Chapter 41: The Strawberry Cake

Chapter 41: Chapter 41: The Strawberry Cake

On the second day after the string of hellish missions, a rare period of leisure finally descended upon the freshmen team of Class 659.

What made all the members frown in astonishment was that right after submitting the massive quota of materials according to the requested list, the bizarre jellyfish-headed instructor Griffin suddenly had a fit of generosity. Griffin straightforwardly approved the expenditure, throwing a whopping 500 accumulated points straight into each person’s magic ID card account.

The moment the number skyrocketed on the virtual screen, the corner of Jeremy’s lips curled up slightly. Jeremy thought to himself that all the flesh-tearing pain, all the times having to dive to the bottom of the sea or hole up in caves over the past few days... could be considered to have salvaged some pragmatic value.

Added to the remuneration from the part-time mission at the commission hall after dividing it equally with Evelyn, along with the meager remaining balance from before, Jeremy’s total assets currently hit the 652-point mark.

Given the bloodsucking, exorbitant price levels at St. Aetherwing Academy, this number was at least enough for Jeremy to thoroughly resolve his food issues for a full two months without having to frown and calculate.

With a rare holiday knocking on the door, the weather outside the window was so clear it birthed a feeling of laziness in people.

Jeremy completely brushed aside the intention of exhausting himself to cultivate. Jeremy decided to relax his nerves, rewarding this exhausted physical body with a proper day off. Jeremy chose a simple-cut, pitch-black shirt that perfectly hugged the contours of his broad shoulders and tall, slender, firm physique, completely shedding the messy, blood-reeking aura of the battlefield.

Just as Jeremy grasped the dormitory room’s door handle, intending to direct his footsteps straight toward the bustling commercial street of the Anima faculty to find something to line his stomach, a "click" sounded right opposite him.

The door to the other room had just opened. Lucius D’Arsy, bearing his brilliant silver hair under the corridor lights, leisurely stepped out.

The moment the two pairs of eyes collided in the marble stone corridor, Lucius smiled first. Lucius’s narrow, elongated phoenix eyes narrowed slightly, the outer corners flushing with a bewitching red tint, as a clear voice rang out: "Where are you going dressed so neatly, Captain?"

Having no military secrets that needed hiding, Jeremy casually tucked one hand into his suit trouser pocket and replied curtly: "Going for a walk down the commercial street, and casually grabbing something for breakfast while I’m at it."

"Is that so..." The smile on Lucius’s lips deepened a bit. Lucius’s long stride closed the distance between the two rooms in just a blink of an eye: "Can I tag along?"

Jeremy turned around, decisively closing the door, the toes of his shoes pointing toward the exit of the dormitory building, his deep, cold voice ringing out clearly: "Do I have the right to say ’no’?"

"No." Lucius casually retorted, Lucius’s long legs stepping right behind Jeremy’s back, thoroughly playing the role of a large tail that could not be shaken off.

Half an hour later.

At a luxurious cafe located deep inside the commercial street of the Anima faculty.

Jeremy leaned his back against the leather-upholstered cushion, his sharp phoenix eyes lightly sweeping over a mountain-high pile of sweets spread out on the marble table. Jeremy’s vision finally stopped at the position by the window, where Lucius was quietly using a silver fork to cut pieces of strawberry cake and bring them to his mouth.

The muscles on Jeremy’s face twitched slightly. No matter how one looked at this scene, something felt off.

Someone who was decisive in slaughter on the battlefield, acting ruthlessly and cold-bloodedly, and whose personality was even twisted and bewitching to the point of making people shiver... actually had such an intense passion for pastel-pink sweets like this?

However, ignoring the absurdity of this hobby setup, Jeremy also could not help but admit an objective truth: Lucius’s side profile under the morning sunlight was truly incredibly eye-catching. The stark white skin, the silver hair lightly drooping over the forehead, combined with the elegant eating motions of the aristocracy... when quiet and not opening his mouth to bark wildly, this guy looked exactly like an angel statue stepping out of mythology.

Realizing the undisguised evaluating gaze of the person opposite him, Lucius’s fork movement paused slightly. Lucius looked up with emerald pupils, tilting his head to ask: "Why do you keep staring at me, Captain? Aren’t you eating?"

Jeremy rested his chin on the back of his hand, his index finger tapping lightly on the tabletop, lazily replying: "Just go ahead and enjoy it yourself. I have never been compatible with these sycophantic sweets."

The movement of Lucius’s hand immediately froze in mid-air.

Long eyelashes drooped, hiding the flash of light darting through the depths of his eyes. A long while later, Lucius decisively dropped the silver fork onto the porcelain plate, raising a low, deep voice, and abruptly blurting out a sentence: "... Actually, I don’t really like eating sweets that much either."

"?"

Jeremy raised the tail of his eyebrow, the corner of his lips curling into a mocking smile. Jeremy reached out, a long, slender fingertip pointing straight at the three or four completely empty plates with only a bit of cake crumbs and fresh cream remaining on the table, his tone full of sarcasm: "Don’t like it? Then were these spotless plates licked clean by a puppy crawling up from under the table?"

