Lucia Everlast yawned, rubbing her eyes, dressed in her uniform on top and pajamas on the bottom. A pillow was wedged against her side.
"Hey, have you heard about this again?"
"What? Are you talking about the Dark Mage again?"
"Yeah, you know about it."
"Everyone's been talking about it lately. How do you not know? Just open your tablet, and it's all anyone talks about."
"Well, isn't it amazing? Honestly, it's already newsworthy that a Dark Mage appeared, but to think that Academy students caught him. Even though the assistant helped, it's still impressive."
Lucia walked towards the classroom and overheard a conversation between a few students. Without knowing who they were, she joined in on their conversation.
"Hey, our senior did it."
"Yes, what?"
"Lucia Everlast?"
Lucia's sudden appearance made the two Magic Department students stop and stare, unsure of what to do. However, Lucia continued walking as if nothing had happened.
Before leaving, she couldn't help but say something.
"Senior Adrias Cromwell from the Magic Department caught the Dark Mage."
Lucia's rare smile bloomed like cherry blossoms.
The students simply watched her with blank expressions.
It had been about five days since my return to the Academy.
During this time, I cooperated with the investigators and was called out even on weekends for questioning. As the incident involved the Dark Mage, it caused quite a stir within the Academy.
"Fortunately, my evaluation score is perfect."
Despite two missing team members, I still received a perfect score. It was all thanks to catching the Dark Mage.
Thunk.
As I entered the classroom, the students noticed my presence and couldn't take their eyes off me. And then, when I spoke, their murmuring abruptly stopped, and they couldn't look away.
"Well, if you have something to say, say it to my face."
Once I said those words, the students fell silent and averted their gaze.
"Senior."
However, only Lucia continued to look at me, lying with her head propped up on a pillow.
She lightly tapped her side with her palm as if signaling me to sit down.
I couldn't ignore that...
So I ended up approaching her and taking a seat, despite feeling drowsy.
Lucia, with her sleepy eyes, gave me a mischievous smile.
"Senior, you did it again, didn't you?"
"I had to. It was a matter of life or death."
"But you managed to survive in the end, and you caught the Dark Mage. I heard the Imperial Investigative Unit will give you a commendation."
"That's true."
"I heard they're also offering a reward. Senior, could you buy me a meal?"
Huh, shameless.
She must have gotten wind of the substantial reward and wanted to take my money. But considering the size of the reward, I decided to let it slide. It was just one meal, after all.
"Fine, I lost. But I won't go to that place we went last time."
"Hehe, understood. When are we going? Today?"
"Well, the reward hasn't been..."
Before I finished my sentence, Professor Bevann entered the room.
I focused on the lecture, telling Lucia that we would talk after class.
After the lecture ended, instead of having a conversation, Lucia shared the events of the day with me. And once the lecture was over, she followed me closely.
Since when had someone followed me even after the lecture was over? I asked her why.
"Don't you have something else to do?"
"Why?"
"Why? Because you're following me."
"Um... Today, I don't have anything else to do."
Lucia's response made me realize that we were in for another potion-making session. I still had to hide the fact that I had created a new potion, so we ended up going to the student cafeteria to have a meal.
"Where are we going?"
"To have a meal."
"Let's go together!"
It was a bit early for dinner, but I planned to eat quickly, digest the food, and then exercise. After gaining new talents through this incident, I felt more comfortable handling my body, making each day enjoyable.
As we entered the student cafeteria, I felt the same stares as I did in the classroom.
"Oh, Senior, you're popular."
"Yeah, seems like it. I'm quite popular. Good, I like it."
I muttered soullessly, which made Lucia burst into laughter.
In this tiresome situation, I ordered cheese fondue and marinated pork ribs.
"Is it delicious?"
"Well, I like it."
"Then I'll have it too."
We received our food and found a random spot to sit and eat. Among the uncomfortable gazes, I quietly started my meal.
"Senior, how do you eat this?"
Lucia, who had been sitting still despite the food in front of her, suddenly asked me.
Was she raised in an isolated environment? Did she not know how to eat pork ribs with cheese? She surprised me.
"You dip the meat in the cheese and eat it."
"Ah, so this is how you eat it."
"Is this your first time?"
"I usually order the daily menu through room service. It's too much trouble."
Right. Why would you eat in the student cafeteria?
Still, despite feeling slightly uncomfortable eating with someone, it wasn't entirely unpleasant. If anything, I thought occasionally having a meal and chatting with these people wouldn't be so bad.
"Did you feel lonely?"
Now that I thought about it, in my past life as well as this one, I always focused on the future, running forward. Sometimes, about once a month, I would think that it wouldn't be so bad to have meals and chat with people who had become close to me.
"Well, besides Lucia, there's no one else."
Who could have imagined getting close to a playable character who might kill me?
Watching Lucia dip the pork ribs in cheese and eat them was refreshing. It was amusing to see her sleepy eyes which were always half-closed suddenly light up.
"It's delicious."
"Really? Eat as much as you want."
"I feel like I'll gain weight from this. That's why you exercise, right, Senior?"
"That's right."
I brushed off Lucia's nonsense and finished my meal.
Swish.
