"Can you stand up?" Jake offered his hand.
Viola accepted his hand and stood up while holding her stomach. Jake wasn't a dense person. He knew her stomach was aching after enduring all the punches by those bullies. He pitied her and asked if she needed his help. "Do you want me to carry you to the infirmary?"
Viola blushed when she heard that and nodded weakly. She gulped when Jake brought himself closer to her. She paid attention to his arms that were moving to wrap her body, but before Jake could carry her, a booming sound dropped close to them, averting their attention.
Marilyn had just jumped from above, but she landed safely on her feet. She immediately approached Viola and said in her fake innocent tone, "Viola, I am glad you are okay."
"Her highness? Have you seen it all? I am sorry for making you see the ugly sight of me, Viola said sincerely. Even though she was the one who had been bullied, she wasn't playing the victim.
"You haven't done anything wrong. It was all their fault... And my fault for being an incompetent class president," Marilyn said, her tone changed to normal. "From now on, I won't let injustice against fellow classmates. I promise you."
Hearing Marilyn's serious tone, Viola sobbed and fell on her knees. "T-thank you. I thought I had to endure the bullying for a long time," she said, expressing her gratitude while wiping her tears.
Marilyn hugged her while secretly opening her blindfold. In each of her golden eyes, runic letters formed a Mobius strip. Each of the letters moved simultaneously in one direction, making the Mobius strip look alive.
Her golden eyes suddenly glittered, and Viola's body emanated a golden light. In this light, all her bruises and scars gradually disappeared. However, the latter hadn't noticed it because she was still crying.
Marilyn caressed the back of her head and said, "I have healed you. You want to be strong, right? If you do, you have to attend the next class."
Viola slowly pulled herself from Marilyn and nodded at her. "I will become strong for myself and the people I care about."
Marilyn smiled. "You can do it. I will be cheering at you."
After hearing encouragement from the princess, Viola expressed her gratitude at her once. After that, she walked toward Jake and bowed twice. Then, she raised her body and looked at him with an embarrassed expression. "I—you are the first person to help me. I don't have anything, but if you want, I—I can give you myself," she said bashfully. Before Jake could react to her words, she already ran away.
"This is why I don't want you to handle this matter. You always made a girl fall for you," Marilyn said flatly as she wore her blindfold again.
Jake laughed awkwardly. To be honest, he was aware of the consequences of his actions, and he didn't hate when a girl fell for him. However, he felt bad for those girls because they would never have a chance. Besides, he always helped someone if he was capable of doing it. It wasn't like he specifically did it to make girls fall for him. Even if an old man faced difficulty in front of his eyes, he would help him with all his capabilities. That was the sort of person Jake was.
"Well, I just don't want you to do an act of violence in front of my eyes."
"Hehe, will you hate me if I become a violent monster?"
"Hah! I won't let you become one. Easy feat for me. I am still stronger than you."
Marilyn pouted. "Hmph, how will you do it if you aren't always with me?"
"What? Do you commit crime if I don't pay attention to you or something?"
"Of course, not. Idiot!" Marilyn turned around and hid her blushing face. "I just want you to pay attention to me more," she muttered in a low voice so that he wouldn't hear it.
Jake heard her thanks to his enhanced stats. He turned around and hid his blushing face too. Lately, he found her to be cute. He was aware of this infatuation with the opposite sex, but he didn't have much experience with girls, so he didn't know how to handle this feeling.
'Uh, I need to sort these feelings out as soon as possible,' Jake thought. He couldn't help but look forward to the date with her on the weekend. If his feelings for her didn't change until that, he would admit he saw her that way.
Jake coughed. "Let's go. We are going to be late."
"Ah, you are right! The class will start in three minutes! Let's hurry!" Marilyn exclaimed as she pulled Jake's hand and pointed at the wall.
Jake knew what she was planning, and he acted based on her idea. He carried Marilyn and used [Attraction Force] to walk on the wall.
While he did that, he became conscious of something. Marilyn's body was light, and he felt comfortable to carry her like this. However, he didn't take advantage of this situation. As soon as he arrived inside the building, he immediately let her go. The usual Marilyn would tease him to carry her until the classroom, but for some reason she didn't complain. Then, they walked together to the classroom in silence.
---
Unlike the other subjects, the magic research class only had a few students. Inside the room, there were only 7 people from class A and 3 people from class B. It wasn't because only a few people were interested in this class. In fact, it was otherwise. Many people wanted to learn magic, but they didn't have the qualifications to attend the class.
To attend this class, the students needed a minimum B grade in intelligence and wisdom. The reason was memorizing magic incantations burdened someone's brain. If they didn't have sufficient intelligence and wisdom, the magic users would fry their brains due to overheating, and they would die.
