Ch. 27

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"Judging from the way you were running your mouth earlier, I've got a rough idea of your personality... but when a professor shows up, shouldn't you at least sit up a little?"

Argh, couldn't they please just let me rest for once.

One person leaves and another shows up; I felt like I was going to lose my mind.

But since I was, technically, still an academy student, I forced myself to sit up sluggishly and settled into a cross-legged position.

"What."

"Look at that, huh, guess that's something."

Smiling as she approached, she plopped down beside me with a heavy thud.

"Why is someone like you in the Magic Department? Why not come join the Knight Department instead? I'll treat you extra nice."

"Ha? You'll have to say something that actually makes sense."

"Well... I guess that is a bit much, isn't it?"

"Yeah. Pretty much."

"Anyway, where did you learn swordsmanship?"

"I taught myself."

Glancing at me for a moment, as if my answer had left her speechless, she soon let out a small chuckle and continued.

"Guess it's kind of awkward to explain, huh?"

"I suppose so, yeah."

"Hmm... is that so."

Just as I thought, if you've got nothing else to say, I wish you'd leave, Anna continued speaking.

"I watched your sparring match earlier. You used a cursed sword?"

She looked at the long, narrow box with obvious interest.

Or more precisely, at the Greedy Leech inside it.

"Where did you get a cursed sword?"

"I got it as a gift."

"A gift...? A cursed sword?"

"Yeah."

"From who?"

"What's it to you?"

"So I can satisfy my curiosity."

"The Tower Master gave it to me."

"The Tower Master? Yeah right."

Wait, why ask if you're not even going to believe me?

At my blank, dumbfounded expression, Anna smacked me hard on the head.

I nearly teared up from the sheer unfairness of it, but held it back and shouted at her instead.

"I'm telling you, the Tower Master really did give it to me!"

"For real?"

"Yes!"

"...Why?"

"What's it to you?"

"So I can satisfy my curiosity."

Wait, what...? Déjà vu?

Protecting my head in case she smacked me again, Anna let out a laugh like escaping air and turned back around.

"Fine, don't tell me if you don't want to."

"If you know that, then please leave!"

"...Excuse me?"

"Ah, I mean, I'm pretty exhausted from the sparring match. My bad, my bad!"

Oops, what I'd been thinking just slipped right out of my mouth.

I waved my hands around as I answered, and Professor Anna gave me a look like she couldn't quite believe what she was dealing with.

Her expression was rich enough that you could tell exactly what she wanted to say without her even needing to say it.

"Well, forget that. What I actually wanted to talk about is something else."

"...What is it?"

"Could you spar with someone I introduce you to, later on?"

"Me? Why?"

"My niece attends this academy. But she's a bit... how should I put it, kind of full of herself?"

"Sounds like she's got no manners."

Anna seemed to relate to that comment to some degree, laughing and scratching the back of her head.

Between Aden and now this woman, I wondered if scratching the back of your head had suddenly become some kind of trend.

"So you're asking me to help discipline your niece, is that it?"

"Exactly."

"But why me? There should be plenty of other people who could do that, right? Or heck, why not just do it yourself?"

"It's not like I haven't tried already..."

She paused for a moment before letting out a heavy sigh and continuing.

"If she loses to me, she just argues it doesn't count because of our age gap, our experience gap, and none of it sticks at all. And since she's the second-year top rank, of all things, she acts like a queen among her friends."

"What's your niece's name?"

"Sili... Sili Jordaye."

Sili Jordaye.

She was a girl with no particular memory attached to her, whether from my past life or from Aden's.

Since it was practically the first time I'd ever heard that name, I tilted my head.

"Couldn't you just ask Aden, or someone like Jane, the girl I sparred against? I'm a Magic Department student, technically."

Not having any memory of her meant, if I were being cold about it, that she was probably nothing special, so I figured there was no particular need for me to get involved.

More than anything, it seemed like a bother, too.

