Chapter – 15
Even at the bright greeting, Mikhail didn’t answer right away. He stared at Lloyd before tossing out a comment in an indifferent tone.
“You look brighter than a few days ago.”
“Oh, not bad. You’ve got a good eye.”
Lloyd beamed and settled into the chair, then rattled off his story like a fish in water.
“Actually, I used the wind mushroom potion you told me about to teach a lesson to some guy who was bullying the neighborhood kids. He was such an eyesore.”
“Good for you.”
“Good for… ahem, right? He was some guy loitering around the residential area, and he was crying and making a fuss about losing his mana. He looked so pitiful I felt a bit sorry for him later.”
Lloyd, who’d been joking around, soon looked at the textbook in front of Mikhail. His sky-blue eyes widened.
“Speaking of which, you brought your book today? Until last year, you’d come empty-handed and just sit there before leaving.”
“I might get cut if I get failing grades this semester too.”
“Oh yeah? You’re trying to do it properly this time?”
“No, I’m just going to scrape by.”
He answered listlessly, but it was sincere. He had no dreams of being first or second place, of course. He had no intention of getting close to the front lines either.
Lloyd made a questioning sound when Mikhail looked straight at him and said.
“Speaking of which, about the grade-wide meeting this afternoon.”
Lloyd immediately dropped his playful eye-smile.
“Oh, right. The meeting’s today. But why?”
“I wanted to ask you a favor about that. Could you tell them I’ll be attending the meeting this afternoon too?”
“āWait, what? You’re coming to the meeting? You?”
A question that clearly revealed his surprise.
As expected, academic activities seemed to have been of no interest to the original Mikhail. Mikhail replied deliberately calmly.
“Yeah, we’re deciding practice departments at today’s meeting.”
“……”
“So I need to participate. There’s nothing more boring than being arbitrarily assigned to some department that just flips through books.”
“Well, that’s true.”
Lloyd let out a breath and smiled slightly.
By the time the smile faded, he nodded readily.
“Got it. I’ll tell the kids preparing for the meeting.”
Mikhail nodded back at Lloyd and then shifted his gaze forward.
Clatter.
Along with the sound of the door opening, a professor stepped up onto the podium. Class soon began.
Two hours had passed since then.
“Pick up this semester’s syllabus from the teaching assistant. That’s all for today’s class.”
The battle with printed material that started on the first day of the semester ended with the professor’s dismissal.
The sound of textbooks closing and chalk being set down followed.
The students took their syllabuses one by one and rushed out of the classroom.
Mikhail also came out mixed in with the crowd.
‘Lloyd will somehow persuade them about my attendance at the meeting. …So now I should head to the outskirts training ground.’
The academy outskirts training ground was the most basic of basics.
It was a place for students who struggled even with that.
“……”
Mikhail walked along the path leading outside the lecture building.
Inside his slung bag were the things he’d received as compensation for suppressing the armory commotion.
The mithril sword and two sheets of paper with alchemy formulas drawn on them.
Items that would soon become a mana enhancement skill.
‘Right now I should be able to use that special function.’
Mikhail raised the corner of his mouth slightly.
In the game’s early progression, a growth assistance function that could only be activated by characters with particularly low stats.
He planned to use that function before the meeting started.
At that same time.
Inside the student council room decorated with European-style furniture.
Everyone was busy with their own tasks. Lloyd Cloelle flung open the door and entered the room.
“Hey, Albin!”
Where Lloyd’s gaze landed as soon as he stepped in was the gray-haired boy sitting at the office desk, Albin.
Lloyd strode toward Albin who was looking at him.
“Just add one more seat for the meeting. That’s okay, right?”
“Yeah, that’s not difficult… but who else is coming?”
At Albin’s question, Lloyd readily answered.
“Mikhail.”
“What?”
Albin blinked with a shocked face and asked carefully.
“Did Mikhail really say he’s coming?”
“Yeah. Why?”
“Well, Mikhail is….”
Albin hesitated while looking back and forth between Lloyd’s face and the floor, but soon seemed to make up his mind and spilled it.
“Won’t he be leaving school before long? Coming to the meeting might not mean much….”
“Ah, that~.”
Lloyd responded as if it was no big deal.
But he tilted his head as if thinking for a moment, touched his chin and let out a thoughtful sound. Then….
“You don’t need to worry about it.”
“Huh?”
“Just, there’s no need to consider things that haven’t happened yet. …Whatever the case, as long as there’s been no official announcement, he’s still a fellow student.”
“Well, that’s true but….”
Albin was nodding and trailing off when it happened.
A silver-haired girl who’d approached nearby, Hailey, crossed her arms and added a comment.
“But what wind got into that selfish young master? He hasn’t shown his face at any events or schedules until now.”
Lloyd looked at Hailey and shrugged his shoulders.
“New year, new semester. It’s the perfect time to make new resolutions, right? So let’s not be too stiff about it. We’re classmates.”
“Classmates! What a horrible thing to say!”
What suddenly butted in was a red-haired boy, Dian.
Dian jumped up from the sofa and approached while grumbling.
“No way! Tell him there’s no seat! Even if he comes, he’ll just nitpick and cause a commotion anyway. Right, Ethan?”
When Dian called out Ethan’s name emphatically as if seeking agreement, everyone including Lloyd turned their heads toward the window.
“……”
Ethan, receiving all the gazes, had no particular reaction.
