Chapter 144: I’ve Somehow Become Popular

Two young heroes who returned alive from the 9th floor of the Demonic Palace transfer!
That was the headline I saw in the newspaper this morning.
I’m not sure this kind of thing deserves such a big headline, but the imperial family’s recent actions have been suspicious.
This is probably just a distraction.

I even talked to Professor Beganon about it.
Since they returned alive from the 9th floor of the Demonic Palace, we needed information about the environment there.
During that conversation, I told her there were traces of a door having opened on the 9th floor.

“A possibility that an Apostle came out, huh.”
Beganon mulled over my words with a thoughtful expression, then nodded.
“The fact that this Demonic Palace opened so early might also be related. Good work.”
She praised my information gathering.

“There’s someone from my generation who studied the Demonic Palace in detail. I’ll consult with them.”
“Please do.”
If Beganon trusts them, then it’s safe to leave it in their hands.
Hopefully, it turns out to be nothing serious.

Anyway, thanks to this incident, I became a bit of a celebrity in the Academy.
Even the first-year students knew my name by now.
Maybe it’s because I’ve become so well-known recently, but I never imagined I’d find myself in this kind of situation.

I blinked as I looked at the girl standing in front of me.
For reference, this was the first time I’d seen her.
A year below me, she bowed her head deeply and handed me a love letter.

“Um, why are you giving me this…?”
As I received the letter, she quickly blurted out the lines she’d prepared.

“I saw how amazing you were during the individual match and couldn’t stop thinking about you, but then I heard you might not come back from this time, and my heart sank! So I realized—I like you, senpai!”

She really put effort into this.
I couldn’t be harsh to someone confessing like that.
Still, I couldn’t go out with her.

“Sorry, I have a fiancée.”
Time to use the prepared excuse.

“That’s okay!”
But it didn’t work on her.

“An engagement is just a promise made by adults!”
Seems like students at Zeryon Academy are all pretty bold.
Still, I couldn’t just give in.

“I’m really sorry, but I’m not looking to date anyone right now.”
I gently handed the love letter back into her hands and turned away from the heartbroken girl.

‘I can’t believe I got called out just to get confessed to.’
Life really throws surprises at you.
Even when I was at my peak as an athlete and popular among the boys, I never got attention from girls.
Really, you never know what life will bring.

‘My reputation has definitely blown up too much.’
The scale of my recent exploits had been massive.
My name had already been spreading quietly.
Then after the individual match and now this headline-grabbing transfer event, things just kept snowballing.

Right then, a familiar head of red hair appeared before me.
She peeked out from behind a wall, lips pouting.

“Must be nice, getting confessed to now?”
Seron Parmia.
As always, her forehead sparkled brightly.

“Being loved by someone is a happy thing.”

“Hmph, your smile’s about to reach your ears.”
“Same goes for you.”

Seron flinched.
She glanced around nervously and lightly tugged at my collar.
“Well, if you’re happy… I could love you even more.”

If she had a tail, it would’ve been wagging like crazy.
But then, for some reason, she suddenly frowned, displeased.

“Come to think of it, this is ridiculous. Why’s everyone making a fuss now? They used to complain about you being a bland sweet potato prince all the time.”

Seron only ever hangs out with me.
But even she couldn’t help hearing my name with all the buzz around the Academy lately.
As for Isabel—well, she’s always been a celebrity here.

“Isn’t it a good thing that people are starting to think better of me?”
“It just ticks me off how fast they flip, like turning over a coin.”

To be fair, Seron didn’t like me at first either.
Somehow we kept getting tangled up until things ended up like this.
If I were to accept her feelings, we could probably start dating right away.

But I don’t know what love really is, and I can’t do that.
If I do date someone, it should be serious.
I don’t want to enter a relationship I can’t respect.

“You’re right. There aren’t many like you who saw the good in me early on.”
“Exactly! So treat me well. Adore me more. You should be grateful that someone this pretty likes you!”

As soon as I praised her, her shoulders perked up and she started blurting things out.
She really is consistent.

“Anyway, Seron, I was thinking of going out today.”

We’d made a promise, Seron and I.
It’s currently a break period after the Autumn Demonic Palace Battle.
It’s only about three days, but that’s enough time to go out for a short stroll.

