Chapter 42: Eldoria Academy (3)

With determination, Haruki made his way towards the girls’ dormitory, which was not far from the boys’ dormitory.

He slowly entered the girls’ dormitory area, and his face turned slightly red.

"Ugh, I hope I don’t see anything weird."

He peeked through the windows one by one, feeling a little guilty for doing so.

And yet, he still couldn’t find anyone he knew in the dormitory. Even Vila was nowhere to be found. Now, a feeling of uneasiness began to grow within him.

Haruki eventually left the girls’ dormitory, wondering where everyone could be.

After reaching a safe area, he deactivated his Concealment skill and accidentally spotted Teacher Darius standing in front of him.

Haruki quickly approached him.

"Is something wrong, Haruki?"

Haruki then asked where he could find the other students from Arcane Academy.

After hearing Haruki’s question, Darius responded with another question.

"Why do you want to know? Everything is perfectly fine."

Haruki was slightly taken aback by how seriously Darius spoke, his tone carrying a hint of suspicion towards him.

"A-ah, I was just asking to make sure..."

Darius said nothing in response. He simply turned around and continued walking away.

This made Haruki grow suspicious of Teacher Darius.

Haruki slowly turned around as well and walked away, his expression showing clear dissatisfaction towards Darius.

He returned to his dormitory room and found Magnus already awake, reading one of the books provided in the room. However, Haruki couldn’t see Philip anywhere.

"Where’s Philip?"

Magnus slightly raised an eyebrow before turning his gaze towards Haruki.

"Philip was called away earlier by someone claiming to be a member of the Student Council."

Haruki showed no reaction. He then lay down on his bed to clear his mind for a while.

He slowly closed his eyes, and before he even realized it, sleepiness began to overcome him.

Without noticing it, he gradually drifted into a comfortable sleep.

"Haruki, what kind of book did you bring ba—"

Magnus fell silent when he noticed Haruki had already fallen asleep.

"What kind of work did you do to make yourself so exhausted?"

"Well, whatever that job was, I hope it wasn’t spying on the girls’ dormitory."

Magnus then noticed a book in Haruki’s hand.

"Are you really that tired from reading that you actually fell asleep?"

...

Slowly, Haruki opened his eyes. However, he wasn’t waking up in that room. Instead, he found himself in a completely white space.

’This place again...’

"Yo, we meet again."

Haruki turned around and saw a figure who looked exactly like him, standing not far away.

"This place looks pretty boring, doesn’t it?"

The man snapped his fingers, and the entire surroundings transformed into something resembling a river. Haruki was rather surprised by the sight.

Haruki lowered his head and noticed that he was standing on the surface of the water.

"What do you want?"

"What’s with that look on your face?"

"Remember, you’re just borrowing my body, idiot."

Haruki began to feel rather irritated by the words of someone who was already dead.

"I called you here because I was getting a little bored being alone, you know?"

Haruki replied that he didn’t care about his loneliness in the slightest. The man let out a small laugh.

"Are you the one who called me into this world, huh?"

The man looked confused.

"I didn’t do anything."

Haruki felt that he was lying. However, judging by the way he spoke, it seemed that the man genuinely knew nothing about it.

"What should I call you for convenience’s sake?"

The man gave a slight smile.

"Hoooh? What should it be?"

He then smiled again.

"Just call me whatever you want."

Haruki eventually decided to call him ’Honma’, although the man seemed a little displeased with having his first name used by someone else.

After that, Haruki asked Honma whether he could still remember his memories from when he was alive.

Honma answered that he could only remember a little, and the clearest memory he had was the moment he died at the hands of the Arcane soldiers.

Haruki stared at Honma for a little longer.

"Can’t you stop using my face?"

Honma explained that when he managed to exist inside Haruki, he had obtained Haruki’s Avatar. He also admitted that this Avatar was quite terrible.

’Quite terrible, huh?’

Haruki let out a sigh before his expression turned more serious.

"I don’t know why I want to ask you this, but..."

"Do you know about the Seven Sovereign Gods?"

Honma looked back at Haruki, his expression changing slightly.

"Why are you asking about that?"

Haruki analysed his expression and concluded that Honma seemed to know something about them.

Honma stared at Haruki for a very long time, as though he were looking at an enemy.

"Do you know or not?" Haruki asked firmly.

Honma suddenly looked startled, as if he had just regained his senses. He glanced around, and his face turned slightly pale.

"What’s wrong with you?!"

Honma looked at Haruki before explaining that, for some reason, whenever he heard about the Sovereign Gods, he felt an overwhelming urge to become angry and strangely uneasy.

"Then... do you know anything about *The Sovereign of the Unwritten*?"

"What?"

