    You know, as interesting as it is to hear how much Dianne apparently talks about me, I find myself getting more pissed off than anything else at this girl''s words.

    ¡°I¡¯d like to see you try,¡± I mumbled quietly to myself.

    ¡°What was that?¡±

    ¡°Nothing,¡± I replied sarcastically.

    ¡°So with how much your sister talks about this guy, has she mentioned his name to you?¡±

    ¡°Of course. It¡¯s been forcibly shoved into my brain against my will. I remember it clearer than my own father''s name at this point.¡±

    ¡°I see.¡±

    Trying to ignore the urge to give this girl a chop to the head, I took in a deep breath in and out to calm myself.

    ¡°As I recall, I believe his name is Ax-¡±

    Suddenly, the bell rang throughout the school and the door to my classroom opened up.

    Students started flowing out of the room. Soon enough, Xara and Dianne stepped out and Dianne made her way over to us.

    ¡°Axel? What are you doing with my younger sister?"

    Julia instantly froze up when she heard my name.

    ¡°Oh. I was asked by the head of the disciplinary committee to guide her around. Is it true she missed school yesterday?¡±

    ¡°Er¡­Yes. My father ended up forgetting some things he needed her to do and she ended up skipping school.¡±

    ¡°So that¡¯s why she wasn¡¯t at the meeting spot we went to yesterday,¡± stated Xara.

    Almost mechanically, Julia cranked her head in Dianne¡¯s direction.

    ¡°Sister¡­do you happen to know this boy well?¡±

    Not seeming to notice her sister''s rather nervous tone, Dianne nodded with a smile.

    ¡°Yes. This is my friend. Axel Savoncho. And I trust you¡¯ve already introduced yourself, correct?¡±

    Julia was frozen.

    ¡°Yeah. She already told me. It¡¯s all good.¡±

    ¡°I see. Wonderful.¡±

    I scratched the back of my head awkwardly.

    ¡°It was you¡­¡±

    Suddenly, I felt a dangerous presence in front of me.

    Sighing in frustration, I looked at Julia and saw what appeared to be a red aura surrounding her body.

    ¡°It was you! You''re the filthy commoner who corrupted my sister''s mind!¡±

    Julia instantly lunged at me.

    Not giving her time to see my moves, I jumped to the side and she fell face-first onto the ground below.

    ¡°Julia!? Are you okay!?¡±

    Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author.

    Concerned, Dianne ran over to her sister only for Julia to jump back onto her feet and growl as she stared at me.

    The polite girl from before was gone. In her place, was a crazy person who was out for blood.

    She tried lunging at me once more, to which I dodged once again. And this time, I cast some wind magic to soften her fall before Julia quietly crashed onto the ground once more.

    Getting off the floor, it looked like she was ready to charge at me a third time.

    Not wanting to deal with such a pain, I pushed some wind magic into my feet and dashed off before she had another chance to attack.

    That ended up leading me to spend my lunch with Flynn a bit farther away from the usual meetup spot me, him, and my other friends normally went to.

    ¡°Geez. Why is it always the commoner''s fault? I literally had nothing to do with half the stuff I¡¯ve been blamed for,¡± I grumbled as I ate my food.

    ¡°Well, people do like an easy scapegoat. And you just happen to be the easiest one to use. Although, in this instance, it probably is your fault.¡±

    ¡°I fail to see how this is my fault.¡±

    ¡°Is that so? Well, then I¡¯ll leave it at that for now.¡±

    Huh? So he¡¯s not gonna tell me how it¡¯s my fault? Well, whatever. I don¡¯t care at this point. All I had wanted to do was vent my frustrations, and I did just that. So I feel better now.

    The first week was mostly uneventful. I still had to do my disciplinary committee duties which were a pain in the ass, and I also had to continuously deal with Julia coming at me, but other than that, the rest of the week went smoothly.

    Tomorrow was the start of the weekend, and I was ready to take a break.

    ¡°Hm? Where are you going?¡±

    As I was about to leave the disciplinary committee office, Talia stopped me.

    ¡°Uh¡­back to my room to prepare myself for a relaxing weekend.¡±

    Talia shook her head in frustration.

    ¡°I¡¯m afraid you¡¯re gonna have to cancel such plans. As a member of the disciplinary committee, breaks are not an option.¡±

    ¡°They aren¡¯t!?¡±

    I found myself slumping to the floor.

    ¡°Now that you understand that, here. Take these papers to Mrs. Firuni. She needs them for her lesson plan next week.¡±

    Begrudgingly, I tried taking the papers from Talia¡¯s hands only for her to put them down on a desk next to her.

    ¡°Take them from this desk. I don¡¯t want your filthy common man germs touching me.¡±

    I growled in frustration.

    This was how she¡¯d been for the last week. Making the title of Princess Asshole that I''d given her work all the more.

    Geez. She didn¡¯t hesitate to kick me in the head before, but now she¡¯s disgusted by the idea of touching me. What a pain.

    Picking up the papers, I left and made my way to Mrs. Firuni¡¯s room.

    Once I¡¯d finished delivering the papers, Sirin in cube form appeared beside me.

    ¡°Master, a few new nobles have attempted to steal the island. How should I dispose of them?¡±

    ¡°Again? Good grief. Just contact the authorities and let them handle it. I don¡¯t have time to deal with things like that right now.¡±

    ¡°Understood.¡±

    Sirin vanished from sight and I let out a sigh. I¡¯d almost forgotten what it felt like for people to try and steal my island. I¡¯d honestly hoped people would stop trying altogether. But alas, greed conquers warning when it comes to most people. Much to my own frustration.

    Making my way back to the disciplinary committee office, I was about to walk inside when-

    ¡°But Ma¡¯am! We can¡¯t possibly have someone like him on the committee! He¡¯ll only cause issues!¡±

    A girl''s voice was shouting from the other side of the door.

    Deciding to listen in, I pressed my ear to the door.

    Another woman¡¯s voice spoke up. It sounded like Talia¡¯s

    ¡°I understand your frustrations Katyln. However, these we were ordered by the student council president herself. We aren¡¯t exactly allowed to oppose her.¡±

    ¡°Of course you can! The only reason you don¡¯t is because she¡¯s your childhood friend!¡±

    ¡°That has nothing to do with it.¡±

    ¡°Yes, it does! You even stated it yourself when the student council president offered him the role. You said how you¡¯d only put up with him because the president wants you to!¡±

    Talia went silent for a moment before speaking again.

    ¡°Does it really bother you that much?¡±

    ¡°Why wouldn¡¯t it? When you formed this committee, it was to make sure boys behaved themselves. But having a boy on the team goes against that moral!¡±

    ¡°Is that so? Well, I suppose you are right about one part.¡±

    The sound of a chair being slid back could be heard in the background before I heard a loud BAM echo from the other side of the door. If I had to guess, Talia had slammed her hand on her desk.

    ¡°It¡¯s true. We do act as a force to make sure students behave themselves. However, we don¡¯t just exist to deal with boys, but girls as well. No one at this school is free from punishment just because of their gender. As such, having a boy on the team will assist us in understanding both sides.¡±

    ¡°But¡­but¡­¡±

    Talia sighed.

    ¡°I don¡¯t like having to bring in a boy any more than I¡¯m sure you all do, but we mustn¡¯t be so stiff about our staff. If we must bring a man into our ranks to provide a better future for the students at this school, then I¡¯m willing to let him work with us.¡±

    The girl Talia appeared to be talking to was silent for a few moments before the sound of her footsteps stomping toward the door caused me to panic for a moment and I flew into the air just before she trudged out of the room with a defeated look on her face.

    Talia came out a moment later and let out a sigh.

    Deciding to make myself known, I dropped to the ground and stood up next to Talia.

    ¡°Dang. You shut her down instantly.¡±

    ¡°Gah!¡±

    Surprised by my sudden appearance, Talia kicked her leg up in my direction.

    I jumped back just before she made contact.

    ¡°What the heck. Is that any way to say hello?¡±

    Talia glared at me.

    ¡°Did you hear all that?¡±

    ¡°Every word.¡±

    ¡°...I see.¡±

    Looking toward the ground, Talia clenched her fists tightly.

    ¡°As I stated, I¡¯m not a fan of you working for the disciplinary committee. However, if that¡¯s what Haiko wants, then I have no choice but to bear with it.¡±

    ¡°Geez. You make it sound like working with me is one of the most painful experiences in the world.¡±

    ¡°With how much of an annoyance you are, it might as well be.¡±

    ¡°Harsh.¡±

    ¡°Still, you¡¯re part of the committee now. As such, I plan to stay on you at all times. So make sure not to cause any issues while you¡¯re working under me.¡±

    ¡°You got it.¡±

    After hearing my answer, Talia began walking away before turning back to me.

    ¡°By the way, since you haven¡¯t been showing up to the disciplinary after-school lessons, I¡¯ve left you a stack of homework you have to have done by tomorrow evening. Goodbye.¡±

    ¡°Wah-!?¡±

    Without saying another word, Talia left me behind as I just stared at her in complete silence.

    Struggling to find the right words, I let out a frustrated groan before entering the disciplinary committee office.

    Sure enough, a stack of papers lied on the temporary desk they¡¯d provided me.

    ¡°Haaah. What did I do to deserve this?¡± I grumbled.

    Probably skipping the lessons. But in fairness, with how much the girls in the disciplinary committee glare at me while I¡¯m in the office, I¡¯m not exactly interested in dealing with that for another two hours.

    As stated by President Haiko, since I had to spend my first period with the committee, the group holds after-school lessons to catch everyone up on whatever subjects they missed. Having skipped those, I guess this is my punishment.

    Picking up the papers, I shoved them in my bag.

    When I returned to my dorm room, I had Nia give me a crash course on all the homework and managed to finish it all at around two in the morning.

    Instantly collapsing into bed, I barely had any time left to think before the exhaustion hit and I passed out.

    The next morning, a banging could be heard at my door.

    Sluggishly getting up, I made my way to the door as Nia vanished back into the grimoire while Vey continued to sleep.

    When I opened the door, I found Talia standing there tapping her foot impatiently.

    ¡°Uh¡­Hello?¡±

    What was she doing here? And this early in the morning no less.

    She glared at me angry.

    ¡°What¡¯s taking you so long? You were supposed to be at the disciplinary office almost an hour ago.¡±

    ¡°Huh? What are you talking about.¡±

    Talia seemed to be getting more irritated.

    ¡°Did you not read the books I gave you? Disciplinary members have to spend their weekends going over penalty forms for students who¡¯ve caused problems over the last few weeks.¡±

    I rubbed my eyes.

    ¡°Are you saying we still have work even though it¡¯s the weekend?¡±

    ¡°Of course. I told you about this yesterday, remember?¡±

    ¡°You mean you weren¡¯t joking?¡±

    ¡°I would never joke about disciplinary work.¡±

    Stretching out my arms, I let out a sigh.

    ¡°Fine. I¡¯ll get my uniform and be over there in a bit.¡±

    ¡°You better be.¡±

    Giving me one last stern look, Talia left me behind to get changed.

    Frustrated, I slipped on my uniform and grabbed my grimoire before leaving the room as quietly as possible in order to not wake up Vey.

    A little ways off, one of the members of the Wizardly Six known as Royil Gurndam was about to meet with a merchant he¡¯d purchased from many times.

    As the merchant arrived, Royil¡¯s eyes went wide when he saw the large crate of froya crystals the merchant had offered him.

    ¡°Where did you even get this many crystals?¡±

    ¡°A group of adventurers sold them to me. They apparently found a huge stash hidden off in some dungeon and sold them all to me. Pretty big haul, eh?¡±

    ¡°Yes. It¡¯s quite big. Is this all of them?¡±

    ¡°No my lord. There are actually two more crates waiting in my cart.¡±

    ¡°I see. In that case, I¡¯d like to purchase all three.¡±

    The merchant''s eyes went wide.

    ¡°Are you sure my lord?! Three crates ain¡¯t cheap!¡±

    Royil nodded.

    ¡°I¡¯m quite sure. I trust that won¡¯t be a problem?¡±

    The merchant shook his head.

    ¡°Not at all my lord. I¡¯ll unload them all immediately.¡±

    Once all the boxes were unloaded, Royil had some servants bring the crates inside while he paid for the crystals.

    After that was done, Royil was about to go inside when he noticed a stone sparkling in the back of the merchant''s carriage.

    ¡°Say, what is that I spot in your carriage?¡±

    ¡°Hm? Oh!¡±

    The merchant walked over to his carriage and pulled the item out. It was a stone that shined a crimson red with a black center that gave a rather chilly vibe.

    ¡°This is another special stone I purchased off those adventurers. I didn¡¯t know why, but my instincts as a merchant were telling me to buy it from them as soon as possible. It was as if it was the most incredible gem I had ever laid my eyes on. Though, in my haste to purchase the stone, I ended up spending quite a bit of money purchasing it from them.¡±

    Royil thought to himself for a moment.

    ¡°I¡¯m curious. How much would it cost you to give me that stone?¡±

    The merchant thought about it and then shrugged.

    ¡°I dunno. I didn¡¯t really think of a price.¡±

    ¡°Hm¡­In that case, how about I pay you double the amount you purchased it for.¡±

    The merchant let out a gasp.

    ¡°But my lord¡­that¡¯d be over two hundred platinm. Are you sure you¡¯d be okay with that?¡±

    Royil nodded.

    ¡°Of course. I can tell just from looking at it that the stone you hold is quite unique. So would you be willing to sell it to me?¡±

    ¡°Absolutely!¡±

    Upon paying the money, Royil waved goodbye to the merchant as he carried the stone he¡¯d just acquired into his home.

    A few hours later, Royil met with a man who looked at the stone with a grin on his face.

    ¡°Will this do for your experiment?¡± Royil asked.

    ¡°But of course. I can already tell how rare and powerful a gem like this is. I¡¯m amazed you got it for so cheap. Especially considering in the past this would more than likely cost at least a million platnm.¡±

    ¡°Well, people in this day and age lack the understanding when it comes to identifying beautiful and dangerous gems. I simply took advantage of that.¡±

    Finished examining the stone, the man slipped it into his bag.

