"So, what are you planning on doing?" Luranta asked. She was sitting opposite me.
"Well, I don't know. I will think of something in the moment, you know," I replied.
I met with Luranta after I came back from the teacher's office. She is the only one who has enough brainpower to help me solve this, and she is the only one I know. So, we are here in the lounge we ate in before at the restaurant, which she owns.
"I suggest that you just kneel down and apologize if you don't want to blow this problem up," Luranta suggested.
"No! I won't. He was at fault; I just beat him," I replied.
"Let go of your pride and apologize. Even though I know that the bastard was at fault, I don't think his family will let go of this situation easily. They will blow this up to be a big problem. The academy won't be on your side, as it is funded by nobles and big martial families. They wouldn't want their income to be blocked because of a small incident. The Miller family is an earl family that has managed to keep its title even through the demonic rule. That's how persistent they are. They will demand your expulsion since you are registered as a commoner," Luranta explained the situation.
"At this point, if you don't want to be expelled, you have to show your worth to the academy so they will protect you. Or you just need to come from a higher noble house or a strong martial family that they don't want to mess with," Luranta concluded.
I nodded in understanding. I get that this is going to be a full-blown problem, but I was sent here to find and eliminate these kinds of problems and deal with them, as the kingdom is planning to send some young elves to the academy so they could learn about humans. This was also one of the reasons why I was moving around the continent for the past years. I was traveling between many kingdoms to invite them to the academy. This academy was built to grow potential leaders, so the next demonic rule doesn't even happen. But who would have expected me to attend too.
"So, I just have to show my powers. Then I will just blow them away with my awesomeness," I declared.
"What are you planning to do?" Luranta asked, curious.
I just smiled, letting her be curious.
"It's better to keep this a mystery as it will give it hype when it is revealed," I said.
Luranta just shook her head at my reply. *Click* The door opened, and the middle bald butler entered.
"Sir, the lady you invited is here," the middle bald butler informed.
Luranta looked at me, her eyes asking, 'who is it?'
"It's Elain," I replied, to her surprise.
I couldn't find her while I was coming to meet Luranta, so I had asked one of her classmates I happened to run into to deliver my message.
"I hope you can put the bill in my account," I gave a grateful smile to Luranta.
"Ha, what is this, a restaurant or your house?" Luranta scoffed.
I smiled mysteriously before I continued, "Adam is here too."
"What?" Luranta sprung up from the seat.
"Yes," I replied as I got up.
The classmate I ran into was Adam. Even though it was annoying to meet him, using him to inform Elain was pleasurable, especially when he scrunched his face. Actually, I was expecting him to not inform her at all. Seeing that she is here, he should have informed and come with her.
"Let's go, shall we?" I gestured like a gentleman.
"Huuu," Luranta breathed out to calm herself and checked her clothes, which was an exquisite dark blue dress as she was still in the restaurant.
"Okay," She nodded, ready.
The butler guided us to the ground floor and to a table near the side where two people were sitting. A male and a beautiful girl, both were sitting silently.
"Yo," I called the girl.
The girl turned to me, her raven-black hair waving due to the movement, and her dark brown eyes focused on me. I flashed a smile at her as our eyes met. And I totally ignored the male.
"I thought you wouldn't come. Why don't we have lunch together since you are here?" I asked.
Elain opened her mouth to say something but closed it seeing that someone was with me.
"No need, I have already had my lunch," she replied.
"That's a letdown," I drooped my shoulders in disappointment.
Then I felt a tug at my dress. I turned to Luranta, who was motioning with her eyes to introduce her to Adam.
"I forgot to introduce, this is Luranta, my classmate," I introduced Luranta to Elain.
"This is Elain from the combat class, and for him, you can introduce yourselves to each other," I decided to omit Adam from my introduction.
"Nice to meet you," Luranta greeted Adam.
"Nice to meet you too," Adam got up to greet her as a gesture of politeness.
"Since we are done with the greetings, why don't we have a nice chat while we enjoy some tea?" I said and turned to Luranta.
"Luranta, I will use the lounge we were talking in, and I ask of you to keep Mr. Adam here company."
I winked at Luranta to give her the go sign.
"It will be my pleasure," Luranta bowed in delight.
"Let's go," I extended my hand toward Elain, who shyly accepted.
I, with the guide of the butler, took her to the room Luranta and I were talking in, leaving Luranta alone with Adam.
I guided Elain to her seat and ordered the best snacks and tea in the restaurant.
"How did you know about it?" Elain asked the question impatiently, her face blushing.
I smiled at her expression. "Don't be impatient. We have the whole evening to ourselves."