Haruki repeated what he had said to Honma.

However, Honma still couldn’t hear him, as though Haruki’s words were being censored.

Haruki wanted to mention the names of the other Sovereign Gods he had seen in the secret chamber beneath the Arcane Palace. However, he himself could no longer remember their names. The only one that remained in his memory was *The Sovereign of the Unwritten*. For some reason, that particular name was the only one that had stayed with him.

Without any warning or indication, Haruki suddenly woke up in his room, his heart pounding rapidly.

He noticed that Magnus was no longer in the room. Shortly after Haruki woke up, Magnus entered wearing a different set of clothes.

"Looks like you’re finally awake. What’s wrong, Haruki? Did you have a nightmare?"

"Go take a bath. It’s already night."

Haruki looked around. Philip was still nowhere to be seen.

Magnus informed him that Philip had gone out to explore the cities of the Eldoria Kingdom. Haruki grabbed a set of unused clothes and quickly left his room to head towards the bathroom.

This time, Haruki made sure not to mistake the girls’ bathroom for the boys’ bathroom. He entered the men’s bathroom, his gaze seemingly empty as he thought about something.

’I wonder if that statue is still there or not?’

After all, the Arcane King’s palace was currently undergoing reconstruction, so that place must have become a restricted area for anyone who wasn’t involved in the reconstruction work.

Haruki changed into his fresh clothes inside the bathroom before slowly reaching for the doorknob.

At the exact same time, the door beside his was also being opened. Haruki instinctively turned to his side and saw Philip, who had just finished cleaning himself as well.

"Philip?"

"Haruki?"

Their doors closed on their own, and the two of them then walked along the corridor towards their room.

"So, what did the Student Council say to you?"

Philip slowly explained that when he was summoned, one of the Student Council members had invited him to officially become a student of Eldoria Academy and also take up a position as a member of the Student Council.

"So? Did you accept?"

"Hah? Obviously, I rejected it."

’Heh, I knew it.’

After all, Philip was someone who frequently skipped classes back at Arcane Academy. Now that he was attending Eldoria Academy, Philip would have to stop skipping classes to maintain his reputation.

"And besides... they were forcing me."

"Forcing you?"

Philip had actually rejected their offer politely and respectfully. However, they insisted that he would become even stronger over time if he officially joined the Student Council.

The longer they kept pressuring him, the more annoyed Philip became.

"After that, I used Rift Step to get away from them."

The two of them entered the room and lay down on their beds. This time, however, Magnus was the one who fell onto the floor.

’Ugh, these two...’

"Ahh, I’m hungry."

Philip invited the two of them to go to the cafeteria. Haruki and Magnus agreed without hesitation, thinking that perhaps they might run into Vila and the other Arcane Academy students there.

The three of them casually made their way towards the cafeteria.

Inside the cafeteria, only a few students from the boys’ dormitory were present. As for the girls’ dormitory, they still hadn’t encountered a single familiar face from Arcane Academy.

Unable to wait any longer, Magnus began taking whatever food looked appetising to him.

Haruki also picked up whatever he needed.

Philip, meanwhile, grabbed his food rather greedily, earning a scolding from the cafeteria staff.

The three of them sat at their usual table. Before they could even take a bite of their chicken, someone approached them with two other people accompanying him.

"Enjoying your meal?"

"What do you mean? We haven’t even taken a bite yet."

The three newcomers suddenly took the chicken belonging to Haruki, Philip, and Magnus and began eating it.

Only after eating half of the chicken did they finally introduce themselves as seniors to Haruki and the other two.

"You guys really stand out around here..."

"People say you defeated an Ice Monster with your pathetic magic."

The three seniors burst into loud laughter.

Magnus, who was always provoking Philip and making fun of him, immediately stood up with a serious expression.

"Oi, didn’t your parents teach you any manners?"

One of them answered,

"No. Why don’t you teach us?"

The three seniors laughed again. However, Magnus suddenly punched one of them, reinforcing his fist with Enhancement Magic.

The senior was sent stumbling backwards. Meanwhile, the two seniors standing beside him attempted to retaliate with punches of their own.

However, both attacks entered a spatial rift, causing the two seniors to strike each other instead.

It turned out to be Philip’s magic, Rift Distortion.

The three seniors stood up again, clearly dissatisfied with what had happened.

The students currently in the cafeteria began watching the six of them, with some even cheering them on.

Haruki also used his Gravity Magic to slam one of the seniors onto the floor with considerable pressure.

The seniors wanted to use their own magic as well. However, just as they were about to activate their spells, the magic of Magnus and Haruki suddenly disappeared.

Haruki recognised this aura.

It was Teacher Lukas’s aura, and standing beside him was Teacher Aelin.