    ¡°With this, preparations are almost complete. All that¡¯s left is to get my guinea pig back.¡±

    ¡°Is that so? Good to hear.¡±

    The man nodded.

    ¡°Yes¡­However, as rude as this sounds, there is something I must ask of you in order to do that. Is that alright?¡±

    Royil nodded.

    ¡°If it means seeing my goal through to the end, I¡¯ll bear any order I am given.¡±

    ¡°I appreciate your understanding. Now, what I need you to do is...¡±

    As the next words left the man¡¯s mouth, Royil stiffened in his seat.

    ¡°I see. That won¡¯t be easy to do, but I¡¯ll make sure it happens. You have my word.¡±

    ¡°I appreciate your compliance. Well, it is time I take my leave now. Goodbye, my lord. I look forward to when next we meet.¡±

    With that, the man left.

    A couple of weeks later, it would be made clear just what the man had asked Sir Royil to do.

 Chapter 57: An Unexpected Visitor And A Bizzare Proposal

    After sluggishly getting through the day''s work, I stretched out my arms.

    The girls around me glared with such intensity that if looks could kill, I¡¯d be dead a hundred times over.

    Honestly, it wouldn¡¯t hurt them to have another guy in here.

    For some reason, before me, the disciplinary committee only had female members.

    If this was an anime, this would probably be the setup for a harem. But with the situation I was in, all I got was scorn and distaste. Honestly, I was almost excited that I only had to bear this for three more weeks.

    Since I¡¯d agreed to work here for a month, that meant I had to deal with struggles like this seven days a week for four weeks. And after everything I¡¯d been through during just the first week, I already wanted to quit.

    Slumping at my desk, I let out a frustrated sigh.

    Talia glared at me.

    ¡°No slouching!¡±

    Letting out a groan, I sat back up and went back to work.

    ¡°Dammit. Why does disciplinary committee work have to be so hard?¡± I mumbled to myself.

    Once the morning paperwork was done, I got out of my chair and left the room with Talia following close behind.

    ¡°Alright. Let¡¯s begin patrol duty,¡± she said.

    ¡°Righteo,¡± I responded.

    Cracking my neck, I stretched out my arms while walking down the hallway a little behind Talia.

    As expected of the disciplinary committee, we were making our rounds around the school to make sure students weren¡¯t misbehaving themselves.

    Thus, all we do is just walk around the school and stop something if we happen to walk into it. Meaning if we had already passed an area of the school, we more than likely wouldn¡¯t be there to help if something were to happen a few minutes later.

    It¡¯s not very efficient. But with how infamous the disciplinary committee apparently is, not many people would consider the choice of defiance. That aura of authority was actually kinda amazing.

    The morning shift went by without much issue and I returned to class for second period right as PE was about to start.

    ¡°Hey, is it true the commoner joined the disciplinary committee?¡±

    ¡°Yeah. Apparently, the student council president elected him as a new candidate herself.¡±

    ¡°What!? A filthy pig like him!?¡±

    It appeared no matter how hard I tried to shut these royal assholes up, they just wouldn¡¯t listen.

    Sighing, I did some stretches before class lessons were set to begin.

    ¡°What jerks. Has it always been like this for you during class Axel?¡± asked Xara.

    ¡°Pretty much. Both in and out of class. But I mess with them from time to time in hopes of shutting them up. However, they never seem to get the hint. It¡¯s a bit of a pain.¡±

    I¡¯d nearly forgotten what this mocking had felt like thanks to how nice summer break was. But now that we¡¯re back in school, I had no choice but to deal with these jerks again.

    ¡°What could bringing someone like him possibly do to help the disciplinary committee?¡±

    ¡°Yeah. All he¡¯s done since coming here is mock us nobles and be nothing but a stain that tarnishes this school.¡±

    Hearing more rude comments, Xara glared at the whispering students who immediately turned their heads away.

    ¡°You don¡¯t need to glare so harshly Xara. It¡¯s not a big deal,¡± I said.

    Xara seemed upset about my calm demeanor.

    ¡°But-!¡±

    ¡°Really. It¡¯s fine.¡±

    I mean, I wasn¡¯t planning on letting their comments slide, I was just gonna wait until the end of class and then soak them in water while the teacher wasn¡¯t looking. That would make it fine¡­I think.

    Looking rather upset, Xara walked out onto the field to talk with the teacher.

    ¡°She worries about you a lot you know.¡±

    Dianne moved up to me while looking in the direction Xara walked off in.

    ¡°I¡¯m aware. But she has nothing to worry about. I already have a plan to deal with them after class. Hopef,ully it¡¯ll teach them a lesson about talking behind a person''s back.¡±

    Dianne chuckled awkwardly.

    ¡°I just hope whatever you¡¯re thinking of doing isn¡¯t too severe.¡±

    Having finished my stretches, I faced Dianne.

    ¡°Um¡­I¡¯m curious about something. Is my sister¡­ perhaps¡­causing problems for you?¡± asked Dianne.

    ¡°All the time.¡±

    ¡°Oh! R-Really?¡±

    I scratched the back of my head as I thought about the multiple times Julia had already confronted me.

    ¡°You¡¯re the one who brainwashed my sister! I¡¯ll never forgive you!¡±

    ¡°Get back here and pay for what you¡¯ve done commoner!¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t run away like a coward! Come and face me!¡±

    If you couldn¡¯t guess, all three of those lines are things she¡¯s said to me after I continuously dodged her attacks time and time again before getting tired and walking away.

    I sighed.

    ¡°Honestly, you really need to keep your sister in check. She¡¯s been shouting accusations at me over and over while trying to attack me to the point it¡¯s grown to be quite a pain.¡±

    ¡°Really? What kind of accusations was she talking about?¡±

    ¡°Stuff about how I brainwashed and changed you or something.¡±

    ¡°Why would she think something like that?¡±

    ¡°Hmm¡­I think she said it was because of something along the lines that you talk about me a lot?¡±

    ¡°Huh!?¡±

    Dianne¡¯s face grew a light pink.

    ¡°What?¡±

    ¡°Oh. Nothing. Yeah. That definitely sounds like a false accusation. I mean, I don¡¯t talk about you all the time. Just every now and then. You understand that don¡¯t you?¡±

    ¡°Uh¡­Sure?¡±

    Why had her face been growing increasingly redder as she talked?

    ¡°Well moving past that for now, how are things with Riko? I thought you would¡¯ve confessed to him by now.¡±

    Over the summer break, I finally asked how Dianne¡¯s planned confession toward the MC went. But to my surprise, she said she was gonna take her time to do it which meant she hadn¡¯t confessed yet.

    I was a bit curious why she acted so flustered around me at times when all she did before was talk about the MC and the kitten he saved. Maybe I was just imagining things, but I was starting to wonder if she might¡¯ve somehow gained feelings for me.

    It''s not impossible to conceive when you think about all the two of us have been through, and this world is kinda based off the premise of falling in love with someone you grow to know, but there was still a part of me that wanted to think otherwise. Because of that, I¡¯ve pushed the thought off to the side and tried my best to see Dianne and the MC¡¯s relationship to the end.

    ¡°Er¡­Well I would, but I have other things I need to do right now. So I can¡¯t,¡± replied Dianne awkwardly before stepping away and leaving me to my lonesome.

    ¡°Well that didn¡¯t feel like dodging the question at all,¡± I said sarcastically as second period started up.

    Walking through the school, I found myself stopping at a certain class that appeared to be doing an obstacle course.

    Among them, one person caught my eye. That person being Axel Savoncho. His body was clearly weak, but he used magic to push past his limits. Something I¡¯d never seen a student do before. Fascinating.

    Despite having been student council president here for a little while now, I¡¯ve never seen a student as clever as this man.

    Sure, he may not have the best personality, but I could tell he¡¯d be an essential asset to this school. I just pray he¡¯ll be willing to continue supporting me as well as both the student council and disciplinary committee even after his temporary time among our ranks is complete.

    ¡°President Haiko?¡±

    Toyazoto, who stood next to me gave me a look of confusion as I continued gazing out at how majestically Savoncho slipped past the obstacles with such ease.

    This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.

    Once he was done, I smiled lightly and turned to Toyazoto.

    ¡°What is it?¡±

    ¡°Um¡­the balances for this month are in. What should I do with them?¡±

    ¡°Oh. I guess I should''ve gone over that with you. Come with me.¡±

    We made our way back to the student council room and we walked over to Toyazoto¡¯s desk where I began guiding him through what he needed to do.

    In truth, I think bringing on Toyazoto as treasurer was one of the best decisions I¡¯d ever made.

    While he lacks certain skills when it comes to things like physical labor, he excels when we need his help with mathematics or other issues other members of the student council don¡¯t understand.

    Plus, with his kindhearted attitude, he has made many of our members smile and everyone seems to be appreciating his company. It made me truly happy to see everyone getting along so well with him despite his past issues.

    Once we finished off the last of the papers, Toyazoto thanked me with a smile before placing the forms into a file and left to go drop them off at the front office.

    Sitting down at my own desk, I closed my eyes and let the feeling of pride wash over me as I thought about how well things were going.

    Just then, I heard a knock at the door.

    ¡°Enter.¡±

    Upon hearing my words, a man made his way into the room.

    ¡°L-Lord Royil!? What are you doing here?¡±

    I tried to show surprise, but I could tell from my tone of voice I probably wasn¡¯t showing any emotion while I looked at him.

    ¡°Greetings Miss Ariyama. I¡¯ve come here on behalf of a friend of mine. You see, he wishes to apply to this school. As such, all important members of both the faculty and the student body must accept it. Would you please sign this form for me?¡±

    I took a look at the paper he showed me.

    ¡°Mr. Amayira? I¡¯ve never heard of him before.¡±

    Normally, when a member of the Wizardly Six recommends someone for the school, they usually recommend a person with high acclaim around the world. I¡¯ve never heard of someone by the name of Amayira.

    ¡°Well, he isn¡¯t very public about his work. As such, he hopes to use being a teacher at this school as a chance to change that.¡±

    I guess that makes sense. Besides, if a member of the Wizardly Six truly believes he¡¯s worthy of being a teacher here, I see no problem with it.

    ¡°I see. Very well.¡±

    I signed the paper and Sir Royil bowed before taking his leave.

    As he did so, however, an eerie feeling crept up inside me.

    ¡°Weird. Just now, I got the strange feeling that I had just signed something I shouldn''t have. I wonder what that¡¯s about.¡±

    While I pondered this sensation, I went back to work. Finishing all the papers I could.

    After leaving the room, Royil looked down at the paper in his hand.

    Slowly, the name Mr. Amayira began to fade and was replaced by the name Mr. Ariyama.

    Smirking to himself, Royil made his way to his next destination. With only a few more signatures left to obtain, he knew his goal was growing all the closer.

    Once PE was over, I wiped some sweat from my brow.

    ¡°Ew. We¡¯re all sweaty now.¡±

    ¡°This look really isn¡¯t fit for nobles like us. We almost look like commoners.¡±

    Remember what I said I wanted to do earlier? Well with a grin, I formed giant balls of water and plopped them down on the heads of the people who were talking trash about me and they all screamed in surprise as their bodies got completely soaked.

    Grinning to myself, I began making my way to the locker roo-

    ¡°What the-!?¡±

    Feeling a sense of fear hit me, I looked around for a moment before my eyes rested on a strangely suspicious man.

    He walked up to our class with a smile on his face.

    For some reason, the longer I looked at this guy, the harder it was for me to move.

    ¡°S-Sir Royil!? What are you doing here at the school!?¡±

    Our teacher seemed to be in utter shock.

    Taking a deep breath, I managed to move my legs and I moved next to Dianne who was looking at this guy with an expression of amazement.

    ¡°Hey. Who¡¯s this guy?¡±

    Dianne seemed shocked by my question.

    ¡°Are you telling me you don¡¯t know Sir Royil of the Wizardly Six?¡±

    ¡°Uh¡­No?¡±

    Something about the name Wizardly Six sounded familiar to me, but I just couldn¡¯t place my finger on it.

    ¡°That¡¯s somewhat surprising. But if you really don¡¯t know them, it¡¯s best to describe them as the six main creators of magic. Four out of the six of them helped create those magic circles I told you about a while back.¡±

    ¡°Really?¡±

    So you¡¯re saying creeps like this guy created those crazy powerful spells? I¡¯m not sure how I feel about that.

    The guy Dianne called Sir Royil, continued talking with the teacher for a few more minutes before handing him a slip of paper which he signed and handed back to Sir Royil.

    Once he¡¯d gotten the paper back, Sir Royil turned to us and bowed before beginning to depart.

    Before he did, however, I might have imagined it, but it felt like he¡¯d been looking at me with a look of intrigue on his face.

    ¡°Wow. What an unexpected surprise. To think I¡¯d get to see one of the Wizardly Six in the flesh. I feel so honored.¡±

    Dianne seemed quite excited about what just happened.

    Personally, I didn¡¯t like the vibe I got from him. And with how off-putting the looks he gave me were, I could tell that he¡¯d be able to kill me in an instant if I made one wrong move within his presence.

    Trying to ignore the goosebumps forming on my skin, I began making my way to the locker rooms.

    This time, however, rather than feeling satisfied with having gotten back at some assholes, I just had a nervous chill while thinking about the man I had just seen mere moments ago.

    Around three in the morning, I stretched my arms and let out a sigh upon finally finishing the homework I¡¯d been given by Talia.

    ¡°There. With my homework done, I can finally get some sleep.¡±

    Shoving the papers into my bag, I began making my way over to my bed when I heard a knock at my door.

    ¡°Aw boo. And just when we were about to get cozy,¡± muttered Nia from within the grimoire.

    Ignoring her, I opened my door to find none other than Haiko standing there.

    ¡°President Haiko? What are you doing here at this hour?¡±

    Haiko bowed apologetically.