"But I want to know! How did you find out? It was something only my mother knows," she asked.
I smiled, not replying to her question. I was enjoying her expression, which is like an open book. Her emotions were in turmoil as disbelief, fear, anger, shame, and guilt mixed together.
"Please say," she begged, seeing that demanding won't work.
"Before I explain how I found out. I would like to talk to you about the things I called you here for," I said.
Elain looked a bit surprised at my reply but calmed herself and sharpened herself to not fall for any schemes.
"Okay," she nodded.
*Click* The door opened, and the waiters brought the refreshments, and the aroma of the freshly prepared tea filled the room.
"Right on time," I said as the waiters placed the refreshments.
Elain was still glaring at me in suspicion from across the table.
The waiter poured the tea into white porcelain cups with exquisite patterns drawn on it. The waiter then bowed and left the room for us to converse in private.
I lifted the cup and took a sip. I have to say, it's really good.
"Why don't you drink? It's really good," I gestured to Elain.
Elain reluctantly lifted the cup and drank the tea, her eyes widening in surprise at the taste. She looked at the tea in surprise; she wasn't expecting it to taste this good.
"Good?" I smiled.
"It's really good," she replied.
For the next few minutes, we sat silently enjoying the tea as we looked at the bustling street outside.
*Clack* Elain placed her cup down, empty.
"Why don't you say it since we already had our tea," she said.
I placed my cup down and looked Elain in the eyes.
"Elain, I like you," I said straightforwardly.
Elain was taken aback by my straightforwardness, and she didn't know what to say.
"I like you, and I want to know more about you," I continued, "I want to spend my time getting to know you. I am saying this straight to you because I don't want to waste my time trying to impress you by showing something that I am not and waiting in agony, not knowing whether you like me or not. I don't want to take that chance. But I can assure you that you will love me as you spend your days with me."
I finished my statement, and the room fell into silence.
Elain lowered her head in contemplation; she didn't know what to say to the proposal. Choosing her words, she looked back at me resolutely.
"Sorry, I can't think about relationships now. I have a dream to achieve, and I can't get distracted," she replied.
I nodded my head in understanding, "I know that you are trying to revive your family by becoming a knight. I am not going to oppose it as it's your dream, and I am not asking you to accept me immediately. Take your time. When you feel like you can accept me, I will be there."
Elain remained silent.
After Zeru left with Elain, Luranta turned to Adam.
"Why don't we move to a private lounge?" She asked nervously.
"No need," Adam rejected.
"Okay then," Luranta fidgeted in nervousness.
She couldn't believe that Zeru brought Adam without informing her. She had not prepared anything. She didn't know what to say and what to do in nervousness.
'Luranta, you can do this,' Luranta encouraged herself and sat opposite Adam, who raised a brow.
"Hmm…Sir. Adam, I don't know if you remember me? But you helped me once, and I didn't get to thank you for that," Luranta's voice quivered, her hands clenched.
Seeing that Luranta was nervous, Adam spoke to calm her, "No need to call me sir, and I do remember you,"
"Really!" Luranta's face brightened in delight.
"Yes, I remember you bickering with John Miller," Adam replied.
"Oh," Luranta lowered her head in embarrassment.
"Would you like anything?" She changed the subject.
"No need," Adam refused, "I didn't come to enjoy my evening but to escort my classmate."
"Why?" Luranta asked, a bit angered in jealousy.
"I was worried for her safety," Adam replied.
He couldn't say that he came with her because he felt that Zeru had ulterior motives seeing that the girl in front of him was his friend.
"You mean that you felt that Zeru would do something to her?" Luranta said.
Zeru had said that Adam was suspecting him of ulterior motives.
Seeing that Luranta knew why he was here, he decided to say it straight.
"I don't like him," he said.
"I get it," Luranta agreed, "He is annoying, and he gets under your skin."
Luranta readily agreed, as that's how she felt Zeru was sometimes.
"But that doesn't mean he is a bad guy and he doesn't have any ulterior motives. He just… likes Elain."
Luranta tried to explain.
"Seeing that you are friends with him, I should have expected this," Adam said, not believing Luranta.
"Adam, how do you know that he has ulterior motives?" Seeing that Adam was not budging, she asked the reason.
"He stalked my classmate into the class. Then he came to look at the girls while they were resting after training, and today, I met him when he came from the female's washroom."
Adam spoke of his speculation.
"You can't say he is a bad person just because of that; you don't know him?" Luranta stated.
"Then how long have you known him?" Adam asked.
Luranta closed her mouth as she had only known Zeru for a day, and the information about him she got from the guild was fake. She had not known him for long.