"Ugh... like you said earlier, she's got pretty terrible... no, seriously terrible manners. The other kids would probably just get riled up right along with her and start a fight instead. And they might even lose. Not because of the family connection, but she's genuinely strong."

Ah, so she'd valued my mouth over my combat ability, huh.

Now I finally understood why she'd come to ask me of all people.

"What I want is for you to basically toy with and beat my niece down. Whether it's with words or with skill, doesn't matter. Her ego's really way too inflated."

I understood the reasoning now, but I still wondered if I really needed to bother with something so tedious.

But suddenly, a memory surfaced from my mercenary days, back when I'd always taken cocky new recruits down a notch with genuine enthusiasm, and I found myself thinking that trying it once wouldn't be so bad.

Wasn't I, of all people, practically a seasoned veteran when it came to knocking someone down and roasting them?

"What will you give me if I do this for you?"

"What do you want? Well, I guess it's a bit much to ask you for free. Hmm... you're a commoner, so should I give you some money?"

Anna said this while curling her fingers into a rough circle.

If this had happened just a few days ago, I probably would have shouted "sure, right away!" but now I had the Tower Master's limitless token tucked away in my pocket.

Let's just say I wasn't the kind of man to crumble over a few measly coins.

"Instead of money, could I ask for something else specific?"

"What is it? Just name it!"

"Then..."

I began telling her exactly what I wanted, a wicked grin spreading across my face.

If this worked out properly, I'd be able to kick off the scenario I'd already put together as quickly as possible.

The day Duke Brutal would visit the academy wasn't too far off, after all.

Listening to me for a while, she eventually furrowed her brow slightly and asked.

"Hmm... how exactly am I supposed to frame this when I tell her to do it?"

"That's your problem to figure out, Professor."

"Ugh... fine, got it. So when will you actually meet my niece?"

"If you can just take care of what I asked, I'll meet her directly by, at the latest, this coming weekend. I'll turn her into a nice, sweet, adorable little niece for you to bring back. Heh heh!"

"Alright, I'll try my best to make it happen somehow too."

Maybe because it felt like we'd just plotted something together.

I lightly bumped my fist against the one she held out.

"So could you please go now and let me rest?"

"Ha ha, sure. Got it. Get some rest~ See you around."

Aden had said "see you again," and now Anna was saying "see you around."

Maybe it was because of the academy, but people here really seemed to love the idea of meeting again.

Out in the real world, everyone I ever ran into again was usually someone ready to draw a blade on me.

"Ugh, I'm dying."

Lying back down on the ground to catch my breath, I noticed the fatigue seemed oddly excessive compared to how much I'd actually exerted myself, so I murmured quietly to bring up my status window.

"Status."

[Status] 

Name: Benjamin 

Age: 18 

Talent: Reader, Editor 

Body: 57, Synchronizing... 

Mana: 14 

Status Ailments: Muscle pain, overload, fatigue (moderate)

The status ailments section, which had shown "None" right up until the sparring match began, was now not only showing the muscle pain I always carried around, but had somehow added overload on top of it as well.

Apparently, using techniques originally meant for a Body in the 300-point range with a body that hadn't even hit 100 points had put more strain on my body than I'd expected.

Then again, given I'd hit overload and still hadn't fully passed out, I supposed I should count that as a small blessing.

'Haah... I want to sleep, but actually falling asleep is probably a stretch. Still, just lying here like this feels pretty nic...'

"Um... Benjamin?"

"Ah! Come on! What! Why!"

At my irritation-laden shout, Aria, who'd been approaching, flinched and froze in place.

"No, it's just... I heard the teleport's about to activate soon..."

Just as I thought I was finally getting to rest, it was already time to throw up again.

Pulling at what little hair I had left, I stared blankly into empty space.

"BLEUUUGHH!"

Like a tragic heroine, I ended up sprawled on the ground, once again confirming that my already empty stomach was, in fact, still empty.