    ¡°My apologies. Did I wake you?¡±

    ¡°Er¡­I actually haven¡¯t gone to bed yet.¡±

    ¡°So you haven¡¯t slept?¡±

    ¡°Yep.¡±

    ¡°...I see.¡±

    Haiko seemed to be thinking to herself for a moment before looking me in the eye.

    ¡°In that case, would you mind coming with me? There¡¯s something I wish to discuss with you.¡±

    ¡°Uh¡­Okay.¡±

    While feeling a bit cautious, I slipped on my uniform and met with Haiko outside my room.

    ¡°Well then, lead the way.¡±

    ¡°Of course.¡±

    Haiko began walking down the hall with me following close behind. All the while, I tried to figure out what she needed from me.

    Making our way into the school building, the two of us stopped in front of the student council office.

    Pulling out a set of keys, Haiko opened the door and walked inside.

    Turning around, she gestured for me to follow her.

    Once the two of us were in her office, she offered me a seat in front of her desk.

    After we were both seated, she clasped her hands together and rested them on her chin while leaning on her desk.

    ¡°So tell me, why did you bring me to the school this early in the morning?¡±

    I waited to hear Haiko¡¯s answer. Instead, however, she pulled out a small book and showed it to me.

    ¡°Huh? Where did you get these?¡±

    Inside, there were multiple pictures of my past escapades over the course of my time as an adventurer. Including the time I broke into the clock tower in order to follow the map to my island.

    ¡°That¡¯s of little importance. What is important is I that I¡¯ve been diving a bit into your past. This, along with the stuff you¡¯ve done at this school, are what made me choose you for the disciplinary committee.¡±

    ¡°Huh? You dove that far into my past?¡±

    Just how much recon does this girl do on a person before making a decision?

    Haiko nodded.

    ¡°I take my job as the student council president quite seriously. Because of that, I refuse to let anyone I¡¯m not absolutely certain will be of use on to either the disciplinary committee or the student council. Most of the student body is aware of this.¡±

    Huh. So being chosen is meant to be a huge honor? Guess that explains why so many people hated me for turning down the offer.

    ¡°I get that being chosen is a big deal and all, but what does that have to do with me being here right now? Were you hoping I¡¯d get a new sense of honor and want to work on the disciplinary committee full time or something?¡±

    ¡°As convenient as that would be, no. I actually want to give you another proposition.¡±

    Taking in a deep breath, Haiko''s next words caused my eyes to go wide.

    ¡°Axel Savoncho, I want you to become the next student council president.¡±

    ¡°...Huh?¡±

    Seeing the dumbfounded look on my face, Haiko decided to explain herself.

    ¡°You see, since this is my final year as the student council president, I¡¯m allowed to either pick a successor or let people battle out the role for themselves.¡±

    ¡°Really? But I thought it was always a voting system. Are you saying it¡¯s possible to forcibly instate someone as student council president?¡±

    Haiko nodded.

    ¡°As long as they have the right credentials. Such as high grades and a clean track record.¡±

    ¡°I understand the grades part, but I wouldn¡¯t exactly say I have a clean track record.¡±

    Haiko shook her head.

    ¡°On the contrary, you¡¯ve done nothing but good since coming here. From protecting us from a man who turned into a werewolf, to keeping other students safe during a class trip when a strange monster the school wasn¡¯t aware of appeared out of nowhere. Even with the fights you¡¯ve had to deal with, none of them have been caused by you directly. It was always the other party who instigated. Thus, your track record remains clean.¡±

    ¡°So you¡¯re saying me messing around with the other students in my class when they talk about me behind my back isn¡¯t screwing up my record?¡±

    ¡°As they instigated you, I see no reason as to why you¡¯re record should be ruined by their actions. One could simply say you were acting in self-defense.¡±

    Damn. This girl¡¯s come up with perfect excuses for my actions.

    ¡°Even with all that stuff, why would you want me as student council president? I could guarantee that ninety-nine percent of the student body would disagree with a decision like that.¡±

    Haiko leaned back into her chair.

    ¡°I¡¯ve already told you about how I looked into your past, and after doing so, I believe you¡¯re fit for the role. Even if the rest of the other students don¡¯t agree, I want you to become student council president.¡±

    If she really had looked into my past, this is the exact opposite way she should be thinking right now.

    Probably seeing the uncertainty on my face, Haiko smiled gently¡­I think.

    ¡°You don¡¯t have to decide right now. Just come to me when you¡¯re ready. I¡¯ll await your decision until then.¡±

    Dismissing me, Haiko began putting away the book she¡¯d shown me while I made my way out the door.

    Once I closed the door, I frowned. This complicated my plans for a relaxing school life. Walking down the hall, I heard the strange sound of footsteps behind me.

    I turned around only to find no one there.

    Figuring it was just my imagination, I continued walking down the hall as I thought about what had just happened.

    The next day, I was walking with Xara to school when I noticed a crowd of students surrounding a billboard.

    As the two of us made our way over to see what the fuss was about, Roy spotted us and ran over. He looked rather surprised.

    ¡°Say Axel, is it true?¡±

    ¡°Hm? Is what true?¡±

    ¡°Is it true that Haiko wants you to become the next student council president?¡±

    The moment I heard that question, I realized things were about to get complicated.

 Chapter 58: The Jealousy of Nobles

    When I made my way up to the board, I saw a news article about Haiko offering me the role of student council president and how she believed I was the right choice.

    Several students wanted to believe it was fake, but because she probably didn¡¯t want to lie, Haiko admitted that she had indeed considered me for the role.

    This caused an uproar among the students who couldn¡¯t understand what she was thinking. Some even wondered if I used some kind of brainwashing magic to make her think that way. The whole thing had turned into a real fiasco.

    Now, the two of us were meeting in the student council office and talking about the issue.

    ¡°I honestly don¡¯t know how the information slipped. In fact, the whole reason I talked to you so early in the morning was because I believed no one else would be around that time," said Haiko.

    ¡°Well someone heard our conversation. Maybe for now, we should focus on who that was,¡± I said.

    Haiko nodded in agreement.

    Honestly, I¡¯m surprised at how fast the information was spread. Normally, at least in my world, information would take at least two to four hours to get out there. That is unless it¡¯s some massive world event like some decision the president made or some world-awareness news.

    For something like this, I would¡¯ve expected it to come out tomorrow or the day after. Not literally the next morning.

    Leaving the student council room, I found myself running into Flynn.

    ¡°Hey, is it true-?¡±

    ¡°Yes. I was offered the role of student council president,¡± I responded before he could finish his question.

    ¡°Really? That¡¯s quite surprising. Did you do something to the president?¡± Flynn asked.

    ¡°Why does everyone think that?¡±

    Rubbing my eyes, I let out a sigh.

    ¡°It appears you have it rough," said Flynn gently patting me on the shoulder.

    ¡°This is just how it is for me. Things finally calm down, but then something else happens and I have to get involved in some way. Geez. The things I do for these jerkwads.¡±

    With all the stuff I¡¯ve been through, I think I finally understand what it¡¯s like to be the main protagonist. And honestly, it kinda sucks.

    Letting Flynn leave to get to class, I made my way over to the disciplinary committee office.

    Since I really didn¡¯t want to deal with Talia so early in the morning, I ended up skipping my morning duties. That meant I¡¯d have to take care of them in the evening instead.

    Cautiously, I opened up the door.

    ¡°Fireball!¡±

    Sensing an attack coming, I cast a shield of wind that stopped a fireball from nailing me in the face.

    The windshield vanished as I glared at the one who cast the spell.

    ¡°What the hell Princess Jackass!?¡±

    Talia¡¯s gaze bore into me. Clearly filled with malice, she began chanting and another fireball appeared in her hand.

    ¡°Just what did you do to Haiko, you filthy man commoner!¡±

    Knowing this was what had been in store for me, I formed a ball of water and shot it just as Talia was shooting her fireball.

    As the two balls hit one another, the fireball vanished from sight and my waterball grazed Talia¡¯s shoulder before slamming into the wall behind her.

    Clearly still fuming, Talia tried jumping at me.

    Dodging out of the way, I let out a groan as I faced her.

    ¡°As I¡¯ve said to literally everyone else, I didn¡¯t do anything. I¡¯m honestly getting sick of these annoying accusations.¡±

    ¡°Liar! There¡¯s no way Haiko would ever consider someone like you worthy of a role as important as student council president! You clearly brainwashed her somehow!¡±

    Growing tired of this irritating assumption, I cast wind magic that pushed Talia to the ground.

    Once she was down, I used earth magic to bind Talia¡¯s arms and legs.

    ¡°I¡¯m sick of these stupid accusations. Now listen here and listen well you idiot!¡±

    Looking down at Talia, who was glaring back at me, I made myself clear.

    ¡°I. Didn¡¯t. Do. Anything. You got that?¡±

    ¡°Liar! You brainwashed her somehow!¡±

    ¡°Think logically here for a second. If I really had a power like that, don¡¯t you think I would¡¯ve used it already to improve my standing at this school?¡±

    ¡°Well¡­maybe. But you could just be using that as an excuse to trick me!¡±

    What a pain.

    ¡°If you seriously believe that, you¡¯re probably one of the dumbest people in the world.¡±

    ¡°Huh!?¡±

    My words clearly irritated her.

    ¡°Just think! Do you, without a doubt, seriously believe someone would want to deal with the type of hellish stuff I¡¯ve been through just to brainwash a single person at this school? I¡¯m gonna be honest, if I really did have a power like that, I sure as hell wouldn¡¯t use it to become student council president.¡±

    Talia was about to protest again but closed her mouth and started to think.

    Hoping she wouldn¡¯t attack me again, I released her from the ground and tried my best to clean up the mess we made during this small scuffle.

    Once I was done, I made my way over to my desk and began working on the day''s papers.

    While I worked, Talia sat back down at her desk. She appeared to be lost in thought. Probably trying to consider if my words were true or not.

    Once my work was complete, I got up and was about to leave.

    ¡°Wait a moment.¡±

    Hearing Talia¡¯s voice, I rolled my eyes and turned around.

    ¡°What now?¡±

    ¡°Is that any tone to take with your commanding officer?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m a part-timer. Don¡¯t go expecting my respect.¡±

    Slightly irritated by my words, Talia took in a deep breath before continuing with what she was trying to say.

    ¡°After careful consideration, I¡¯ve decided to believe your words for now. However, should you ever slip up, I will not hesitate to deal with you once and for all. Understood?¡±

    I mean, she probably couldn¡¯t beat me even if she tried, but if she wanted to sound threatening, I guess I could humor her for now.

    ¡°Got it. Later Princess Jackass.¡±

    ¡°Wah-! Hey!¡±

    Not letting her get in another word, I slipped out of the room and made my way back to my dorm.

    Arriving at my dorm, I walked inside to find it a complete mess.

    Sirin appeared next to me.

    ¡°Master. Several students came to your dorm earlier and trashed the place during your absence.¡±

    ¡°I can see that.¡±

    ¡°Should I dispose of them?¡±

    ¡°Meh. I¡¯ll take care of them myself later. For now, lets just get this place cleaned up.¡±

    "Understood."

    And so, Nia, Vey, and I spent two hours cleaning up the mess the other students had made.

    Once we were done, I glanced at my door handle which was completely destroyed. "

    Geez. For a bunch of self-entitled nobles, they sure act like savages sometimes," I muttered.

    With a little help from Sirin, I fixed up the door before closing it shut and heading to my freshly cleaned bed.

    I wanted to spend some time reading, but the guys who trashed my room had torn all my books apart. And I was in the middle of reading one of them too so that sucked.

    Tucking myself under the covers, I tried my best to keep on a brave face. However, I found myself being really pissed on the inside. Rich kids really were a bunch of assholes.

    After some people who work under the Wizardly Six came to the school and confirmed that Haiko wasn¡¯t under any type of brainwashing spell, people''s concern for her turned into hatred.

    Meaning more and more people were talking about her behind her back.

    ¡°Does she seriously think that commoner is worth anything?¡±

    ¡°I always thought she was really smart, but now I¡¯m starting to second guess her choices.¡±

    ¡°What could she possibly see in that commoner?¡±

    Their words were directed at me as much as Haiko, but it was still clear as day that these people were starting to lose faith in Haiko''s decision-making.

    If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

    I¡¯m actually kinda surprised how quickly they flipped on her. It just goes to show that even if you have the best reputation in the world, one mistake could ruin it all. Although, this wasn¡¯t really her fault. It was whoever informed everyone about her decision who was causing issues.

    Walking into the disciplinary committee office for my shift, I was met with angry glares. I couldn¡¯t help but sigh at the sight. It feels like all people do at me nowadays is glare.

    Ignoring them, I sat down at my desk and was about to get some paperwork done when someone stepped up in front of me.

    I looked up to find a girl with long black hair looking down at me.

    ¡°I¡¯m amazed you have the gall to show up here. Especially after brainwashing the president like you did.¡±

    I gave the girl an annoyed look. If I recall, this was the girl Talia referred to as Katlyn I heard talking smack about me a couple of weeks back. I didn¡¯t get that great a look at her before since I was watching her from above, but she actually isn¡¯t that bad-looking. Though, with that attitude of hers, she¡¯d be a hard pass in terms of girlfriend material.

    ¡°It¡¯s already been proven I didn¡¯t do anything. So are you gonna continue these idiotic accusations, or are you gonna start growing some brain cells?¡±

    A vein popped on to Katlyn¡¯s forehead as her hands curled into fists.

    ¡°Why you¡­!¡±

    Returning to my work, I grabbed a paper and was about to start filling it out when Katlyn yanked the paper from my hands.

    ¡°Filth like you don¡¯t deserve to touch the committee''s paper.¡±

    ¡°How is the committee paper any different from normal paper?¡±

    ¡°Because¡­because it¡¯s the committee¡¯s paper!¡±

    ¡°Huh?¡±

    The girl made less and less sense by the minute.

    With a sigh, I used some wind magic to slip Katlyn off her feet.

    As she fell, I grabbed the paper from her hand and went back to work as she landed on the ground with a loud thud.

    ¡°Owww¡­¡±

    That¡¯s what you get. Though, you¡¯re probably just gonna make up some excuse about how my being here caused you to slip or something.