He only flinched the moment Dian called his name, then wiped the dust from his sword with his usual expressionless face.
Squeak, squeak.
“…Anyway, it’s tedious how he wipes it every time I see him. Anyone would think there’s gold inside or something.”
As silence continued following Hailey’s muttering….
“Hmph, see? Just like I said.”
Dian was the first to speak.
Dian crossed his arms and let out a blatant snort.
“Look at Ethan’s expression. His mouth’s shut tight and he’s giving off such disapproving vibes! That says it all. Even if we call that scoundrel, it’ll just be uncomfortable…!”
“Prepare it. A seat.”
“There won’t be a separate… ehhhhh?”
Starting with Dian’s questioning sound, Albin and Hailey also looked at Ethan with wide eyes.
Among the second years, it was safe to say there was no one who viewed Mikhail favorably.
But if you had to pick the worst bad blood among them, it was undoubtedly Ethan.
Hadn’t he even bled recently from Mikhail’s misconduct?
…And yet.
“Let’s see how far this goes.”
Ethan muttered while narrowing his eyes.
“…What’s he saying right now?”
It was a murmur whose meaning no one in the room could understand.
As everyone exchanged bewildered looks, Dian gaped and approached Ethan.
“Wh-wha-what… prepare a seat? Are you serious…?”
But Dian had to stop before getting far.
Tap.
“That’s what he says.”
Lloyd had placed his arm on Dian’s shoulder to stop his steps. Lloyd smiled broadly at Ethan.
“As expected of Ethan! Your magnanimity and mindset are differentāyou’re not an honor student for nothing.”
“……”
“So everyone, could you please add one more seat? That’s okay, right?”
Albin and Hailey nodded without objection.
“Sure.”
“Whatever.”
However, Dian alone was different.
He began to fluster even more at the unexpected situation.
“N-no. No. I haven’t said anything yet! You guys….”
“Don’t tell me, Dian. Are you still being stubborn?”
It was Lloyd who cut off his words. Lloyd put strength into the arm draped over Dian’s shoulder and brought his head close.
“Oh no, that won’t do. For someone who wants to become the best mercenary captain to be so narrow-minded.”
“Hey, Lloyd… no, Young Duke! I’m not narrow-minded, this situation is really strange….”
“Huh? Look at you buttering up by calling me Young Duke now that it’s unfavorable? That doesn’t work on me. Doesn’t work. …By the way, come here for a second.”
With those words, Lloyd dragged Dian to a corner. Murmuring conversation went back and forth several times.
“āAh, fine! I got it!”
Dian eventually reluctantly expressed his consent and was released from Lloyd.
After that, he looked completely sullen.
Albin shook his head and Hailey put her hand on her hip and giggled.
Clatter.
That’s when it happened. Ethan put away the sword he’d been wiping and stood up, then moved across the room toward the door.
Everyone’s gazes focused on Ethan.
“Ethan, where are you going?”
“To train.”
“It’s still daytime? You usually do it when there’s no people around.”
When Hailey asked back with a tilted head, Ethan placed his hand on the doorknob and answered calmly.
“There’s the meeting too. I think I’ll have a lot to think about at night.”
Clack.
Ethan answered that way and left the room.
By the time the regular footsteps gradually faded and couldn’t be heard anymore….
Everyone who’d been staring at the door muttered one by one.
“I wonder if there’s even a training room open now… no, more than that, didn’t he finish wiping his sword? He usually clings to it for an hour.”
“Oh…has he finally escaped the sword’s domination? He’s not going to get drunk on blood and rampage in the lead, is he?”
“Stop reading ridiculous books and study.”
“…What, you wanna fight?”
From Hailey to Dian, through Albin and back to Dian again.
Noisy conversation was mixing toward each other when it happened.
“Hmm.”
Lloyd, who’d been staring at the door, raised the corner of his mouth.
For a moment, a peculiar light appeared in his interested eyes.
“……”
But only briefly.
Lloyd soon withdrew his gaze and clapped his hands together. He opened his mouth in a cheerful tone toward everyone.
“Well, he must have his reasons, right? He’s an honor student after all. …Anyway, let’s just prepare for the meeting.”
Afternoon when the sun had tilted to the right.
An old training ground on the academy’s outskirts.
“Just hide in the tree next to me. Then if you sense anyone nearby, send me a signal.”
“Karung.”
The sky foxes moved according to Mikhail’s instructions.
Rustle.
Mikhail looked at the pair of tails being buried in the lush leaves, then turned his head toward the training dummy standing in front.
“……”
A disorganized training ground.
Old-fashioned training dummies lined up on it.
Among them, if you had to pick the most shabby and worn one, it would be the training dummy in front of Mikhail.
‘In other words, it also means it’s the item that’s passed through the most failing students’ hands.’
Mikhail scanned the training dummy whose body was worn out in places, then rummaged through his bag and pulled out a scabbard.
Shing.
The mithril sword that came out of the scabbard was a sight to behold.
Chipped here and there, with deep cracks in the blade everywhere. At this rate, it would break before long.
‘That’s why it’s perfect for swinging around recklessly.’
Mikhail took a stance in front of the training dummy while holding the mithril sword.
Since he’d never handled a sword directly, it would be a very sloppy form, but that didn’t particularly matter.
‘Right now I just need to repeat terrible practice until I awaken the function embedded in the training dummy.’
Mikhail let out a big breath and swung the sword.
