-Asher Frostblade's point of view.
Asher stared at Gloriana unblinkingly for a few minutes.
In fact, it felt quite long, like hours on end watching Gloriana asleep.
Truth be told, she was sitting up as she had her head buried in the white quilt that Asher had covered the rest of her body with, except from her abdomen to her head.
As Gloriana held Asher's hand, he simply wondered only one thing:
"Why was she left here alone?"
I mean, Asher really was very pleased that she cared about him, however, he didn't think it was that big of a deal, to the point of staying there even at that time of night.
In fact, it was almost 9 p.m. and she was sound asleep. During all this time, no one had come to the medical section to check on her.
Not even a doctor.
It was just the two of them.
As much as Asher wanted to go back to her room to start getting her energy back, he couldn't just leave.
"What if I took her back to my quarters?"
After all, every cadet has a key to their room. Glancing at Gloriana, Asher didn't know if she brought her keys. Being in the medical section is not a good place to stay overnight, let alone when she's sitting up and he's lying on a bed that is, in fact, very hard.
"Haa..."
Asher sighed bitterly and then got out of bed.
But...
"Mmm."
"Why... won't you let go of me?"
Gloriana's grip was very strong, not just strong, it was quite strong.
"What if...?"
An idea popped into Asher's mind.
First of all, he needed to regain energy and improve his current state in a few hours. Secondly, he couldn't take Gloriana to his room because he didn't have the keys, and lastly, the only solution was to take her to his own room.
After all, Asher wasn't planning to sleep, so he wouldn't use her bed. Instead, he would leave Gloriana sleeping in his bed while he recovered as much as possible.
"Tomorrow will be the mental evaluation."
Certainly, this evaluation would be too hard.
Although Asher was aware of how or what they would do in the last evaluation, it was very difficult to know tomorrow's outcome.
With those thoughts, Asher lifted Gloriana with both hands as she continued to grip his hand tightly. He lifted her from her legs and gently held her back as her head rested on his chest.
With that, Asher walked out of the medical section.
***
-Change of scene.
After reaching his room and laying Gloriana on his bed, Asher looked at her for a few seconds, then looked at the circle on the floor of his room and sat down adopting a meditative posture.
However...
"Why am I not concentrating?.... This is strange."
More than anything, he felt strange.
In particular, he couldn't concentrate like he used to.
However, he needed to recover quickly for tomorrow.
Asher stood up and looked out onto the balcony.
Tap.
He walked to the balcony and stepped outside.
"Shit."
He cursed silently as he rested both hands on the balcony railing. His gaze was fixed on the lower part of the building and then....
"Those two cadets again."
Again, he saw the two usual cadets, the same ones who used to walk around every night at that hour.
"They're slackers."
Instead of being in training, they're wasting their time on nightly walks.
Although Asher wasn't training with his magic at the moment, he did train his mind as much as possible, dipping inside his consciousness and practicing there.
Of course, this didn't help that much, however, it was like gaining combat experience.
Still, watching those two cadets simply seemed like a lazy thing to do.
"I should scare them."
It was a thought.
Asher reached out slowly, but stopped when he saw a scene that made his eyes widen.
"Uh... Those two."
Both cadets...they were kissing.
Asher looked at the two cadets in disbelief.
"So... Is that love? Boyfriends or what was it like?"
"I think Oriana said boyfriends... but I don't remember what it meant."
Asher rubbed the top of his nose, squinting as he thought for a moment.
Then he remembered.
After so many accumulated memories, he finally found it.
"So that's what being boyfriend and girlfriend is? Why had I forgotten?"
He asked himself, knowing that it was really rare for him to forget something, but somehow he had forgotten.
Asher turned his head and looked at the inside of his room, then his bed.
Gloriana was lying there, but he turned his eyes back to the two cadets sitting on the bench next to a headlamp.
"Haa..."
He sighed heavily, then remembered something else.
"I came close to using magic."
If he had, he would have broken one of the most important rules: "Cadets are forbidden to use magic outside and inside the academy; it's only allowed in the combat or training section."
He was about to break an important rule of the academy.
Asher thought about what the punishment would be, but stopped thinking about it and looked at the two cadets.
At that instant...
Knock, knock.
The door resounded with a soft knock. Asher quickly went to the door and opened it.
However, the only person he found in front of him was....
"Julian, what are you doing here?"
"Oh, well, I went to the medical section but you weren't there, and I thought..."
His eyes drifted in a specific direction, and his gaze rolled as he saw a person he knew very well on the bed, right in the middle of Asher's room.
"Y-You... What is she doing here?"
"..."
Asher looked at Julian in confusion, unable to say a word.
"What do you mean?"
"W-what is Gloriana doing in your bed?"
Asher turned his head toward Gloriana, who was sleeping peacefully in his bed.