    As she got off the ground, Katlyn growled at me.

    ¡°I knew it. You just being here caused me to slip. You need to leave the committee right this instant!¡±

    Really!? I was just kidding before but she actually blamed me. Well, I was the one who made her slip, but my joining the committee wouldn''t have made her do that. In fact, had I not been here and she slipped, she would¡¯ve just said it was her fault and moved on. The lack of respect really grinds on my gears.

    Not wanting to bother with listening to this crap anymore, I went through the rest of my work while Katlyn blabbed on for another fifteen minutes.

    Had Tailia been here, she probably would¡¯ve said something. But as she was busy with some other committee business, she wasn¡¯t here.

    After another ten minutes, I finished my work and was on my way out to head on patrol when Katlyn screamed after me.

    ¡°Where do you think you¡¯re going, commoner!?¡±

    Way too irritated to deal with these, I forced a smile on my face while I cranked my head around to look in her direction.

    ¡°I¡¯m going out on patrol. Is there a problem with that?¡±

    In response, Katlyn went on to try and talk about how I should take care of all my paperwork before going on patrol. As mentioned before, I¡¯d already taken care of my paperwork. Since she was rambling on for so long, Katlyn probably hadn¡¯t noticed.

    Not wanting to deal with this, I slowly crept out of the room during Katlyn¡¯s rambling and closed the door behind me before dashing off. Hoping it''d be a while until she noticed my absence.

    Once I was in the clear, I let out a frustrated sigh.

    ¡°The school really is full of assholes,¡± I mumbled.

    Weirdly enough, Talia was probably the nicest among them. I mean, we don¡¯t get along at all, but at least she still treats me somewhat like a person. She still mentions me being a commoner at times, but she mostly just insults me for other reasons.

    But moving past that for now, I decided to get some patrol done.

    Walking through the quiet halls, I whistled to myself while taking a look around. Most of the important patrol problems happened during the noon shift, so I was rarely needed for anything.

    Letting out a relaxed sigh, I felt the stress and frustration from earlier melt away. This peaceful and quiet atmosphere really helped clear my head.

    Continuing to make my way down the hall, I was jumped by the sound of someone screaming.

    ¡°Help! Someone help!¡±

    Rushing to where the voice was coming from, I found myself standing in front of a burning classroom.

    Several students stood outside and were staring at the fire.

    I noticed a teacher among the students and ran over to him.

    ¡°What¡¯s going on here?¡±

    Not bothering to look at me, the teacher pointed at the room.

    ¡°A student accidentally lit a fire inside. The flames are too strong for my magic to put out.¡±

    ¡°Are there still any students in there?¡±

    ¡°Yes. But it¡¯s impossible to get them out. Let''s just hope they can hang on until teachers with more advanced water magic get here. If I¡¯m correct, they should be here in about five minutes.¡±

    Looking at the fire, I could tell it was only going to get worse the longer we let it sit.

    ¡°That¡¯s too long,¡± I mumbled.

    Forming balls of water, I rushed inside.

    ¡°Hey-!¡±

    Ignoring the teacher who was clearly surprised by my actions, I dove into the fire as a shield of wind protected me from the flames.

    Once inside, I looked around the large classroom and noticed several people either too scared to move or trapped by debris.

    ¡°Nia!¡±

    ¡°On it!¡±

    The balls of water in my hands grew larger as I shot them out onto the flames.

    Sadly, they were instantly engulfed and did little to weaken the fire.

    Frustrated, I tried shooting continuous streams of water out to take down the flames, but it caused very little effect.

    ¡°Dammit.¡±

    It¡¯s times like these that made me angry at how weak I was when it came to magic outside of the wind element.

    I may be able to handle a single fireball, create balls of water to drop on people, as well as make a thin barrier of water around myself, but I wasn¡¯t exactly suited for anything outside of wind magic. I¡¯m fine at earth and fire, but wind is definitely my strong point. But when it comes to water in particular...

    ¡°Gah. Alright Nia, teach me the best water spell you know!¡±

    ¡°Roger!¡±

    My body was instantly enveloped by an overwhelming amount of pain.

    The information was slowly imprinted on my brain. Learning this didn¡¯t hurt me as much as some of the other spells I¡¯ve learned, but it still hurt like hell.

    Ten seconds later, it was done.

    Not stopping to think things through, I cast the spell.

    ¡°Rain Haven!¡±

    Clouds formed above me.

    Feeling a drop of water next to me, I looked around and saw a cloud of rain pour down onto the room.

    The flames slowly started to diminish little by little.

    Taking this as a chance to help, I ran over to a nearby student and helped him to his feet.

    I quickly guided him toward the exit.

    Not giving him a second to thank me, I dove back in.

    With the rain¡¯s help, the fire was much smaller now. It hadn¡¯t vanished completely, but it was a lot easier to reach the trapped students.

    One by one, I guided everyone out until there was only one remaining.

    However, as I headed back in to rescue them, the roof collapsed and trapped me inside the room.

    ¡°Gah! What a pain!¡± I shouted in frustration before turning around and spotting the last student.

    It appeared to be a girl. Her legs looked like they were completely crushed by the rocks, and one of her arms was pinned down by a chunk of the roof.

    Running over to her, I quickly reinforced my hand with magic before I lifted the rocks off her and picking the girl up into my arms.

    ¡°Who¡¯s¡­there¡­?¡±

    The girl''s eyes fluttered slightly.

    ¡°Just close your eyes. I¡¯ll make sure to get you out of here as soon as I can!¡±

    After saying that, I pointed my hand at the wall.

    Casting some earth magic, I had the wall crumble and without a second thought, I jumped out of the opening.

    Looking down, I saw we were on the school¡¯s second floor and were quickly plummeting toward the ground.

    Pushing some wind magic into my feet, the speed at which we were falling had started to decline little by little. And another moment later, we landed safely on the ground.

    I let out a relieved sigh and looked the girl in the face.

    ¡°Hey, are you alright?¡±

    Struggling to stay conscious, the girl nodded before passing out.

    Once I finished dropping off the girl at the nurse''s office, I ran back to the scene and saw the students saved before relaxing on the ground. More than likely they were still shaken by the event and needed to collect themselves.

    When several of those students saw me, they instantly began thanking me for my help.

    This continued for several minutes until I started feeling embarrassed. Though it was better than what I''d been dealing with up to this point.

    Taking my leave, I waved goodbye and started making my way back to the disciplinary office to give a report on the incident.

    As I walked back, a realization came to me. The class that I¡¯d just helped was one of the classes belonging to the demi-humans and other monsters.

    To explain, this school tries its best to be as indiscriminate as possible. That¡¯s why creatures such as Xara who is a succubus are allowed to attend normal classes like humans.

    However, some monsters don¡¯t feel safe around us humans and so they have a classroom to themselves.

    Now that I think about it, I¡¯m pretty sure the girl I saved was Valentina. A member of the dragon clan. The dragon clan is a species of dragons that have the ability to take on human form. They¡¯re also a clan that believes that building you¡¯re own kingdom is the ultimate sign of maturity.

    But moving past that, I continued walking forward. Glad I could be some help to those students.

    While Axel was making his way back to the disciplinary committee office, Xara was hurrying over to the nurse''s office.

    Bursting through the door, she ran over to the bed where Valentina was relaxing.

    ¡°Are you okay Valentina!?¡±

    Valentina Dragorth, the girl Xara was referring to, looked at her with an awkward smile.

    ¡°Hey there Xara. How¡¯s it going?¡±

    Valentina was normally filled with so much energy that seeing her so quiet right now was almost unnerving for Xara.

    Xara hadn''t been in the clubroom when it had caught fire, but when Xara heard about Valentina¡¯s injuries, she immediately rushed here as fast as she could.

    ¡°It¡¯s not too bad is it?¡±

    Xara was referring to Valentina¡¯s arms and legs.

    ¡°Well, it appears my right arm was broken, so I won¡¯t be able to do as much during club activities for a while, but the doctor that came earlier said my legs should heal after a few days as long as I take the healing potions they recommended me.¡±

    ¡°I see. Well, I hope you¡¯re healed up quickly.¡±

    ¡°You and me both.¡±

    An awkward silence hung over them for a second before Valentina spoke up again.

    ¡°Say, do you know who saved me?¡±

    ¡°Hm?¡±

    ¡°Well, you see, normally when I¡¯m around, everyone always relies on me. But during the fire, I was completely helpless. But then, someone showed up and saved me. If possible, I¡¯d like to meet them.¡±

    While she said this, Valentina gently clasped her hands together as a light shade of pink appeared on her face.

    Xara shook her head.

    ¡°Sorry. I don¡¯t know who saved you. I just heard you¡¯d gotten hurt and rushed over.¡±

    Valentina looked a little disappointed.

    ¡°I see. Well, I hope I meet whoever it was again someday. If I do, I¡¯ll be sure to thank them properly.¡±

    Xara smiled.

    ¡°I¡¯m sure they¡¯d like that.¡±

    Getting up, Xara began turning to leave before looking back.

    ¡°Well get well soon. Who knows how hard things will be at the club while you¡¯re gone.¡±

    Valentina chuckled.

    ¡°You got it. Bye, Xara.¡±

    With that, Xara began making her way out of the room. However, just as she reached for the doorknob, the door flung open and a crowd of students burst into the room.

    ¡°Club President!¡±

    ¡°Are you alright President Valentina!?¡±

    ¡°President Valentina!¡±

    Apparently, the entire cooking club had come to check on her. It showed just how important she was to all of them.

    After having nearly been trampled, Xara turned to look at the sight and smiled awkwardly before leaving the room.

    As she closed the door behind her, Xara heard a voice.

    ¡°Hey there Xara.¡±

    Turning her head, she saw Axel standing there waving at her.

    She waved back and walked over to him.

    After that, the two began making their way to their next class.

 Chapter 59: Family Reunion

    My time on the disciplinary committee has almost come to a close.

    After today, I¡¯d only have a week left. And in all honesty, I¡¯m kinda glad it¡¯s over.

    With all the stuff involving Haiko and how much the disciplinary committee despises me, this whole month has been nothing but pain after pain.

    Though, I guess there is one plus side.

    Apparently, at the end of the first month at the start of every school year, a party is thrown for the student council and disciplinary committee by some students from all around the school.

    And since I¡¯m technically still a member when it''s supposed to happen, I¡¯m allowed to attend.

    As I rarely eat that much due to how much larger Nia and Vey¡¯s appetites are, this was the perfect chance for me to stuff my face.

    Using this as motivation to help me get through the rest of this week, I pushed through the day''s paperwork and went off on patrol duty.

    Nothing as major as the fire incident happened, but there were still a few student squabbles I had to deal with.

    Before I knew it, my shift had ended and I met up with Flynn and Roy as we ate our lunch.

    ¡°Disciplinary work must be pretty tough. We haven¡¯t been able to meet up like this in ages,¡± Roy stated.

    Flynn nodded.

    ¡°I agree. Your work has made it quite difficult to meet together like this.¡±

    I scratched the back of my head awkwardly.

    ¡°Sorry. But that should all change after this week is over.¡±

    ¡°Heh. I guess that¡¯s true,¡± said Roy.

    The three of us went back to eating our lunch when Flynn brought up something interesting.

    ¡°Say, are you two aware of the new teacher joining the school today?¡±

    ¡°A new teacher? Is that a big deal or something?¡± Roy asked.

    Flynn nodded.

    ¡°It is in this case. After all, this was a teacher recommended by none other than Sir Royil of the six wizards.¡±

    ¡°Seriously!? This teacher must be something else to be recommended by one of the Wizardly Six.¡±

    I finished my meal and sighed.

    ¡°Hm? Something wrong?¡± asked Roy.

    In response to his question question, I shook my head. Trying to not think about that guy and his rather nerve-wracking aura.

    ¡°It¡¯s nothing.¡±

    Letting them continue talking about this, I picked up my tray.

    ¡°I¡¯m gonna go on ahead. Bye, guys.¡±

    They both gave me a light wave before continuing to talk.

    Jumping off the roof, I landed on the ground below and threw my tray in the trash.

    Then, I began making my way off to my next class period.

    Finishing up my work in the student council, I decided to walk around the school a bit to clear my head.

    While I made my way through the halls, I was greeted by a few students, while others just scoffed in my direction. It appeared that my choice to offer Savoncho the chance as the next student council president has given people a rather poor perception of me. A shame. However, I have already made my choice. There¡¯s no going back on it now.

    As I continued walking through the halls, I was surprised by the sudden appearance of none other than Sir Royil of the Wizardly Six.

    ¡°Hello there Sir Royil. I¡¯m surprised to see you here.¡±

    Royil chuckled awkwardly.

    ¡°Well, I wanted to make sure the teacher I recommended fit well at the school. Since he seems to be fairing well enough, I planned to leave him be.¡±

    ¡°Ah. You mean Mr. Amayira?¡±

    Looking slightly amused, Royil nodded.

    ¡°Yes. Come to think of it, you haven¡¯t seen him yet, have you?¡±

    I shook my head.

    ¡°No. I¡¯ve been swamped with work all morning. I¡¯ve barely had any time to think about anything else.¡±

    Royil put a hand to his chin.

    ¡°In that case, why not go see him for yourself? He¡¯s only a bit further ahead. You should find him in class 3-S.¡±

    ¡°I see. I¡¯ll think about it.¡±

    I wasn¡¯t that focused on checking in on new teachers, but one that a member of the Wizardly Six recommended did pique my interest.

    As Sir Royil walked off, I made my way over to the class he was talking about.

    I walked up to the door and knocked on it lightly.

    ¡°Coming!¡± said a mans voice from inside.

    "Hm? Why did that voice sound familiar?" I thought as a moment later, the door flung open and I was met by a sight that made my blood run cold.

    ¡°Is¡­Is that you Haiko?¡±

    The one in front of me seemed just as surprised as I was.

    ¡°I¡­I can¡¯t believe it.¡±

    Scared, I took a few steps back.

    Seeing my reaction, the one in front of me frowned in disappointment as he slumped his shoulders.