Jake had S-grade in these two stats, so he naturally would learn magic. In fact, he looked forward to it. Usually, he would sleep before the teacher arrived, but at the moment, he stayed awake like a child who was waiting for the vacation trip at night.
"The teacher is sure late," Brian Foreman said. He was one of the people from class A who had the qualifications to learn magic, and he was sitting beside Jake.
Aside from him, there was Anastasia Remington, Devina Foster, Dylan Foster, Misael Grimes, and Reina Rowe from class A. Misael was sitting alone behind Jake, while Reina and Anastasia were sitting in front of him. Meanwhile, the Foster twins were sitting far from class A and B, as if they didn't want to socialize with anyone. Or rather, Devina occasionally stole a glance at her friends. Maybe she wanted to join, but she wanted to accompany her antisocial brother?
This class was huge despite the few students that attended this class, and the seatings were made in rows on a sloped tier, creating a distance between Jake and Foster siblings who were sitting far in the back. As for Marilyn, she and her other two classmates were sitting together on the first row.
Jake smiled as he looked at her. She told him she wanted to reveal her true personality to her classmates, and he was proud of her.
The reason she liked to hide her true personality was because some people would approach her with hidden intentions because of her status as a princess. As someone who liked to take advantage of everything he owned, Jake had convinced her it wasn't really a bad thing. If someone wanted something from another one, the other person could take something from them. It was a fair trade.
Of course, Marilyn used to dislike the idea. She wanted people to have pure intentions. It was childish thinking, but Jake never looked down on her ideal of life. Countless minds existed in the world, and he wasn't arrogant enough to think his ideals were the most perfect. Though, it seemed Marilyn was gradually changing. She slowly opened her way of thinking and accepted people as long as they didn't directly cause harm.
Maybe it was a sense of duty as the future ruler of the empire? Jake didn't know. He was happy to see her development.
As he thought of that, the teacher of the magic class entered the room. The man had long black hair tied in a ponytail. As he saw the students, he put on a cheerful expression. The man was class A's homeroom teacher, Mr. Fang Whitehound.
"Hello again, my dear students. Are you surprised to see me again? Well, aside from becoming class A's homeroom teacher, I am admitted as the elite class's magic teacher."
Some people in this room would have complained about having a new teacher without teaching experiences as a magic teacher if they didn't know Mr. Whitehound, but the flamboyant teacher had proved his teaching capabilities, and he had gotten the trust of every elite student.
"Now I assume you are eager to get stronger as soon as possible. I understand. That's why I won't bore you with theory lectures that you can learn by yourself. Shall we discuss how to master your first spell efficiently and quickly?"
All the students immediately agreed with Mr. Whitehound's statement. His flexibility was one of the reasons he was liked by the students. If it was any other teacher, they wouldn't be as flexible as him.
"Alright. I will give you a pro tip to choose a spell as a senior wizard. The tip is all rank 0 spells are fairly equal. Just choose what you think is cool and learn it."
Jake agreed with Mr. Whitehound's statement. Having [Akashic Eyes], he had access to all abilities in this universe. The reason he didn't choose one yet was because they were fairly equal. Of course, he had some doubts, so he wanted to hear a senior wizard's opinion first.
'Hm, I have confirmed my doubt, so I guess I don't need this class anymore. No, I will stay for the opportunity of acquiring legacy potions. Besides, even if I have access to all abilities in this universe, maybe I still need advice,' Jake thought.
As Jake fell into his thoughts, Fang Whitehound put a few thick spell books on the table. "All rank 0 spells are fairly equal, but they are more expensive than martial art books. However, the academy provides you an opportunity to learn these rank 0 spells for free. There is an attack spell and defensive spell. There are also a few support type spells. You can learn all these spells for free, but for now, you have to choose one. Let's start with Mr. Butler. You can come here and choose your spell book."
Jake nodded and walked toward the podium. As he stood before the table, he read the titles of the spell books.
'[Mana Bullet], [Mana Shield], [Enhanced Focus], [Gain Clarity]....' As Jake thought, many rank 0 spells were arcane magic. He made the right choice to train his resistance against arcane magic.
"Do you want my advice on what to choose, Mr. Butler?" Fang asked.
"Not really. I already know what I want to learn," Jake said coolly as he left the podium without choosing any spell books.
"You haven't chosen anything, though?" Fang asked in a confused tone.
"I can learn all the spells in this universe. I don't need a copy of that book," Jake said as he walked toward his seat without turning back.
"Wait, Mr. Butler. I have a proposal," Fang suddenly called. As Jake turned around and looked at him with a curious gaze, he continued, "I said rank 0 spells are fairly equal, but some spells are cooler than the others. Why don't you use your ability and give your classmates a chance to learn a distinct rank 0 spell?"