I opened the door to the workshop, and I was the only one there. Since I told the others that I needed to do something.
I then cast a spell to summon Titan.
[Summon]
"Hey buddy, long time no see."
"Kau?"
"It's me, come on."
'I guess he felt left out, huh?' I have been practicing Star Impact for a few months now. So he might have been sad. 'Oh, would you look at that."
"So you're ranked two already."
"Kuuu."
"He smugly replied."
"Yeah, that's great."
I rub his head a little. Then I asked for what I needed.
"Hey buddy, I need some materials; do you have any?"
"Kuu, kuu."
He then happily replied that there were tons in the cave.
Hearing that, I cast the same spell again to let him gather it all.
And he then returned with a huge haul, and a deformed shell.
"Damn, how far can your shell stretch?"
That was a genuine question. After all, the proportion between the shell and his body is too great.
"Kruu!"
He growled as he proudly said it could stretch throughout the city.
Yeah, I'm skeptical. Still, I don't want to break his confidence, so let's just praise him.
That's great, buddy. Well, then, can you place them there?
I asked him where to place it.
Kuu.
'Sure thing,' he said. 'Man, when did he get a lot of vocabulary?'
"Eh? Or, more like, when did we understand each other?"
"Kuu? KuuuUU!"
He was also surprised.
Then we racked our brains together to answer the question.
But the answer was simply because he ranked up.
So yeah, we just dismissed all this.
And I got to continue my work.
~~~~~~~~~
Time passes, and summer is coming. A lot of students are already planning what to do that day.
And for me, a lot of stares came back again.
I had finished making that clothing last week, but I need to time it right so I can likely wear it today since tomorrow is the weekend.
Still there's a lot of stares that were judging me; after all, it has almost been two months since my birthday and I hadn't ranked up.
Althought, that wasn't out of the ordinary since some would need a year to rank up.
But seriously, I was shocked when I saw the materials Titan brought me.
I was so lost in thought when I had it that I made many things and had less time to create the clothes.
Which, for me, is actually worth it.
And as a bonus, I trained with Titan, as I executed Star Impact when I used him. And he was happy with the speed. Honestly, I was scared when he said, I can kill a lot with this.
Anyway, as the class ended, I started to leave until someone stopped me and told me to follow them.
And not wanting any trouble, I just complied with their request.
~~~~~~~~
"Don't you know you're really a pain to everyone in class."
"That's right, since last semester, you've been acting all cool and proud of yourself."
"We had been keeping ourselves calm."
"But now we won't hold back."
"Yeah, just because you defeated Richard with that one fluke, you think you're better than us."
"But now you don't even have a core yet, but you kept on acting so high and mighty."
"That's right, and we're sick of it."
"So right now, we will discipline you properly."
'Oh shoot, I got the feeling this would happen, but I guess this is how it should be. I guess let's wait for the judgment to pass.'
"Take this!" One of them yelled as he raised his arm.
"Stop!"
"What the heck are you doing?"
Suddenly, two voices resounded behind us. and although it is two voices, there are some similarities between them. and somehow they are familiar.
"Oh no."
"It's Lady Alissa."
"And Lady Alicia."
"This is bad."
"No, it's not. Let us explain ourselves first."
No wonder it was familiar; it was the merchant king's daughters.
"All of you should leave while I am still being kind."
"Lady Alissa, we are here to discipline this guy. Ever since the day you left, he has kept pushing his weight around. And even since you returned, he never even thought to apologize to you for hurting you."
'What? When that happened, I don't remember anything like that. Also, I can't apologize until the saints blood effect subsidies which in fact haven't even been subsidized till this day.'
"Is that so?"
"Yes."
"Yeah, that's right."
"True"
"Yeah, yeah, yeah."
'What the heck is with their affirmation and support for one another?'
Then again, if one were to watch the fight between her and BK before, yeah, that's understandable. She fought toe-to-toe during their exchange, and even though she lost, it was an epic fight just like you see in anime fights.
"Care to explain?"
"Of course. When you left, he gave you a gift of an apology. We knew something was wrong."
"Yes! And after you returned, he didn't say anything, so we know he did something bad and is trying to get away with it by not meeting you."
"Yeah-yeah! We are doing this so that he will learn his lesson."
Again with the fast-paced answer, dude drank a lot of coffee this morning.
"What!" A yell was then heard, but not from Lady Alissa but from her sister Alicia.
"What do you mean by that? He saved my life, and you're treating him like a bad guy? Who gave you the right to do that?!"
She raised her voice as the tone turned colder.
"Alicia?" Even her sister was surprised.
Maybe this is the first time she did this, huh?
"What's going on here?"
A teacher then came to us. And surprisingly enough, he was the same person who lectured me about my bad behavior at the cafeteria.
'Don't tell me they're at it again. I saw him constantly when I was getting harassed by my classmates and fellow students.'
So all of those could possibly be because he supports this action against me. 'But why?'
"Like I said, what are you doing here?"
"Oh, teach, we were just having a man-to-man conversation with this guy."
"Y-yeah."
"True, Lady Alissa and Lady Alicia just arrived and might have misunderstood something."
"I see. If that is so, then I guess you're done talking to him?
"Y- yes we're done."
"Yeah, we were about to leave."
"Leave then."
"Wait!"
"Hmm, what is it?"
"Aren't you being biased here?"
"I don't think I am. And you guys, I said leave."
"Yes sir." They then left quickly.
"Stop!" Lady Alicia yelled at them, but to no avail. "What do you think you're doing?"
Seeing as they were set free. She snapped at the teacher.
"Can't you see who's in the wrong here?"
"Wait, Alicia."
"Why?"
As her sister stopped her, she asked back. And then Lady Alissa whispers in her ears.
"Is what you said true?"
"Yes."
"I see."
"From the looks of it, you have nothing to say. I'll be leaving then. He then walked away."
As he left, the two came to me and asked how I was.
"Are you alright?"
"Yeah, thank you."
"But you should thank Alicia instead, for she is the reason we are here."
"Understood. Thank you, Lady Alicia. If there is anything you want, then feel free to call me when needed."
As I said, I noticed the sky getting darker.
"It's getting dark now, huh? I'm sorry for not being able to entertain you, but I need to get back now."
"It's okay; no problem at all."
"I see. Thank you again."
I left as I said good-bye.
~~~~~~~
After Dustin left, the two started talking.
"So you're saying that he saw everything but didn't act?"
"Yes, I don't know if it was planned, but I am pretty sure they are being protected by him."
"Now that's annoying, so he is getting bullied because of us."
"Eh, is that how it is?"
"You don't know?"
"I mean, that's hard to believe after all; he already apologized to me. So that previous offense should be forgotten already."
"But didn't you hear what they said?"
"But that's their opinion."
"How can you be so sure that others won't think the same? Why are you so clueless, even with all that smarts?"
"Hey! I don't want to hear that from you."
"What do you mean?!"
"It is exactly as I said."
""Hmph."" They argued, not knowing that they were both similarly oblivious to something that concerned them.
"Lady Alissa." "Lady Alicia."
As the two were still arguing with each other. Their maids finally found them.
"Why did you guys run off like that?"
"Yeah why?"
"We were being constantly pressured by a lot of students."
"They were relentlessly trying to talk to both of you."
"We almost ran out of excuses to reassure them."
"Really?"
"We're so sorry."
"Let's go back then."
"That's for the better."
They then left and returned to their dorm.