The following day, It was still the weekend before the adjustment period starts which also marks a month of my stay in the academy.
It felt like a lot has already happened in those days but it shows that there's still a lot more trouble to deal with.
Feeling listless, I walked on a familiar street in the morning.
Right after coming home to the dorms in one piece, I quickly slept without even taking some medicine for large migraines which was an understatement from what I experienced.
So now I wasn't at the best conditions at all. Luckily, my task right now doesn't involve some major and risky stuff like last night.
'...Still I didn't think that Soren would come to that place and at that timing at all. For a guy with such a high position in the order, it would normally be his henchmen doing the minor stuff..'
Honestly, it was a miscalculation on my part. I shouldn't be rushing to my death like this, I feel like my confidence on my own knowledge is falling apart at the seam as of late.
The only silver lining in that situation would be that Soren would now have a lot more searching to do to get his materials.
The stone that I had bought that night was the only thing for sale in that place. Considering it's difficulty of extraction, it would be a long while before he gets his dirty hands on it again.
'I do hope he gets delayed in his search. It would take a lot off my mind if that kid doesn't go on some rampage. Specially now that I have to train for the coming week for the test' I thought as I turned to a near desolate area in the city.
Turning a corner, I come across Delan's weapon shop. It still had a seemingly broken sign hanging in the entrance.
I approached the door but before I could open it, someone suddenly flew through it which broke it completely.
"Whoah!"
I dodged to the side as the figure skidded across the ground like some ragdoll.
Looking at the figure, he was a man who had a black suit on. His face had a punch mark indented on his cheeks.
I furrowed my brows as to what was going on until-
"W-what do you think you're doing!?" the man shouted.
"Don't you know who I work for!? Y-you'll regret this!" he added while trying to get back up.
He then suddenly looked horrified when footsteps started to come closer to him from the shop.
Curiosity got the better of me and so I peeked at the individual he was looking at.
My mouth had been left open when I saw who the man shouting at.
'....What the hell are you doing here...'
The person came out the nonexistent entrance with her hands crossed between her chest.
"I don't care who you are! Try to threathen this kid again and I'll make your head explode!"
"Hiiii!?" the man exclaimed in horror as he ran for his life.
As she stood there, imposing her intimidating presence. I stood there with a stupefied face.
"....Alice...." I muttered.
"Huh?....Ray what are you doing here?"
Alice looked at me with a puzzled expression reflecting the same look that I had as well.
-----
Inside the weapon shop, three individuals could be seen with indescribable expressions.
First was Delan who was repeatedly bowing his head towards Alice as he tried desperately to hold back his tears.
Alice on the other hand had a sorry look as she tried to calm Delan down. Most likely she was feeling remorseful from breaking his shop.
In my case, I was intenly scanning the whole shop. Weapons were scattered around and the counter was split in two.
Basically, the whole place got destroyed.
I looked towards the two who was at a stalemate of apologizing to each other.
"Delan, what exactly happened here?"
He immediately turned his attention to me.
"...S-Sir those guys came-" wiping his tears he explained the incident that had happened.
Long story short, the loan shark came to greet him outside of his shop this morning. Delan then got dragged by the man inside the shop to claim his unreasonable payment.
Delan tried to argue that he had already paid some of the portion of the loan last month, so they should have waited until another month to bother him with the money.
However the man did not listen and tried to kidnap the poor kid instead since Delan didn't have the money at hand.
At that point, Delan was horrified for his dear life. He tried to fight back but alas his stats was not geared towards combat at all.
When he almost lost hope, the door suddenly opened with Alice clearly angry at what was happening.
A fight quickly ensued but it was more of a one-sided beating. In the end, the man was sent flying through the door and here we are now at the current state of this place.
After listening to his story, I gave a quick glance at Alice who was trying to hide her face in shame.
"R-Ray I swear I tried to mininize the damage.I swear!"
"I didn't say anything yet"
"No, I don't mind sir. She's my benefactor like you afterall. If she didn't come, I don't know what would have happened to me" he said with a grateful expression towards Alice.
His benefactor though was so embarrassed to the point of having reddened cheeks as she asked me.
"You know him Ray?"
"He's also my benefactor" Delan said instantly.
"...I'm just a customer kid. So Alice how did you get here anyway?" I asked what I was very curious about all this time.