    ¡°Yeah. I deserve that reaction.¡±

    Huh!?

    Stepping out of the classroom, the man I was terrified of looked me in the eye while scratching the back of his head awkwardly.

    ¡°Hey, there Haiko. It¡¯s been a while. Still,l remember me?¡±

    ¡°N..No way. I thought you and Mother went to prison,¡± I stuttered.

    ¡°Ahaha¡­Well you¡¯re mom did, but I guess you could say I got it off easy.¡±

    I couldn¡¯t believe what I was hearing.

    ¡°There¡¯s no way you got it off easy! You were worse than Mother!¡±

    ¡°Ouch. That kinda hurts coming from you.¡±

    You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

    As the man standing before me tried to walk closer, I took another step back only to find I was up against the wall.

    Now standing almost nose to nose, the man let out a sigh.

    ¡°I see. You still fear me even after all this time. I guess there¡¯s no one else I can blame but myself for that. I¡¯m sorry.¡±

    Reaching out his hand, the man kept blabbing on and on.

    "But moving past that, I think it''s time we got to catch up. After all,  we are family."

    While saying that, the man tried to pet my head. However...

    ¡°Woah!¡±

    Suddenly, the man was pushed back with enough force to knock him off his feet.

    ¡°What the heck was that for!?¡± he shouted next to me.

    Turning to look at my left, I saw a boy with greyish-white hair glaring at the man in front of me.

    ¡°What the hell¡¯s your problem man? Can¡¯t you see she¡¯s uncomfortable? Fun fact, when someone looks like that, you¡¯re supposed to walk away, not get closer. How stupid can you be?¡± said the boy. Who I recognized in an instant.

    ¡°Savoncho? What are you doing here?¡±

    Having realized who it was standing there, I gave Savoncho a look of confusion.

    ¡°Hm? I was just making my way to class when I saw this guy pinning you to a wall. Was it wrong of me to jump in?¡±

    Feeling a sense of relief wash over me, I shook my head.

    ¡°No. I appreciate your help.¡±

    Hearing that, Savoncho smirked.

    Seeing the two of us, the man glared at Savoncho for a moment before suddenly turning to me with a frown on his face.

    ¡°He¡¯s right. I was completely in the wrong. I shouldn¡¯t have tried to press up so close to you. I apologize.¡±

    My eyes went wide with surprise. This man was really trying to act like he didn''t know what he was doing.

    Getting onto his feet, the man in front of us turned around and opened the door to his classroom.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry for the terrible past the two of us had. However, I¡¯m a changed man now. So if you ever want to talk with me about making amends, I¡¯ll be happy to listen.¡±

    With that, the man returned to his classroom.

    As the sound of the door clicking shut echoed in the hallway, Savoncho looked at me.

    ¡°So who was that guy anyway?¡±

    Turning to him, I grabbed his hand.

    ¡°Before I tell you that, can you come with me?¡±

    In response, Savoncho gave me a look of confusion.

    ¡°Huh?¡±

    Ignoring the look on his face, I held his hand tight and pulled him through the halls of the school.

    Getting dragged by the hand, Haiko led me to the student council room and had me sit down.

    While she went about doing a few things, I thought back to before.

    In truth, I had a bad feeling about the new teacher so I went off to check it out before the next period started.

    But when I got to the place where his classroom was located, I¡¯d seen him pin Haiko up to the wall.

    Bothered by the site, I pushed him back which let me getting a good look at him.

    There was no doubt that he was none other than Haiko¡¯s father. However, unlike when I played the game, he looked to be quite well off.

    When I met him in the game, he had lived through the same misery his daughter had gone through and ended up becoming a better person for it.

    But not only was this version of him a teacher recommended by one of the Wizardly Six, he also seemed to be doing well financially which I gathered from his rather fancy teacher attire.

    Seeing how different he looked reminded me of the other things that were different from the original game. From Dianne¡¯s sister Julia''s existence to the succubus curse which wasn¡¯t there at all in the original game.

    All these changes made me wonder just how different the story was in this world.

    But moving past that for now, I looked to see Haiko walking over to me with a cup of tea.

    ¡°Here.¡±

    ¡°Uh¡­Thanks.¡±

    Taking the tea, I checked to make sure it wasn''t messed with and then took a sip¡­Hm? What?

    Is it weird to think someone I barely know might try to poison me or something? I¡¯ve already learned my lesson about trusting people I have almost no knowledge of. Although I guess I do know quite a bit about Haiko thanks to the game. But that didn¡¯t mean I could trust her just yet.

    Sitting down with her own cup of tea, I noticed her hands slightly shaking.

    ¡°You see, the teacher you just met was actually my father.¡±

    ¡°Your father?¡±

    Haiko nodded.

    ¡°You see, I believe I mentioned it before, but my family has a¡­complicated past. Because of that, I can¡¯t really face them. So seeing my father today made it hard for me to think straight. Thus causing the pathetic display you saw back there.¡±

    Right. Because of the traumatic past. I''m aware of that because that''s how she acted in the game. Still, I didn''t think it''d be best to show I knew all this, so I simply nodded my head while thinking of a way to get her to spill the beans herself.

    Taking another sip of tea, I decided it was best to just question her directly.

    ¡°So what was this past? You¡¯ve kept mentioning complications and issues, but never really gone into detail about it. Is it some big secret, or something you feel like you can¡¯t talk about?¡±

    Haiko looked down as if lost in thought.

    It may have seemed rude of me to ask such a thing considering how painful her story was, but I couldn¡¯t exactly pretend I didn¡¯t know anything forever. The sooner she told me, the less I¡¯d have to worry about holding in the fact I already knew about her past.

    After waiting for a few more moments, Haiko let out a sigh.

    ¡°It¡¯s strange. Despite your rather informal tone, as well as your attitude towards those around you, there¡¯s this strange sense of trust I feel when talking with you. Like you¡¯d be able to take my burdens and carry them without even breaking a sweat.¡±

    I scratched the back of my head awkwardly.

    ¡°That so?¡±

    Weird. In my previous world, no one ever told me something like that. Maybe her opinion of me has something to do with that factor.

    As I continued pondering her words, she continued speaking.

    ¡°You see, during my childhood, I was¡­experimented on.¡±

    Without saying a word, I turned to look into her eyes.

    ¡°Experiemened on?¡±

    She nodded.

    For the next hour, she recapped her life to me. From how her parents used her as a test subject, to when her grandparents took her in in order to protect her.

    ¡°My mother ended up in prison, but it appears my father was given his freedom."

    ¡°And your dad is the guy from before?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    Rubbing my eyes, I held back the urge to groan.

    Her parents sounded ten times worse in this world than they were in the games. Not to mention, it seems like the story¡¯s gone a completely different route than it was originally supposed to.

    Getting up from my seat, I bowed politely.

    ¡°Thanks for telling me about this. I think I have a read of the situation now.¡±

    Actually, I think I have an even better understanding of it than before. Is this Haiko''s mysterious way with words at play?

    She shook her head.

    ¡°No. Thank you for letting me get this off my chest. I really appreciate it.¡±

    I scratched the back of my head with an awkward chuckle.

    Leaving the room, I sensed someone hiding nearby.

    ¡°If you have something to say then go ahead,¡± I said aloud.

    As I said that, none other than Talia stepped out of the shadows.

    ¡°What were you doing in Haiko¡¯s office? With this much drama going around, shouldn¡¯t you try and avoid her as much as possible?¡±

    I shrugged.

    ¡°Meh. Drama¡¯s drama. Besides, would you stop hanging out with someone if rumors started flowing around?¡±

    ¡°Depending on the rumors.¡±

    ¡°Geez. You people are so shallow.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t wanna hear that from you man commoner.¡±

    ¡°Huh? Since when have I ever been shallow?¡±

    ¡°The fact that you can ask that says it all.¡±

    ¡°Pfft. Whatever. See ya Princess Jackass.¡±

    Waving her goodbye, I left Talia behind as she walked into the student council room.

    After Axel left, I saw Talia walk in a few minutes later.

    ¡°Talia?¡±

    Talia looked down at the ground with her fists clenched.

    ¡°Why?¡±

    She sounded¡­angry?

    ¡°Why what?¡±

    Talia looked up at me with tears in her eyes.

    ¡°Why did you tell a man like him your past!? Do you know what he¡¯ll do with that kind of information!?¡±

    I found myself letting out a sigh.

    ¡°What type of person do you take him for? Has your opinion of him still not improved after all this time?¡±

    Talia crossed her arms.

    ¡°All men are the same. Even if he doesn¡¯t say it, I know what he really thinks on the inside.¡±

    Ah. So this anger is rooted within her hatred of men.

    ¡°Are you saying he¡¯s untrustworthy?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s exactly what I¡¯m saying.¡±

    This girl was impossible to get through. It just went to show just how much she despised men.

    Deciding to switch topics, I was about to talk about the issue with my father, but then closed my mouth.

    Knowing Talia, she probably already learned about my father becoming a teacher, so I figured it¡¯d be best to talk about something else.

    Thus we went on chatting for a little while longer about small things before walking back to the dorms together.

 Chapter 60: Nothing Like a Lap Pillow

    The next day after the events with Haiko and her father, Xara and I agreed to meet up for a lunch date and were currently sitting in one of the school¡¯s many gardens.

    ¡°Alright. Say aaaaaah.¡±

    Opening up my mouth, Xara put some food in front of my face and I bit down into it.

    The two of us were currently taking turns feeding each other and I felt like I was in heaven.

    The two of us didn¡¯t get much time to hang out due to all my committee duties, so even something as simple as feeding each other felt like bliss to me.

    ¡°You seem to be enjoying yourself,¡± Xara giggled as she guided more food toward my mouth.

    I would¡¯ve responded, but I was just too happy to utter a single word.

    After another minute, I began feeding Xara.

    Several people looked at us while walking by. Some with jealousy, some with envy, but the majority were in disgust.

    ¡°How could she fall for such a low life?¡±

    ¡°Why does that commoner look so pleased?¡±

    ¡°That commoner doesn''t deserve a beauty like her.¡±

    As usual, people were mostly looking down on me. But for once, I didn¡¯t mind. I was too happy to care about what a bunch of assholes thought about me and Xara. After all, I could just get revenge on them later.

    Once the two of us finished our lunch, I relaxed on the ground and looked up at the sky above.

    Xara stared at me in silence for a few moments before a frown formed on her face.

    ¡°Hey, are you okay?¡± Xara asked. To which I turned my head to look at her.

    ¡°Yeah. I¡¯m fine. Why do you ask?¡±

    ¡°Well, it¡¯s just that you have this distant look on your face. Like your mind is off somewhere else.¡±

    I sat back up and scratched the back of my head.

    ¡°It¡¯s nothing to worry about.¡±

    ¡°Are you sure?¡± Xara asked. To which I nodded my head.

    ¡°Yeah.¡±

    ¡°...Well if you say so.¡±

    Probably a bit unsatisfied with my answer, Xara turned her head to the ground with a gloomy look on her face.

    Not wanting to ruin the mood, I changed my posture to have my legs curled up and grabbed Xara.

    She blinked in surprise and was about to speak up when I pulled her down and rested her on my lap.

    ¡°Huh? What are you doing Axel?¡±

    ¡°Er¡­It¡¯s meant to be a lap pillow to help you feel better. Do you not like it?¡±

    Xara¡¯s cheeks glowed a bright pink before she let herself relax on my lap.

    ¡°No. This actually feels quite nice.¡±

    I felt my own cheeks warming up as I chuckled awkwardly.

    I''m completely aware lap pillows are normally meant to be the other way around. And while I have no doubt I¡¯d enjoy resting on Xara¡¯s lap, she was the one who needed cheering up right now so this was the best I could do.

    We sat there for several minutes until I heard the sound of a light snore enter my ear.

    I looked down to find Xara had fallen asleep.

    Letting out another awkward chuckle, I leaned down and kissed Xara¡¯s cheek.

    ¡°Geez. How can a guy like me be with someone as amazing as you?¡± I muttered while I let Xara sleep.

    Turning my head toward the sky, I thought about Xara¡¯s question from before.

    In all honesty, I don¡¯t know if something really is bothering me or not.

    I¡¯m concerned about Haiko and this whole thing with her dad, but there isn¡¯t exactly anything I can do about it. After all, this doesn¡¯t appear to follow the same story I¡¯m familiar with after all.

    Come to think of it, should I tell the MC about Haiko¡¯s dad? After that trip a while back where Xara went on a rampage through the forest due to her curse, she told me it was caused by her seeing the MC with another girl. That was another thing that was different from the initial game''s story.

    Maybe this time, if I tell him about the change in the story beforehand, he might not try and force her to give her dad another chance.

    Thus, I decided to let him know.

    But much to my own frustration...

    ¡°Don¡¯t be ridiculous. If her dad¡¯s really here, it probably just means her story thread is slightly different. It doesn''t change how things are gonna turn out.

    I rubbed my eyes.

    ¡°This is clearly going down a different path than the game. It¡¯s way too dangerous for her and her dad to interact with each other right now,¡± I explained.

    After school, I went to talk about things with the MC in hopes of convincing him to avoid going down the Haiko route only for him to spit in my face about it.

    ¡°Yeah right. You¡¯re probably just worried this will get me together with Haiko.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t give a shit about your love life. It¡¯s just not safe right now to have the two of them interact.¡±

    The MC simply waved his hand as if dismissing the issue and began walking off.

    ¡°Whatever. Just don¡¯t get in my way when I sweep Haiko off her feet.¡±

    ¡°Geez. Just how conceited can you be?¡± I muttered before letting out a sigh.

    I¡¯ve given him his warning, so whatever he does next is entirely up to him. I can only hope he¡¯ll heed my words.

    Working inside the student council office, I looked up to see Toyazoto walk into the room.

    ¡°Hello there Toyazoto. Do you have the report I asked for?¡±

    ¡°Hm? Oh! Yeah. Here you go.¡±

    Pulling a stack of papers out of his bag, Riko Toyazoto handed me a small batch of paper which I put next to my desk that I¡¯d look over later.