"..."

Being bluntly exposed, the tips of Lucius’s ears flushed with an extremely hard-to-catch streak of red. Lucius pursed his lips and did not retort, decisively waving a hand to call the waiter over, frustratedly tossing the menu onto the table and ordering a pile of steaming savory dishes, absolutely lacking even half a point of chemical sugar.

Jeremy glanced at the series of accumulated points being gradually deducted on the virtual bill screen, silently clicking his tongue in his heart.

This aristocratic dandy who spent money like trash... if he didn’t take the trouble to drag himself out to do commission missions, there would definitely come a day when he would starve to the bone in the middle of this academy for sure.

Each major faculty in St. Aetherwing Academy was built with an independent commercial street, satisfying all the most luxurious needs of the upper class. Having finished dealing with the late breakfast, Jeremy took unhurried strides, spending more than half a day just strolling around the shopping district, updating himself on the market prices of various medicinal herbs and weapon-forging ores.

Along the way, Jeremy sharply caught quite a few groups of students wearing the dark red-trimmed uniforms of the Anima faculty stealthily throwing all sorts of probing gazes his way.

On the opening day and throughout the individual tournament, the gossip and curses aimed at Jeremy’s title of "bottom-ranking trash" had once been so loud they were deafening. But right now, when actually meeting face-to-face on the street, confronting the cold, arrogant aura radiating from Jeremy along with the dangerous silhouette of the person walking right behind him, that crowd immediately parted to both sides automatically to make way. There was fundamentally not a single person with enough guts to charge right in front of Jeremy and cause trouble. They could be considered to know how to weigh their own lives.

If one ignored the fact that there was always a tail named Lucius D’Arsy sticking closely behind without leaving for half a step, Jeremy’s final day of relaxation could be evaluated as passing extremely comfortably and fulfilling.

Dusk.

The sunset glow dyed a corner of the sky blazing red, stretching out the cast shadows on the quartz stone corridor.

Just after stepping out of the commercial district’s gates, on the way turning to prepare to return to the dormitory tower, Lucius suddenly accelerated, taking a long stride to block Jeremy’s path.

Lucius reached out, casually offering a dark blue brocade box, its surface carved with exquisite patterns bearing a strong ancient family style.

Jeremy took a half-step back, his vigilant gaze sweeping over the box, both hands still tucked neatly into his trouser pockets, having absolutely no intention of accepting it: "What is this?"

With a soft click, Lucius used his thumb to flick open the brocade box’s lid.

Lying silently inside the soft silk velvet layer was not some luxurious gemstone necklace or expensive defensive jewelry, but simply a Magic Seed. The seed’s shell radiated a sparkling pale yellow light, intertwined with extremely pure wood-elemental vitality currents.

"Back when we were on that deserted island, I already said it." Lucius maintained a slight smile, his deep, warm voice ringing out amidst the afternoon wind: "This is a gift of gratitude offered to the great Captain... for that healing ointment box from the other day."

Jeremy’s memory flipped back. Jeremy had almost completely forgotten that empty promise. Just a cheap box of ointment, exchanged for a premium Magic Seed capable of automatically condensing magic power like this... this business deal was truly profitable to an absurd extent.

Jeremy frowned slightly, intending to open his mouth to refuse bluntly, when Lucius took a step ahead, proactively cutting him off: "Captain... are you planning to reject me one more time?"

The ending syllable from Lucius dragged out a bit. His emerald phoenix eyes locked tightly onto Jeremy’s angular face, not shifting half a millimeter, just staring intently at Jeremy with a stubborn firmness.

Jeremy stood with his back straight, completely not avoiding the oppression from that gaze. Perhaps because in his subconscious, Jeremy inherently suffered from an intense bias toward things bearing turquoise or icy blue colors, so facing this freak’s pair of eyes, Jeremy’s level of patience always automatically loosened up a bit.

The two just stood glaring at each other in the middle of the deserted walkway. This situation made Jeremy feel a bit ridiculous. A surge of wicked amusement suddenly arose in his heart; Jeremy tilted his head slightly, the corner of his lips drawing a sharp smile, deliberately dropping a teasing remark: "What if I say that I am indeed planning to refuse?"

Lucius suddenly burst into laughter. But the radiant smile on Lucius’s lips did not reach the deep layers at the bottom of his eyes at all. Lucius’s tone dropped low, carrying a sugar-coated threat: "Then I will cling tightly to you without letting go. Clinging until the Captain gets too annoyed and relents to reach out and accept it."

In the previous sentence, Lucius’s attitude still exuded the arrogant, roguish feeling of an obsessed clinger. But right in the next sentence, his voice immediately steered, turning into resentment carrying a pitifully lost look: "Why do you always ruthlessly reject me, Captain? That indifferent attitude... it’s exactly as if you truly detest me very much."

Hearing this, Jeremy paused slightly, his brain automatically extracting memory files.