"Hmm?"
As I was devouring the ribs, I felt someone sitting down beside me. Lucia also looked at the person next to me with a face full of question marks.
"Who...?"
Lucia asked, and I barely managed to swallow the meat before answering.
"Vivian?"
Sitting casually next to me, with green hair, was none other than Vivian.
She silently sat down next to me, and I wondered what brought her from the Knight Department to this place.
I wondered if she had come because of something related to the Bororic incident, so I asked her, and she turned her head to look at me and just stared silently.
What's with her? It's creepy just staring without saying anything.
"Just because."
That was all she said.
She turned her gaze forward again and sat silently.
From this side, she looks perfectly fine.
If someone who didn't know her saw her, they would probably just see her beautiful features that complemented her green hair.
Even objectively, she was a beautiful woman with a pure appearance.
She's driving me crazy.
"Who are you?"
"I'm Vivian Velocan, a member of the Knight Department and a third-year student..."
Why did she come?
Vivian seemed unwilling to speak.
"You're an interesting senior. Just like Adrius."
"What's so interesting about me?"
While answering, I subtly observed Vivian's reaction.
Is it because of what happened in the barrier?
Did she perhaps realize that I was a fairy?
But I couldn't bring myself to mention it first.
If I were to mention fairies, it would be like admitting that I was one.
After an uncomfortable meal, Lucía and Vivian followed me back to the dormitory.
"Hey, ladies? I'm going back to the dormitory now. Shouldn't each of you go your own way?"
"I'll accompany you, Senior."
"Me too."
What's going on here?
This is a headache.
"Hehe. You rascal! There must be a reason for making such a potion."
Suddenly, a voice from a third person startled the three of us, and we looked around.
"Here."
The voice came from the top of a tree.
Bahat was standing there, dressed in a white suit.
"Master Toph? What are you doing up there?"
I asked with disbelief.
Bahat quickly descended from the tree as if sticking out his tongue.
"You're quite clever. Adrius Cromwell. Playing with two women at the same time."
"Haha. Well, yeah. But why are you dressed like that...?"
Bahat's mouth looked as if it had been sewn shut.
It didn't look good.
I wondered why he was acting like this now.
"I'm in training."
"Yes, I see."
I didn't want to get too involved, so I just brushed it off.
But Bahat seemed to have no intention of letting it go.
"Aren't you curious?"
"Isn't it similar to the training when you covered your eyes last time?"
In the end, I followed his lead and clapped my hands.
"That's right! A magician must be careful with his words. So I was performing an incantation."
Your Excellency, you're speaking just fine now.
I didn't want things to get complicated, so I decided not to tackle him.
"You said you captured the Dark Mage this time?"
"Yes. I caught him with the students here. We were lucky."
He glanced at Vivian, whom I pointed out, then looked back at me as if he wasn't interested.
"Did that brat have any artifacts with him?"
I calmly regained my composure at the sudden question.
Did he notice?
Honestly, I couldn't be sure if there were any traces of negligence at the scene.
For now, I shook my head.
"He was wearing a mask, but I don't know anything else."
"Hmm. Is that so?"
His sharp gaze passed over me.
But that was only for a moment, and Bahat laughed lightly and patted my head.
"You can't be such a big shot. Forget about it. By the way, are you preparing for the bet?"
"Yes. I've been researching in the lab every day."
"I won't cut you any slack just because you caught the Dark Mage. You need to be prepared before the end of the year."
With that, Bahat disappeared as suddenly as he appeared.
I had been most concerned about Natae's Page recently, and thanks to Bahat, I became more alert.
"Do you think I'll become as strange as Master Toph if I become a Grand Mage?"
"You're already strange enough, so don't worry unnecessarily."
I looked at Lucia, who puffed up her cheeks in response to my comment and thought about how cute it was that someone could actually puff up their cheeks.
That's how we arrived at the dormitory where I was staying, and we exchanged goodbyes.
Vivian didn't say a word and just kept looking at me occasionally, and I didn't know what she was thinking.
Rather, her actions made me feel uncomfortable for no reason, but I couldn't bring myself to chase her away, as I remembered the young Vivian I saw in the barrier and my heart weakened.
When I returned to my room, I felt the need to get rid of Natae's Page sooner rather than later.
"No matter how I think about it, what I have is dangerous."
If I had the freedom and skills to not be bound anywhere...
If I had been recognized as the master by the item...
No, even if I thought that way, the artifacts related to sin were too dangerous.
"It's troublesome."
I couldn't summon the Nickel since I was holding it.
Thanks to that, I couldn't even receive swordsmanship training for five days.
If I summoned it, Natae's Page would also appear, and in that case, the Dark Mages in the Academy would definitely notice.
"Perhaps Bahat can also notice."
If he's such a capable magician, he should be able to sense it even if I'm not a Dark Mage.
In the end, after much consideration, I came up with one possible way to utilize it.
If things go well, I might be able to improve my dark magic skills.
"Assuming things go well."
It would be best to execute the plan around Friday, the day before the weekend.
"There are too many variables, but I can't help it."
I've always been the one being used, so isn't it about time I started using others?
I was curious about how the face of that extraordinary master would change.