    I was about to go back to my own work when Toyazoto spoke up.

    ¡°Hey, are you on bad terms with your dad?¡±

    I froze for a moment before turning my head to look at Toyazoto.

    ¡°Why¡­do you ask?¡±

    ¡°Well, you see I met the new teacher this morning and...¡±

    Riko was wandering the school to pass time during his break period when he saw a teacher he hadn¡¯t seen before who looked oddly familiar.

    ¡°Excuse me, are you a new teacher here at the school?¡± Riko asked the teacher.

    The aforementioned teacher looked at Riko with a meek smile.

    ¡°Er¡­Yes. My name is Richard Ariyama.¡±

    ¡°Ariyama? Like the student council president?¡±

    ¡°Um¡­Yes. She¡¯s actually my daughter.¡±

    If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it.

    ¡°So this is Haiko¡¯s dad? He looks slightly different from the game,¡± Riko thought.

    Unsure of what to do next, Riko simply talked with Haiko¡¯s dad for a bit and was even told about how Haiko and her father had lost contact with each other after an incident in their past. However, their conversation quickly came to a close when Riko remembered that he needed to get to class.

    Waving Mr. Ariyama goodbye, Riko left with a smile on his face.

    He had actually rather enjoyed his time talking with Mr. Ariyama.

    As such, when he met with Axel a few hours later, he found the warning he was given to be unwarranted and ridiculous.

    With such thoughts in his head, he had come to a conclusion.

    ¡°He honestly seems like a good guy. I think you should try and reconnect with him.¡±

    From Riko¡¯s eyes. My father seems to have fully reformed. But that¡¯s just it, Riko doesn¡¯t know about the kinds of things my father did to me in the past. And because of that, I found myself conflicted about his words.

    Even if my father truly did reform, that doesn¡¯t mean the two of us should make up and act like nothing he did to me ever happened. I¡¯d sooner die than be reminded of that horrible past.

    Still, after hearing Riko¡¯s words maybe I should at least give my father a chance to speak with me.

    ¡°I¡¯ll consider what you¡¯ve said. But for now, I¡¯d like to focus on my work. So let¡¯s drop the subject.¡±

    Riko nodded in understanding.

    ¡°Got it.¡±

    He then walked over to his desk and began working on a new stack of papers lying there.

    Sitting in my room, I finished writing off the last of my report for the disciplinary committee and shoved it into my bag.

    ¡°Um¡­Sir Savoncho?¡±

    Hearing a voice, I turn my head to find Vey twiddling her fingers while looking at me.

    ¡°What¡¯s up?¡±

    ¡°I was wondering¡­could you help me with something?¡±

    ¡°If it¡¯s something within my power. What do you need?¡±

    Relieved by my words, Vey was about to say something before her body went stiff and she closed her mouth.

    ¡°Actually¡­No. It¡¯s nothing important. Forget I said anything.¡±

    ¡°Er¡­Okay?¡±

    Why did she suddenly look so nervous?

    ¡°I¡¯m¡­just gonna go to bed.¡±

    Without another word, Vey walked over to her bed and pulled up her covers before closing her eyes. What was all that about?

    Deciding to let it go for now, I walked over to bed where Nia was waiting for me.

    She instantly snuggled up close after I relaxed into bed and I closed my eyes.

    The next morning, Vey got up early and eyed Axel who was still sleeping peacefully.

    Slipping on her uniform, Vey snuck out as quietly as she could and began making her way toward the school building.

    At the front gate, a group of girls were smirking as they spotted her.

    ¡°Hey. Glad to see you made it on time.¡±

    Seeing their smiles only caused a shiver to crawl down Vey¡¯s spine.

    Without hesitation, one of the girls, who appeared to be the leader, stuck out her foot.

    ¡°Now then commoner, before we do anything else, lick my shoes clean.¡±

    Frustrated, Vey obeyed as she began licking the girl¡¯s shoes.

    As she did so, other girls began kicking her sides.

    ¡°Hah! That¡¯s where you belong commoner!¡±

    ¡°Serves you right for trying to stand on our level!¡±

    ¡°You look as pathetic as you should be!¡±

    Vey was used to this treatment. After all, she¡¯d been treated like this ever since she was mysteriously transferred to the royal squire classes.

    She still didn¡¯t know why it happened, but one day she was told she was being moved to the royal classes without her notice and she had no say in the matter.

    Despite the fact, that her family had become rich and like royalty themselves, the other nobles didn''t seem to see it that way and constantly bullied her for being on a different level than them. And up to this point, she¡¯d been covering her wounds with make-up and refused to tell Axel about it since she didn¡¯t want to bother the one she served.

    Even last night, despite wanting to ask for his help, she held back and stifled her words before they could escape her mouth.

    Knowing how nice the one she served was, he wouldn¡¯t hesitate to help her. However, he could risk expulsion if he hurt any of these girls.

    Because of these concerns, Vey planned to keep this to herself. Even if it was degrading and disgusting.

    The girls continued kicking as she licked their leader''s shoes clean.

    Once she was done, the leader joined in the kicking.

    ¡°Haha! This is what you deserve you filthy comm-!?¡±

    Before she could finish her sentence, the leader suddenly felt herself lose her footing and she slipped onto the ground.

    ¡°Owchie!¡±

    Rubbing her butt, the girl looked around confused before freezing up as an intense aura began to loom over her.

    ¡°What do you think you¡¯re doing to my squire you pint-sized punks?¡±

    The voice was quiet but menacing.

    The rest of the girls froze up as well as they turned to look toward the voice.

    Standing there was Axel who gave them a chilling smile.

    The group¡¯s leader, who figured out almost immediately who he was instantly smirked as she spoke up.

    ¡°We¡¯re just putting this girl in her place? Is that so wrong?¡±

    ¡°Is that so wrong? What a funny thing for an insect like you to say.¡±

    Axel¡¯s voice was filled with venom as he glared at the group¡¯s leader.

    The leader looked completely baffled by his insult.

    ¡°H-How dare you call me an insect! You commoners are all the same! A bunch of low-life snakes that don''t know their place! Do you seriously think you will get away with insulting me!?¡±

    Axel remained silent for a moment which the leader took as a win for her and she smiled confidently.

    However, that smile quickly fainted when Axel started chuckling.

    ¡°What¡¯s so funny!?¡±

    The leader was growing quite enraged at this point.

    ¡°Sorry. I just thought it was kinda funny. That¡¯s all.¡±

    ¡°What do you mean by th-!?¡±

    Before she could say anything else, Axel¡¯s next words caused the girl¡¯s leader''s whole body to shiver in fear.

    ¡°As a member of the disciplinary committee, if I see behavior like this, I¡¯m obligated to put a stop to it by any means necessary. Do you know what that means?¡±

    At that moment, the girls who once thought Axel was beneath them suddenly felt like he was looming high over their heads.

    ¡°It means no one will blame me no matter what happens to all of you. So are you gonna learn your lesson? Or do I need to get a little more physical to make you understand?¡±

    The chilling smile never left Axel¡¯s face as he kept his eyes on the girls.

    Clearly sensing his bloodlust, the entire group took a few steps back before all dashing off into the school with fear in their eyes. All the while the leader quickly glared at Axel before following the others.

    Letting out a frustrated sigh, I let my pent-up anger out of my body and turned to Vey.

    Suspicious of her actions the night before, I decided to wake up a bit early and found her leaving the dorm.

    I tried to stay back and gather information in hopes of reporting things to the disciplinary committee, but my anger got the best of me.

    Come to think of it, those girls seemed pretty terrified of me. Did some of my bloodlust leak out by accident? I was trying to keep it in as best I could, but I guess I accidentally let it escape. My bad.

    Walking over to Vey, I helped her up and guided her to the nurse''s office.

    Once she got some treatment, I checked up on her and asked her to explain things to me.

    Apparently, she randomly got transferred to the royal squire classes and all the kids in there were bullying her due to her previous life as a commoner before her family struck it rich.

    Geez. Even the younger generation at this school were corrupt as hell.

    ¡°If they were bullying you why didn¡¯t you tell me?¡±

    Tears began forming in Vey¡¯s eyes as I continued my questioning.

    ¡°I¡­I didn¡¯t want to be a bother to you. And if you did step in, you could end up getting expelled and it¡¯d be all my fault.¡±

    Ah. So she was concerned for my well-being.

    As nice as it is to hear that, I¡¯m afraid I couldn¡¯t let it slide.

    ¡°Listen to me when I say this, don¡¯t hesitate to come to me when you need help. No matter what happens, I¡¯ll be there for you. I promise. As punishment for keeping this from me, you now have a duty to come to me whenever you¡¯re in trouble. If you fail to do so, I¡¯ll cut the ties between us and remove you from your role as my squire.¡±

    Vey immediately hugged me tightly as her face went pale.

    ¡°No! Anything but that!¡±

    Huh? Why did she look so scared when I brought that idea up?

    Well, if it motivates her to come to me, that¡¯s all the better. The last thing I want for her is to end up like an edgy loner who thinks she has to do everything by herself. All that attitude would do is get her killed.

    Waving her goodbye one last time, Axel left the nurse''s office and Vey found herself by her lonesome save for the nurse who was relaxing at her desk.

    Curling up into a ball, Vey thought about Axel¡¯s words from before.

    ¡°As punishment for keeping this from me, you now have a duty to come to me whenever you¡¯re in trouble. If you fail to do so, I¡¯ll cut the ties between us and remove you from your role as my squire.¡±

    Those words hung in Vey¡¯s mind. They terrified her.

    She still remembered when she was a kid and how she decided to go out alone into the forest outside her village.

    Had Axel not been there to save her, she probably would¡¯ve been sold off to some slaver and been forced to act out her days cleaning someone''s home¡­or worse.

    Thanks to that day, she decided she would dedicate her life to serving Axel to the best of her abilities. Even after her time as his squire was over. For her, Axel was everything. And if he decided to leave her behind, she knew her life wouldn¡¯t have any meaning anymore.

    Thus, staying his squire was her number one priority. No matter what she had to do in order to ensure she remained at his side.

    Once I left the nurse''s office, I pulled out my grimoire.

    ¡°You think she¡¯s okay?¡±

    ¡°Dunno. She seemed quite desperate when she heard you mentioned leaving her side.¡±

    ¡°I guess we''re on the same page then. I just hope this doesn¡¯t turn into some massive hassle.¡±

    After saying that, I let out a sigh. It seems life¡¯s never dull in a dating sim.

 Chapter 61: The Dumbest Duel Ever

    ¡°There you are Axel Savoncho!¡±

    Recognizing a voice behind me, I let out a groan and turned to find Julia Riosha standing there. This girl was becoming more and more of a pain by the day.

    ¡°I challenge you to duel!¡±

    ¡°No thanks.¡±

    ¡°Wah-! Get back here!¡±

    Ignoring her, I was about to walk off when she grabbed my collar.

    ¡°Why does she have such a strong grip?¡± I muttered to myself as she yanked me back.

    ¡°Why do you wanna duel me so badly?¡±

    Ignoring my annoyed expression, Julia pointed her finger at me confidently.

    ¡°It¡¯s simple! If I beat you in a duel, my sister will finally realize just how low you are and return to my side as a royal elite!¡±

    ¡°What makes you think that¡¯ll happen?¡±

    ¡°Why, because there¡¯s no other outcome of course!¡±

    Just how delusional was this girl?

    Rubbing my eyes, I decided this was too much of a pain and tried leaving again.

    ¡°Hey! Stop walking away coward! Are you really that chicken that you¡¯d run away from a duel!?¡±

    ¡°Call me a chicken if you want. All a duel between us would do is give me the chance to pound¡­you¡­into the¡­ground. Wait a minute.¡±

    An idea suddenly popped into my head and a grin grew onto my face.

    ¡°Actually, a duel sounds like a good idea. What time and place?¡±

    Julia gasped in surprise.

    ¡°You¡­You¡¯ll actually duel me!?¡±

    ¡°Sure. I¡¯m feeling generous.¡±

    Julia looked the most excited she¡¯d ever been.

    ¡°Yeeeess!¡±

    Actually, maybe she was a little too excited.

    A few hours later, the two of us stood out in a stadium I had grown all too familiar with since I started school.

    I was currently wearing the familiar outfit I¡¯d worn every time I¡¯d done a duel, while Julia wore dark purple shorts, a bright white t-shirt, as well as a breastplate, and some metal shoulder pads.

    There wasn¡¯t anyone else around since this wasn¡¯t some big publicized event. However, there was still a referee there to watch over us.

    Mrs.Rashion, who agreed to be the referee for our duel, Stayed off to the side and explained the rules.

    ¡°This will be a one-on-one magic duel. The first person to either surrender or get knocked out loses. Are you both okay with these terms?¡±

    ¡°Of course!¡± Julia shouted. I nodded in agreement.

    ¡°Very well. Ready¡­set¡­and begin!¡±

    ¡°I call onto the winds to boost my speed to a grander scale. Wind Step!¡±

    Upon finishing that chant, wind magic appeared to flow into Julia¡¯s feet and she shot straight at me.

    ¡°Take this, you sister stealer!¡±

    Sister stealer? That¡¯s a new one.

    Without saying a word, I easily stepped aside.

    Digging her feet into the ground, Julia spun around and changed her direction to face me before charging once more.

    ¡°Using the momentum from your charge to change directions? Impressive.¡±

    That wasn¡¯t sarcasm. It took me almost two years to perfect the technique myself. She¡¯s probably had a lot of training if she¡¯s able to use such a move at her age. Still, I¡¯d like to see a bit more of what she¡¯s capable of before pounding her into the ground.

    Dodging her once more, I followed her movement as she held out her arm.

    ¡°Bring thy flames down to my side. Flame Burst!¡±

    As she finished saying her chant, a puff of orange smoke shot towards me.

    The minute it finished collecting itself, the smoke exploded and transformed into flames that flew directly at me.

    ¡°Ha! And that¡¯s just a piece of what I¡¯m made of! Let this be a lesson to you, you...¡±

    Before she could finish her insult, the flames blew right past me. All while I was surrounded by a wind shield.