From the event of offering the Holy-tier healing potion during the confrontation with the first illusion, to all sorts of magical items and resources looted during subsequent expeditions... indeed, the number of times Jeremy straightforwardly rejected Lucius’s advances was too numerous to count.

The very first rejection was simply due to the pragmatic personality of a survivor: Jeremy absolutely did not want to owe a debt of gratitude to a new teammate he had known for less than a few days, whose level of intimacy was only slightly more than a stranger.

But later on, having experienced a series of life-and-death battles, becoming a bit more familiar with each other’s twisted natures, rejecting items from this guy seemed to have turned into a type of conditioned reflex.

The sunset glow faded, the final patch of sunlight of the day draping over the brilliant silver hair of the person opposite him. That flawless face, even though trying to put on a mournfully resentful look, no matter how one looked at it, made it hard for people to remain hardened.

Jeremy’s heart wavered for a beat. Jeremy pulled his hand out of his trouser pocket, turning his firm palm upwards, while simultaneously raising his golden pupils to look straight into the depths of Lucius’s phoenix eyes: "Alright. I won’t refuse this time."

Lucius seemed completely to have not anticipated receiving this agreeable answer so easily. Lucius stood dazed in place. It wasn’t until he personally dropped the brocade box into Jeremy’s warm palm that Lucius snapped awake as if from a dream.

"Does the Captain mean... you will still continue to reject me next times?" Having just been granted a little concession, Lucius’s fox tail immediately perked up, starting to push his luck.

"Depends on my mood." Jeremy replied coldly, decisively channeling a stream of magic power to store the valuable gift into his spatial ring. Noticing a few groups of passing students beginning to pour curious gazes toward the two of them, Jeremy did not want to stand there and be the center of attention anymore. Jeremy turned around, taking long strides straight toward the gate of the dormitory building.

The tall young man behind seemed to let out a cold snort of dissatisfaction in his throat. But his shoe heels still obediently pounded against the stone surface, sticking closely to Jeremy’s heels. Under the hazy moonlight that had just emerged, the two shadows imprinted on the walkway, intertwining with each other.

Upon stepping into the elevator waiting lobby, Jeremy slightly raised his chin, his gaze assessing from the top of the other’s head, and abruptly spoke up to ask: "How tall are you exactly?"

Previously, relying on actual combat experience, Jeremy had mentally estimated by eye that Lucius was about 1.88 meters tall. But now, standing next to each other at a close distance, looking carefully again, Jeremy always had the feeling this guy absolutely did not just stop at the 1.88-meter mark.

"?"

Lucius frowned, clearly not understanding why this captain’s train of thought could steer off course so bizarrely: "... 189.5 centimeters."

"189.5?" Jeremy could not hold back, bursting into laughter. The deep, masculine sound resonated amidst the quiet lobby: "You really measure yourself too strictly and meticulously."

But thinking it over again, this freak was only fifteen and a half years old... At such a young age, for his skeletal frame to have developed to this extent, it was indeed carrying the genetic heritage of the upper class that was overwhelmingly terrifying.

Jeremy tilted his head slightly, dropping a teasing remark carrying a lethal edge: "This height is just right for going to the battlefield. Do not grow any taller, it’s very cumbersome."

One would have thought with his usual nitpicking habit, Lucius would mutter and complain in dissatisfaction because of this unreasonable sentence. Who would have expected, Lucius merely lowered his eyelashes slightly, obediently replying with a sound: "Mhm."

The corner of Jeremy’s eye gave Lucius a sideways glance.

This submissive attitude... was definitely going in one ear and out the other, not bothering to take it seriously at all.

"Then what about you?" The elevator doors opened, Lucius stepped in after Jeremy, suddenly raising his voice to ask back.

Jeremy pressed the button to select the floor, casually answering: "Wait until I turn 18, and only then can I answer you."

Lucius leaned his back against the glass elevator wall, crossing his arms over his chest: "Why?"

Jeremy stood with his back straight, both hands tucked into his pockets, answering as if it were an undeniable matter of course: "No reason."

The original owner’s physical body that Jeremy was taking over was still in the golden developmental stage of puberty. Perhaps thanks to the first month of being exhausted by Griffin, the high-intensity exercise combined with continuous magic power regeneration had stimulated his skeletal frame, growing about 3 centimeters taller.

Anyway, currently, no matter how one measured it, Jeremy had firmly hit the 175-centimeter mark. With the abundant resources of meat, fish, and tonics, who knew if he would continue to shoot up taller in the future.

Therefore, Jeremy completely did not want to take a temporary number to constrain his own height development in front of a lanky guy like Lucius.

The back-and-forth conversation between the two played out incredibly childishly, bearing a heavy tone of petty rivalry, thoroughly shedding away without a trace any of the decisive, ruthlessly murderous aura like when they stood on the competition arena.

However... perhaps it was only in rare ordinary moments like this, beneath the disguise full of murderous intent and blood of the battlefield, that people would be startled to remember a truth.

They, no matter how ruthless or scheming they were, in the end... were only teenagers stuck at the ages of fifteen and sixteen.