"It was just a coincidence actually" she scratched her cheek.
"The other day I was supposed to practice mana control with Emily at her house but it seems like she's busy practicing something else so instead I trained by myself"
"Yesterday evening, I tried going to Lily's residence to get my weapons fixed but I remembered that Lily had Jun as her guest that afternoon so I didn't go. I didn't want to bother both of them"
"This morning, I tried going for a walk since all of them was busy with their own thing. Until this morning, I still couldn't get a contact on Lily so I tried finding a repair shop on my own"
"When I was walking around the city, I saw this suspicious looking dude dragging around a kid into an alleyway and that's how I got here" she said in a huff without stopping.
She reiterated eveything perfectly but-
'..She didn't really have to say all of that stuff though....Jun and Lily are together in the weekends? What has this guy been doing?' I thought in annoyance.
The fact that I almost died yesterday compared to the MC who has been doing some sugary things with a heroine is rubbing salt to injury.
While I was lost in thought, Alice grabbed Delan's shoulders.
"Kid...I mean Delan right? I'll pay for all the damages"
"W-wait you saved me so I should be the one-"
"Please or else the guilt will eat away at me. As the first daughter of my family, I can't just go around destroying a kid's home. This guy won't let me hear the end of it as well" she pointed at me.
"....." I just ignored her remarks.
"S-sir" Delan looked at me for help.
"...Just let her do it. She won't stop even if you tried. Been there, done that"
"He's right!"
"Don't be proud of that Alice" I retorted.
In the end, Delan couldn't refuse Alice's offer. Both of us also started to fix some of the stuff in the shop.
I then gave Delan another offer while I was at it.
"Hey I was going to commision an item for you but it seems that you're not quite at the best of condition" I said as I looked around the place.
"Those loan sharks won't stop bothering you now until you pay them off. It's dangerous for you to stay here"
Delan became afraid as he looked right at me.
"B-but where should I go? I can't earn money without my shop, this is also my home afterall"
"S-sorry about that" Alice said as she hung her head down.
"Don't worry about that. I did say I was going to commission an item right, once you finish it I'm sure you'll be able to pay them off"
Delan's face brightened when he heard my words but he still has one worry in his mind.
"The shop...what if they-"
"Don't worry about the shop, the repairman coming here will be one of the staff of the Rozenthine family. Those guys won't even dare lay a finger on this place" Alice reassured.
'The Rozenthine family huh...if that's the case then we don't have to worry then' I mused.
"If you're wondering where to work, I have the perfect place for you. I'm offering my vacant villa at the Irisville estate."
Delan's eyes widened at our remarks but what he caught the most from our words were our family names.
"A R-Rozenthine and an I-Irisville is in my shop! I'm sorry I've been so rude!"
He was in a state of panic as both Alice and I tried to calm him down once again. I didn't realize that I had never told him my name before.
After he had calmed down, he contemplated for a bit until he accepted my offer and commission for an item.
"Wait so you made his gun?" Alice asked with stars shining in her eyes.
The mere mention of my item commission didn't slip away from Alice's attention. Delan also couldn't hold off telling his first encounter with a customer.
"Y-yes I did"
"Sweet! Hey I want to commission something too. I've been thinking of having a general weapon lately since most of my guns just break from most of my shots" she leaned in as if she was possessed.
"Sir!?" Delan tried to ask for help.
"Just do it. Like I said it's pointless to resist"
'If Alice could upgrade her weapon this early in the story, even before the test, it will be a great assurance for success' I thought while I handed a paper containing the general details of my commission.
"Oh yeah here's mine, I've thought a lot about the design for the past weeks" Alice also gave Delan a similar paper.
"Ummm I'll do my best Maam, sir!"
"Maam and sir sounds too stiff, just call us big sis and big bro" she laughed while suggesting nicknames.
"O-ok b-big sis, big bro"
"Why did you even include me?" I complained while it fell on deaf ears.
I then opened my vrace as I took out a peculiar looking stone and handed it to Delan.
"....What's this big bro?"
"...It's the essential material for the item. It's in the paper, just read it"
Delan read through the paper briefly as he muttered.
"Synchro Stone?.." he said while holding an art material that could ascend to something much more in his hands.