    ¡°What¡¯s with that cocky attitude? You haven¡¯t even managed to scratch me yet.¡±

    Julia stared at me dumbfounded for a moment before growling in frustration.

    ¡°I call onto the winds to boost my speed to a grander scale. Wind Step!¡±

    Pushing wind into her feet once more, she easily ran across the arena.

    Making sure she was always within my vision, I decided to see what else she might be capable of.

    ¡°Is this the best you got? Talk about pathetic. I had a harder time getting my lunch today than fighting you.¡±

    ¡°Grr! You asshole!¡±

    ¡°Wow. Is a princess like you allowed to swear? I thought you¡¯d be more polite than the commoners beneath you, but I guess I was wrong.¡±

    ¡°RAAAH!!¡±

    Looks like my words are getting to her. Good.

    Leaping at me, Julia began to chant and her foot began to glow bright.

    ¡°Oh lords let my kick pierce my enemies and protect my allies! Heavens Stomp!¡±

    Heavens stomp? It looks more like your foot''s burning to me.

    Seeing her falling down at me, I was ready to take the impact when I noticed her stance as she fell.

    Disappointed, I let out a sigh.

    ¡°That¡¯s enough.¡±

    Holding out my hand, a ball of water instantly crashed down onto Julia.

    ¡°Wah-!?¡±

    She instantly lost momentum and started falling toward the ground.

    Right before she did, however, I used a wind spell to slow down her descent before laying her gently on the ground.

    Instantly jumping up, Julia glared at me.

    ¡°What the heck was that for!?¡±

    ¡°Uh¡­One, it¡¯s a duel. And two, just how stupid can you be?¡±

    ¡°Wha-!? Who are you calling stupid!?¡±

    ¡°You! Just what were you thinking when you did that move just now!?¡±

    ¡°I was just trying to win!¡±

    ¡°Just trying to win? Is winning really worth breaking your leg over?¡±

    ¡°What are you talking about!?¡±

    I rubbed my eyes.

    ¡°That move you were about to do. With the way you were doing it, you might as well be asking for me to jump out of the way and let you smash your leg into the ground. This is a duel. Not a war. You don¡¯t need to make risky moves like that.¡±

    ¡°What? But¡­if you knew dodging would put me at risk then why didn¡¯t you just take the hit!?¡±

    ¡°What kind of idiot would take the hit!? Just how stupid can you be!?¡±

    I felt like I was gonna get a headache from all this girl''s stupidity.

    ¡°How dare you call a princess stupid you je-!¡±

    BONK!

    Feeling too exhausted to deal with her anymore, I gave her a quick bonk on the head and it knocked her out instantly.

    As she collapsed to the ground, I turned to Mrs.Rashion.

    ¡°Can you give your verdict now?¡±

    ¡°Er¡­Yes. Of course.¡±

    Signaling the end of the battle, Mrs.Rashion announced the result.

    ¡°Julia Riosha has been knocked unconscious! This winner is Axel Savoncho!¡±

    No one else was there at the stadium, but if there was, there would no doubt be booing that I won yet another duel with ease.

    I glared down at Julia who looked completely dazed.

    ¡°Geez. I thought this would be a fun way to get back at you for all the unneeded frustration you gave me, but this whole duel just made me even more frustrated. What a waste of time.¡±

    Leaving Julia behind, I went off to talk with Mrs.Rashion while Julia laid on the ground.

    Since I had the chance, I decided to question Mrs.Rashion about Vey¡¯s transfer. In response to my questioning, Mrs.Rashion shook her head.

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    ¡°I¡¯m truly sorry to hear about what happened with Miss Vey. If I¡¯m to be honest, my hope was transferring her over would give the young squires in the royal classes a chance to understand commoners better and close the gap between the two of them. If you¡¯d like, I can transfer Vey back to her old classes as soon as tomorrow.¡±

    ¡°I appreciate it. However, according to Vey, she wasn¡¯t told about this transfer beforehand. Why was that?¡±

    ¡°Hm? I was informed she knew about the transfer.¡±

    Huh? What did she say?

    ¡°Really? By who?¡± I decided to ask.

    As I heard her answer to that question, my blood immediately started to boil.

    ¡°Mr. Ariyama.¡±

    ¡°Disappointing. I had hoped he would¡¯ve caused an incident, but I guess this boy is smarter than he looks,¡± muttered Mr. Ariyama as he read the report about Savoncho¡¯s squire and the ones bullying her.

    He had planned for Savoncho to go off his rocker and cause an issue that would result in getting him expelled. But Savoncho handled it a lot better than Mr. Ariyama thought and thus the plan failed.

    ¡°And after I worked so hard to convince that idiot of a teacher to transfer her over to the royal squire class too. What a shame.¡±

    Putting down the report, Mr. Ariyama leaned back in his chair.

    ¡°I guess I have no choice. As worrisome as that boy is, I¡¯ll have to put him off for now. After all, the main plan will be going into motion soon enough.¡±

    A creepy smile spread across Mr. Ariyama¡¯s face as he glanced at the side of his desk where a photo sat of Haiko looking into the camera with a blank expression on her face.

    ¡°I look forward to working with you again¡­Haiko.¡±

    Dammit. So Haiko¡¯s dad is the one behind the thing with Vey. What a pain," I muttered while scratching the back of my head and making my way through the school building toward the disciplinary committee office.

    As boring as it is, I¡¯m now required to fill out a report regarding my duel with Julia. Though, it was less of a duel and more of a show of stupidity if you ask me. And with how little she took my words to heart, I¡¯m honestly starting to respect all the teachers from my old world and how they managed to put up with someone like me during my time at school.

    Well anyway, the best thing for me right now is to get this report done and over with.

    Pushing open the door, I walked into the room to find the only one sitting inside was Talia.

    Ignoring her, I walked over to my desk and began filling out the report.

    As I worked, I noticed Talia was keeping her eye on me for some reason.

    ¡°May I help you?¡± I asked in a bored tone.

    ¡°What¡¯s with that attitude toward your superior?¡±

    I let out a frustrated sigh. She really got on my nerves.

    ¡°Just leave me be.¡±

    Deciding to ignore her, I returned to my work. Or at least I wanted to, but Talia instantly went back to eyeing me.

    ¡°Can you just explain what you want alre-?¡± I tried asking. However...

    ¡°So¡­You know everything now huh?¡±

    ¡°Hm?¡±

    Cutting me off, Talia said something rather strange.

    ¡°What¡¯re you talking about?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m referring to the thing with Haiko and her past. Does that clear it up?¡±

    She sounded rather annoyed.

    ¡°Oh. Yeah, I guess I do.¡±

    How did she know that? Was she listening in during that conversation? That would explain her standing there when I left the student council office after Haiko spilled her past to me.

    Judging by Talia¡¯s face, she wasn¡¯t happy to hear my answer.

    ¡°I just don''t get it. You¡¯re nothing but a jerk, womanizer, and commoner. Why does Haiko seem like she¡¯s so comfortable around you?¡±

    Okay. Where the hell are people getting womanizer? I¡¯ve been called that a few times at this point and I¡¯m lost as to why. I¡¯ve been completely loyal to Xara and only Xara. I haven¡¯t tried to make a move on a single other woman. So why am I being called a womanizer? Does that word have a different meaning in this world or something?

    I couldn¡¯t help but let out a small sigh as I realized it¡¯d be pointless to think about this any further.

    Shrugging in response to Talia¡¯s question, I leaned back in my chair.

    ¡°Beat¡¯s me. But if she thinks she can talk to me about her problems, then I¡¯m fine with listening.¡±

    Talia stared at me dumbfounded.

    ¡°How can you act so casually about her feelings after learning about her past?¡±

    I shrugged once more.

    ¡°Let¡¯s just say I¡¯m quite familiar with stories like hers.¡±

    Talia stared at me dumbfounded once more.

    ¡°You¡¯re one strange person you know that?¡±

    ¡°Meh. It¡¯s better to be strange than weird.¡±

    ¡°Um¡­Aren''t those the same thing?¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    ¡°Hey don¡¯t just ignore my question and go back to work!¡±

    Doing exactly that, I worked my way through the rest of the report and put it on Tailia''s desk.

    ¡°Anyway, I gotta get going now. I¡¯m supposed to go meet my girlfriend at the front gate. See ya.¡±

    Without another word, I left the room.

    After Axel left, Talia just stared at the door at a complete loss. A moment later, she slammed her fist on her desk.

    ¡°That damn jerk! I knew commoners were rude but he¡¯s on a completely different level! Just what kind of a household did he have to be raised in to have that kind of attitude!?¡±

    Talia was still at a complete loss as to why Haiko had grown fond of this boy.

    ¡°Just what do you see in this jerk Haiko?¡± Talia muttered to herself as she rubbed her eyes.

    She knew it wasn¡¯t anything romantic, but Haiko herself had told Talia a few times now that there was something unique about the boy named Axel Savoncho and Haiko wanted to gain a better understanding of him for her and the school¡¯s benefit.

    However, it still irked Talia how casually the man spoke with not just students, but teachers and higher authorities as well. It was like he didn¡¯t care what power you might hold or what you could do, he just treated everyone equally.

    This frustrated Talia so much, she wanted to beat him to a pulp just to make sure he knew his place. But sadly, she was all too aware of how weak she was in comparison to his abilities.

    According to some tests that several officials ran on Savoncho after his reemergence from the school¡¯s dungeon, the boy now possessed the abilities you¡¯d normally only see from a student who''d have been at this school for a fairly long time. Add that onto his strange ability to cast magic without a chant, as well as his capability to use magic even within a magic-blocking barrier and it made him quite the formidable opponent.

    Finding herself letting out a frustrated sigh, Talia looked toward the ceiling as she continued questioning the oddity that was Axel Savoncho.

    Leaving the school building, I saw Xara at the entrance waving to me.

    I waved back and the two of us began making our way down to the town below.

    We were having our first real date in a long time.

    While we had gone on many lunch dates in the past, it was rare we ever got to go on a real date.

    As such, I finished all my reports and work as fast as I could in order to meet her at the front gate and the two of us decided to spend the day walking around town.

    Picking up some food from some food stalls, the two of us talked while eating on a bench.

    We mostly discussed small unimportant things like what we thought the weather would be like tomorrow, or what our favorite season was. However, right as I was eating my hot dog, Xara dropped a bomb on me.

    ¡°Oh yeah. My parents said they wanted to meet you, Axel.¡±

    ¡°Hrgh!?¡±

    I nearly choked on my hot dog and had to take a gulp of the water from the cup at my side before managing to recover.

    ¡°Y¡­You don¡¯t say?¡±

    I tried my best to act cool, but it was probably all too clear I was taken aback since Xara gave me a look of concern.

    ¡°Do you¡­hate the idea?¡±

    ¡°Er¡­No no. I was just surprised that¡¯s all.¡±

    Trying to ease her worries, I shook my head showing it was no concern. We¡¯d talked about meeting with her family before, but I never thought we¡¯d bring it up in the middle of a date. Even so, I knew I couldn¡¯t stall for much longer. So with a sigh, I decided to ask a few more things while I focused and recollected myself.

    ¡°I¡¯d be fine with meeting your parents. However, are they okay with meeting someone like me? I¡¯m a commoner after all.¡±

    Even if Xara accepted me, there was still the off chance that her parents looked down on commoners.

    And if they decided to mock me or treat me like crap, I couldn¡¯t guarantee I wouldn¡¯t pound their faces in.

    And if I did that, it could risk my and Xara¡¯s relationship being destroyed.

    That means if they didn¡¯t accept me, everything between me and Xara would go down the drain. Not exactly a nice thing to think about.

    Xara shook her head in response to my question.

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry. They¡¯re perfectly fine with it. It¡¯s no problem at all.¡±

    ¡°Really? Well if you say so.¡±

    I guess if Xara says it¡¯s okay then it should be fine.

    Even so, there¡¯s still part of me concerned about meeting with her parents. But perhaps it¡¯s best to put off such concerns until the time comes.

    Moving past that topic for now, the two of us continued chatting for a few more minutes before getting up and continuing to walk around town.

    As the sun started to set, I was about to suggest we head back when Xara suddenly grabbed my arm.

    ¡°Hm? What¡¯s up?¡±

    Instead of answering my question, Xara spread her wings and flew up into the sky.

    ¡°Whoa!¡±

    Confused, I turned my head toward Xara as she continued soaring through the air.

    Not sure what to do, I let her drag me along until I noticed something off in the distance.

    ¡°Isn¡¯t that-?¡±

    As if reading my thoughts, Xara nodded.

    A minute late, we arrived at an all too familiar spot. The bell tower where Xara confessed to me.

    It¡¯s normally the spot she¡¯d confess to the protagonist, but things are different this time around.

    Placing me down on top of the bell tower, Xara landed in front of me and retracted her wings before smiling awkwardly.

    ¡°Sorry. I was just in a rush to get here. I didn¡¯t wanna miss it.¡±

    ¡°Miss it?¡±

    Xara nodded and pointed behind me.

    Turning around, I felt my eyes widen as I stared at the site.

    ¡°Whoa¡­¡±

    I had completely forgotten about this site because I¡¯d been so focused on Xara at the time, but this really was an incredible sight to see.

    As we stood on the tower, we looked out at the sun as it began setting. It created a blue-ish purple hue that shined just bright enough to make the mountains in front of it sparkle. It looked even more majestic in real life than it did in the CG.

    I felt mesmerized while I watched the sight until I felt something touch my hand.

    Looking down, I saw Xara had grabbed hold and was clenching my hand tightly.

    ¡°This was the spot where you first shot me down. It¡¯s kinda awkward when I think back on it.¡±

    ¡°Er¡­Yeah. It probably is.¡±

    Xara chuckled as I used my free hand to scratch the back of my head and my face grew hot with embarrassment.

    ¡°However, despite that harsh memory, this still remains my favorite spot in the entire town. And I¡¯m happy I get to share it with you.¡±

    ¡°Ehehe. Thanks.¡±

    Dammit, this was so embarrassing to hear. Was this how the MC felt when he talked with Xara in the game? How did he manage to keep himself from fainting from the embarrassment!?