Aria crouched beside me, patting my back.

"Benjamin, it's just yellow liquid coming out now."

I know that without you explaining it to me.

Glaring at Aria's face without a word, she continued speaking, seemingly unbothered.

"If anyone were to actually die from throwing up... it'd probably be you, wouldn't it, Benjamin?"

"Hey, what kind of thing is that to sa... BLEUGH!"

"It'd be really sad if I lost a friend."

Was she picturing my funeral in her head or something.

I couldn't exactly slap a lid on this and make it stop.

"Anyway... Benjamin, I was really touched, you know."

"Ugh... what are you even talking about now."

"You told Aden we were friends, right? And that you two decided to be friends too?"

Ah, maybe I should have just denied it after all.

Seeing her sparkling eyes only made my irritation flare up even more.

I suddenly remembered how, earlier, when I'd heard the teleport was activating, I'd gone over only to find the Knight Department students had already left without me, and I'd glared at Aria for a moment because of it.

Apparently there was a limit on how many people could teleport at once, so it couldn't be helped, but even knowing that, something about Aria still felt oddly irritating.

"Benjamin, why aren't you saying anything again?"

"Why are you talking so much?"

"Is it because you're embarrassed about being friends with me and Aden, and that's why you're grumbling more than usual?"

Just how gentle exactly did she think my usual self was?

I felt like there was nothing different about me right now compared to normal.

Regardless, it was around 5 PM now... I needed to hurry back to the dormitory and recover my body at least a little.

If Anna actually followed through on my request, I'd be meeting up with Jane around 10 PM, and since it was hard to predict what would happen then, it seemed wise to recover my body as much as possible beforehand.

"Benjamin! Are you even listening to me?"

"Aria, you're the one who should really listen to me."

"...Hm?"

"Aria, why do you keep saying Benjamin, Benjamin every single time you talk? Just call me 'hey' or 'you,' it's fine."

"But calling you that feels so cold."

"Aria, it's not like we're overflowing with warmth between us, are we?"

"But still..."

"Aria... do you want to become someone with deep, overflowing warmth between us?"

At that, Aria stared at my face for a moment.

She watched me with such a serious expression for a while that I found myself involuntarily swallowing.

What would I do if she actually said yes.

And how would I even face Aden.

"I can't even imagine it, so I don't know how to answer."

Why was she saying that while staring directly at my face?

"I'm sorry."

"...Hm?"

"When I look at you, all I can think of is horror or thriller movies..."

I briefly considered actually turning her life into a horror thriller, but decided to hold back, since she was just an innocent, cheerful girl who had no idea what she was even saying.

"I'm sorry if you had your hopes up. Benjamin."

"Haah... I'm drained... ah, forget it! I'm heading out."

I pushed away Aria's face as she clung to me, apologizing, and headed toward the dormitory.

"Alright, great work today, everyone!"

Anna called out in a booming voice to the Knight Department students, who'd used the teleport before the Magic Department this time.

The students, having finished greeting her, began to scatter, but Aden and Jane, having been given a heads-up beforehand, remained standing exactly where they were.

"You two, come with me, I've got something to take care of for a bit."

Following her, they arrived at none other than the Knight Department's sparring hall.

"I've got some circumstances going on that require me to have you two spar, and I've been thinking about how exactly to frame it for you."

At her words, Aden looked puzzled, while Jane's gaze grew ice cold as she glared at Anna.

"But honestly, I couldn't come up with any particular excuse. So can't you two just spar, just once?"

Anna said this with an expression practically screaming, "just do it for me already!"

You might wonder what kind of expression that could possibly be, but anyone who'd seen the sheer range of her expressive face would understand exactly what I mean without further explanation.

"Professor, I don't understand why I need to spar."

At Aden's polite question, Anna answered confidently.

"Ah, I don't know! There's just, like, a reason. Just do it for me."

"No, what does that even..."