"Oh, well, I was going to take her to her room, but I didn't have her keys, so I brought her here."
"I see... Wait a minute, men aren't supposed to bring women to their rooms just like that. What do you think she'll think when she wakes up?"
"..."
Asher scratched his head, his expression thoughtful.
What exactly will Gloriana think when she wakes up and finds herself lying in his bed?
Perhaps she would thank him for not leaving her alone.
Asher didn't think too much about that, however, and Julian spoke up.
"Forget it, you're not a pervert.... Are you?"
"No."
Asher said it instantly, showing no emotion on his face, looking at Julian with a frown.
Asher didn't really like the idea of bringing Gloriana to his room either, but he was in a hurry and couldn't think of anywhere else to take her.
So the only option was to bring her to his room.
Asher looked at Julian and motioned for him to come in.
Julian entered and sat in Asher's desk chair, facing the circle in the center of the room.
Like the other dorms, Asher's had that circle in the center.
After all, it was for training with magic.
"You're neat."
"I've been told that many times."
"It's my first time in your room. I've been to others', but yours is different in comparison."
Julian showed an expression as if he was afraid to go back into Grey's and Freddy's rooms.
It was really hard to describe how Grey and Freddy's rooms were arranged.
However, Asher didn't think much of it.
"So, why did you come?"
"Ah, actually, I was looking for you to see how you were doing, but you seem to be more than fine."
"Oh, thank you for your concern."
"I was also looking for you for another purpose."
Asher looked at Julian curiously.
"In fact, I'd like to train with you starting tomorrow, if possible."
"That's it?"
"..."
"Well, yes."
"All right."
"..."
With nothing more to say, Julian simply looked at Asher, unable to utter a single word.
He was sure that the strongest cadet of the first year wouldn't have even a small space to train with him, but Asher accepted it right away.
That was really surprising.
Still, Julian looked at Asher in disbelief.
"Mmm."
"..."
"..."
They both turned their heads at the same time after hearing a small noise coming from Gloriana.
They stared at each other, but....
"So, why do you want to train with me?"
"To become stronger."
They both simply didn't pay attention to the small noise Gloriana made.
***
-Scene change.
-Julian Reinhard's point of view.
At first, Julian was very surprised to see Gloriana in Asher's bed.
His thoughts had been all a flutter; however, after Asher's little explanation, he understood instantly, let it go, and paid no further attention to it.
One of his first thoughts was something like:
"No way, Asher, are you already making such a big leap as to bring Gloriana into your room?"
It was those thoughts, but he soon erased them from his mind.
Her secondary purpose was to have the opportunity to train with Asher.
Although he was surprised at first because Asher accepted it instantly, other than that, he was still thinking about several things.
"What kind of training does Asher do?"
"I will become stronger if I train with him, right?"
Although he had a lot of thoughts, he tried to calm down.
To tell the truth, he originally wanted to look for a way to receive training from Teacher Oriana.
However, he refrained from doing so.
But that didn't mean he didn't want to know how Asher's training with Oriana went.
"Asher, I was wondering how your training with Oriana went."
"Terrible...and I'll never do it again.... Never, I don't want to get beat up every day."
"..."
Julian couldn't say anything.
He thought he would respond casually as usual, but his mood... suddenly changed to a somber one as he looked down at his hands.
Although Julian had heard rumors of the training Princess Oriana gave the knights, he never thought she would actually torture them so much during training.
Just imagining what training with her would be like sent a shiver down his spine as his skin bristled with nerves.
Speechless.
That was it.
"I take it you didn't like it."
"No."
Somehow, though, Asher had that great physical strength.
After watching his sparring with Professor Oriana, Julian noticed that Asher's physical strength was at a sky-high level.
Which meant that the training Oriana offered yielded incredible results, no matter how or how hard they were.
Of one thing he was sure:
"If you're trained by her, you'll get an incredible result."
Of course, in exchange for enduring hell during the training.
"Hehe."
"..."
"..."
Again, the two looked in a certain direction.
"What will Gloriana be dreaming about?" wondered Julian.
From time to time, she made strange noises, as if she were in some enchanting dream.
However, they could not know what fantasy Gloriana was having in her dreams.
In fact, knowing what someone is dreaming is really impossible.
Whatever Gloriana was dreaming, however, caused her to let out giggles or sometimes utter words in the form of a whisper. It was just hard to tell.
Although Julian wondered about it several times, it was also the question Asher had in his head.
But.
"Asher is mine."
"..."
Julian stared in surprise at the three simple words that came out of Gloriana's mouth as she slept soundly.
"She... said Asher is hers."
Julian looked at Asher.
However, a smile appeared on his face as he watched Asher, who at that moment was simply confused, not knowing what he was referring to....