    ¡°Also¡­¡±

    ¡°Hm?¡±

    Before I had time to react, Xara pulled on my arm and gave me a quick peck on the lips before stepping back and grinning.

    ¡°I¡¯m glad I met you. You¡¯ve shown me what I had to do to grow as a person and even managed to chase away the demons I kept locked within myself. After all that, how can I not help but feel the way I do?¡±

    I felt like I wanted to say something in response to that, but no matter what I thought of saying, they never sounded like the right words. Thus, I kept my mouth shut.

    Leaning up close to me, Xara kissed me on the lips once more as she wrapped her arms around my chest and embraced me in a hug.

    ¡°I mean it when I say this. I love you, Axel. I wanna spend the rest of my life with you. I wanna get married to you, have children with you, grow old with you. You mean everything to me. Oh but don¡¯t worry. I¡¯m not gonna get overly clingy with you.¡±

    Xara grinned happily as she continued hugging me tightly.

    Still feeling slightly embarrassed, I returned her hug.

    ¡°I feel the same Xara. I love you and I don¡¯t ever want to lose you.¡±

    Those were my honest feelings. I don¡¯t know when I started thinking like this, but it¡¯s been my mindset for quite some time. And I planned to follow this mindset to the day I die.

    Xara¡¯s cheeks grew a light pink as her smile grew even wider.

    "....Mom...Dad....Why...?"

    "Kid...I''m sorry. This was the only thing that wasn''t damaged."

    ".....Family...."

    As we hugged, memories flashed through my mind. Horrible memories that I''d tried to forget. Causing me to let go of Xara.

    "C-Come. Let''s get back," I said. Trying to focus my attention on Xara in order to chase those memories away.

    In response to my words, Xara nodded her head and we returned to the school

    All the while I had tried to hold this terrible feeling deep inside me. Trying to ignore its existence.

 Chapter 62: Calm Before The Storm

    With only two days left before the party, I was currently at a store to buy a tuxedo for the event.

    ¡°Do I really have to do this? These things are so uncomfortable,¡± I muttered. While trying to move around in the outfit.

    ¡°Now don¡¯t be like that Sir Savoncho. It¡¯s important you look your best when it comes to going to a party. It¡¯ll make you look fashionable and charming.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t really care if people find me fashionable or charming though,¡± I muttered.

    ¡°Please stop with the attitude Sir Savoncho.¡±

    If you hadn¡¯t already guessed, Vey was here with me to help pick out the best tuxedo for me to wear.

    I didn¡¯t really know much about fashion, so I decided to leave things in her hands.

    However, with how uncomfortable this thing is, I¡¯m almost tempted just to go in my school uniform. But with how ecstatic Vey has been, I¡¯m worried she¡¯ll get mad if I suggest such a thing.

    About forty minutes later, we ended up settling on a generic black tux with a black bowtie.

    With how much time it took to pick, I¡¯d rather have just worn my school uniform instead.

    Once we made it back to my dorm, I hung the tux up before making my way toward the school cafeteria to grab some food.

    I had moved my morning disciplinary committee duties to the afternoon in order to spend my morning picking out my tux.

    Since it was a Saterday, this world¡¯s version of Saturday, I was permitted to do so, and thus a grueling afternoon and evening awaited me.

    After I finished eating, I let out a loud yawn while I made my way through the school and toward the disciplinary committee office.

    When I walked inside, I was surprised to find Haiko there.

    ¡°Ah. Hello there Mister Savoncho.¡±

    ¡°Uh¡­Hello?¡±

    What was she doing here?

    ¡°If you¡¯re wondering why I¡¯m here, I¡¯m simply collecting the completed paperwork from the disciplinary committee and bringing it toward the student council office. Care to help out?¡±

    ¡°Um¡­Sure.¡±

    Taking a stack of papers from off of Talia¡¯s desk, Haiko and I began making our way toward the student council office.

    On the way, we chatted with each other to pass the time.

    ¡°So after they are reviewed by the disciplinary committee, papers that involve more serious matters get sent to the student council?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s correct. Stuff such as recommendations for expulsion, as well as class changes and the like, are first reviewed by the disciplinary committee and then sent to us. If we agree with the disciplinary committee¡¯s assessment, we send the request to the school board who have the final verdict.¡±

    ¡°Geez. That sounds like a hassle.¡±

    Haiko shook her head.

    ¡°Not at all. I find it to be quite efficient. With so many different groups discussing an issue, it helps create a clear consensus about whatever problem is at hand. If everyone thinks something should be done, it means that¡¯s probably the right choice. At least that¡¯s how I view it.¡±

    I mean¡­I guess I get what she¡¯s trying to say, but I still think there are some flaws in such a system. Such as what if one of the three groups was corrupt? Things would quickly derail after that and before you know the entire system falls apart. Honestly, I¡¯m kinda amazed a system like this has worked for as long as it has.

    Reaching the student council office, Haiko opened the door and we walked inside.

    ¡°Ack-!¡±

    ¡°Hm?¡±

    Standing inside was none other than the MC. He appeared to be brewing something.

    ¡°What?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Er¡­It¡¯s nothing,¡± the MC responded.

    Looking away from me, the MC continued brewing and I plopped the papers down on Haiko¡¯s desk.

    ¡°Well, there you go. I gotta get back to the disciplinary committee office so I¡¯ll see you around.¡±

    ¡°Understood. Thank you for taking the time to help me with this Mister Savoncho.¡±

    Without saying anything to the MC, I walked past Haiko and left the room.

    When I got back to the disciplinary committee office, Talia was there and began to berate me about being late. And as she lectured me, all I could do was let out an irritated sigh.

    After Savoncho left, I sat down at my desk.

    There wasn¡¯t any work to be done today, so I was able to relax a little.

    ¡°President Haiko, here¡¯s some tea for you.¡±

    ¡°Ah. Thank you.¡±

    For some reason, Toyazoto had started making tea for me recently.

    I wasn¡¯t bothered by it, but it felt completely out of nowhere.

    However, his tea was actually quite good so I had nothing to complain about.

    As he poured me a cup, a rather unique aroma hit my nose.

    ¡°This smell¡¯s different from usual. Did you change tea leaves?¡±

    ¡°Er¡­Yes. They didn¡¯t have the normal kind in stock so I ended up buying these instead. I hope it still tastes good.¡±

    Grinning slightly, I tried my best to reassure him.

    ¡°I¡¯m sure it still tastes great.¡±

    ¡°T-Thank you for your kind words.¡±

    If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

    Placing down the tea in front of me, Toyazoto took a few steps back and I put the cup up to my lips.

    ¡°Hmm¡­It has quite a rich flavor. Different from what I¡¯m used to for sure.¡±

    Taking another sip, I felt myself growing relaxed.

    ¡°Say, what¡¯s in this tea?¡±

    ¡°Uh¡­I don¡¯t remember. Sorry.¡±

    I wanted to tell him he could just check the box the tea came in, but for some reason, I felt too relaxed too.

    After a few more sips, I began feeling drowsy.

    ¡°Say, can I talk to you about something, President Haiko?¡±

    As Toyazoto suddenly spoke up, my drowsiness dissipated slightly.

    ¡°Sure. What is it you need.¡±

    ¡°Well, I just wanted to know if¡­maybe you could make up with your dad?¡±

    ¡°Make up? Why would I need to make up with him? After everything he¡¯s put me through, I¡¯d rather have him out of my life!¡±

    ¡°But¡­he¡¯s a changed man. If you ask me, making up with him is the best thing for the both of you.¡±

    ¡°The¡­The best thing for the both of us?¡±

    ¡°Yeah. I can guarantee he¡¯s a changed person. So if you give him a chance, I¡¯m certain you two can gain a fresh start and understanding of each other.¡±

    ¡°Really?¡±

    Strange. For some reason, Toyazoto¡¯s words sounded oddly compelling. Like they made perfect sense.

    ¡°So what do you say? Would you be willing to let him back into your life again?¡±

    I began to open my mouth and say ¡°No Way!¡±

    However, the moment I tried to do so, my brain started feeling foggy.

    ¡°You know what? you¡¯re right. Perhaps I should give him a second chance.¡±

    Hearing that, Toyazoto let out a sigh of relief.

    ¡°I¡¯m glad to hear it. I¡¯ll go tell Mr. Ariyama right away.¡±

    As Toyazoto walked out of the room, I sat there at my desk continuing to sip my tea.

    ¡°Wait¡­Why did I just agree to that?¡±

    Confused, I leaned back in my chair and tried to clear my fuzzy thoughts.

    As Riko stepped out of the student council office, he glanced at the empty tea bag in his hand. Before thinking back to a few days ago.

    ¡°Here you go,¡± said a familiar voice as he gave Riko a strange light blue tea bag.

    ¡°What is this?¡± Riko asked curiously as his attention went from the tea bag toward Mr. Ariyama who was standing in front of him.

    ¡°It¡¯s a special type of tea flavor I¡¯ve concocted. It¡¯s designed to help make people more suggestible. Or at least, enough to make them consider what a person has to say.¡±

    ¡°Really? And what do you want me to do with this?¡±

    ¡°Well, you see¡­I appreciate you trying to bring me and my daughter together. However, it¡¯s clear she won¡¯t listen the way she is now. That¡¯s where this little guy comes in. Have her drink this, and she should happily consider making up with me.¡±

    ¡°Oh¡­I see.¡±

    Glancing down at the tea bag once more, Riko gripped it tightly.

    ¡°Understood. I promise I¡¯ll bring you two together no matter what!¡±

    That¡¯s what Riko said at the time, but after having seen the tea¡¯s effects, Riko felt a little unsure about what he¡¯d just done.

    However, after a moment, he shook his head.

    ¡°No. Don¡¯t feel guilty, Riko. This is all for the sake of your and Haiko¡¯s happy ending. In order to achieve that, this had to be done."

    Using that in order to clear his conscious, Riko walked away from the student council room and waited for what was to come next.

    With the party tomorrow, all I had left to do was finish up a few pieces of homework.

    ¡°Say, you¡¯ll be done with that disciplinary committee stuff tomorrow right?¡± Nia asked. To which I nodded my head.

    ¡°Yeah. That¡¯s right.¡±

    Nia was sitting next to me and watching me work.

    Filling out my answers to the last few problems, I slipped the papers into my bag and let out a sigh.

    ¡°Damn has this been a lot of work. I¡¯m just glad it¡¯s over.¡±

    ¡°I guess that president lady¡¯s idea of having you try it out didn¡¯t convince you to stay huh?¡±

    I shrugged.

    ¡°I¡¯m sure she was trying to get me attached enough to the point I wanted to stay, but the entire time I worked there made surviving that dungeon feel easy in comparison.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s a pretty bold claim considering the stories you told me about your time down there.¡±

    I shrugged once more.

    ¡°Anyway, enough about that. Since we still have time before we have to hit the hay, how do you feel about getting some grub?¡±

    Nia grinned at my suggestion.

    ¡°I like the sound of that.¡±

    Thus, we went down to the city below to get something to eat.

    ¡°These burger things are so good!¡± shouted Nia.

    ¡°I know right!¡±

    Not wanting to be picky, Nia and I ended up stopping by Daves Diner to grab some burgers.

    Dang. No matter how many times I eat these, they never fail to taste amazing.

    ¡°So you got another girl travellin with ya this time ey Savoncho?¡±

    Ignoring Dave who was standing beside me, I continued to blissfully eat my burger.

    Across from me, Nia chugged down her water before putting the empty cup down on the table.

    Dave quickly refilled it and Nia continued chowing down on her meal.

    A few minutes later, we¡¯d both finished our food and I waved goodbye to Dave and he waved back with a smile. Then, without another word, Nia and I left. Heaing out into the streets.

    Not wanting her to be seen, I had Nia slip back into my grimoire.

    Walking through the streets, I stopped at a few more food stalls before ducking away somewhere to enjoy the food with Nia.

    Each time after we were done, I¡¯d have her return to the grimoire and we kept moving.

    Before we knew it, the rest of the day had flown by.

    Returning to the school, I entered my dorm room to find Vey already asleep.

    Trying my best to stay quiet, I took off my school uniform and set out a pair of new clothes before making my way toward the bathroom.

    Wanting to relax, I decided to take a bath instead of my usual shower and let hot water pour into the tub.

    I don¡¯t know if I mentioned this before, but the tub in this room is huge. Easily enough to hold around six to eight people. I almost never used it since I was so used to just getting a quick shower, but as I mentioned before, I figured a relaxing bath would be more enjoyable.

    Once it was filled up, I slipped into the tub and let out a calm sigh. The water felt great.

    With that said...

    ¡°What¡¯re you doing here Nia?¡±

    Walking up to me was none other than Nia who stood before me with nothing but a towel to cover herself up.

    ¡°I just thought of joining you. That¡¯s all.¡±

    How irritating. I knew she¡¯d become quite attached to me, but not to this degree.

    As I rubbed my eyes, Nia gave me a teasing smile.

    ¡°What? Does the idea of me being in here with you turn you on?¡±

    Good grief.

    ¡°Don¡¯t even try saying something like that.¡±

    ¡°Hehe. Are you blushing? How cute.¡±

    ¡°Hm?¡±

    I was in fact, not blushing as I stared at her dead in the eyes. Having shaken my head in frustration, she appeared to have assumed I was feeling flustered or something.

    In the end, I just gave into her whims and she joined me in the bath. She snuggled up close and all I could do was stare at the ceiling until I felt refreshed and got out of the tub.

    Nia followed close behind me with a beaming smile on her face.

    Walking out, I began slipping on the clothes I set out as Nia used her magic to make her clothes instantly appear on her body.

    Lying down in bed, I closed my eyes as Nia clung to me tightly.

    Honestly, this has happened so many times at this point that I don¡¯t even care anymore. However, if she tries to push her boundaries and try something like what just happened in the bath again, I plan to teach her a lesson.

    But for now, the party was tomorrow. And as I drifted off to sleep, all I could think about was how things would go. And I could only hope everything went smoothly.