As soon as I mentioned our planned date, Seron’s expression lit up.
Like she’d been waiting for those exact words, her eyes sparkled.

“Took you long enough to say it! I need to get ready, so meet me in front of the dorm in an hour and a half!”
“You need an hour and a half to get ready?”
“Sweet potato prince, you really don’t know anything. That’s normal prep time for a girl!”
“A girl?”

I ran before Seron could come charging at me.
And just like that, I had an hour and a half of free time.

Aside from my uniform, I didn’t really have anything else to wear.
I hadn’t bought any casual clothes since disguising as Hanon, after all.
So I was just wandering vaguely toward the boys’ dormitory when I spotted another familiar face.

Glasses. Messy hair like a broom.
Small build.

Poara was peeking out from the entrance of the boys’ dorm, scanning the area nervously.
He looked super suspicious, so I snuck up on him.

When he was looking the other way, I clapped a hand on his shoulder.
“Caught you, you little sneak.”

“Gyaaah!”

Poara screamed and dropped to the ground, rolling.
I didn’t expect that intense of a reaction and was genuinely surprised.

“Poara, why do you look like you’ve been caught doing something shady?”
“Ah, Hanon-senpai…”

He let out a sigh of relief and slowly got up.
Then he glanced around again and exhaled deeply.

“It’s just… Beakiring-senpai’s been acting weird lately.”
“Beakiring?”

The top-tier spirit summoner, Beakiring Monem.
Until Poara showed up, she was ranked number one in the Spirit Studies department of the Special Class.
But ever since Poara made a contract with a Spirit Lord, Beakiring had been pushed down to second place.
From Beakiring’s perspective, Poara was a rival — maybe even a bitter one.

“Did something happen?”
Poara let out a sigh at my question.
He looked like he’d been through a lot.

“She already didn’t like me before the individual tournament… But after I won, she started following me everywhere and spying on me using spirits.”

Spying with spirits?
Hearing that, my expression turned strange.

“She keeps saying I’m too skinny and small, and brings me lunchboxes every day, telling me I need to eat more. But the food tastes weird. Then she always asks me if it’s good… I think she’s trying to bully me.”
“……”

I couldn’t say anything.

Because everything he just described… are all events triggered when Beakiring’s affection level reaches a certain point.

“Why does Beakiring-senpai hate me so much? She’s honestly incredible — I even admire her. If I did something wrong, I’d like to know what it is.”

Poara looked genuinely down.
Is this how the Card felt looking at me?
Now I understand why that guy always looked at me like I was pitiful.

“Poara, what do you think of Beakiring?”
Poara lifted his head.
Then, with an awkward smile, he said.

“She’s the coolest senior I know in Spirit Studies. Even with all her talent, she never stops putting in the effort.”

A character with both talent and effort — that was Beakiring.

“Compared to that, I’m pretty mediocre, outside of the fact that I have a contract with a Spirit Lord. Maybe she doesn’t like that about me.”

“Because you beat her in the individual match?”
In the international individual tournament, it was Poara who defeated Beakiring.
It wasn’t an overwhelming win by any means — it was a close match.
A battle of endurance, more than anything.

And in the end, the one who held out longer was Poara.

“Honestly, I was only able to win thanks to you, Hanon-senpai.”
“But I wasn’t even there.”
“Haha, right before I collapsed, I remembered you standing up against your enemies.”

Poara clenched his fists.
He didn’t have much physical strength, fitting for a spirit student, but the resolve in that gesture was real.

“You always show such indomitable will.”

…That caught me off guard.

“If I hadn’t thought of you at that moment, I probably would’ve lost.”

I never imagined the things I’d done would affect someone else like this.

“I only won because of you, senpai.”

Poara looked at me with eyes shining brightly.
A stark contrast from the dull, lifeless eyes I saw back during the boycott.
Back then, his gaze held no emotion.

Just like many others who’ve crossed paths with me, Poara had changed.
And for some reason, that made me happy.

Because it made me believe I could keep changing more people going forward.

“Poara.”
So, I decided to tell him.

“Run.”

By the time I finished speaking, Beakiring was already lunging at Poara.

“Waaagh!”

“Poara junior, you sure had a lot to say. How about repeating that for me?”

Beakiring pinned Poara to the ground and started squishing his cheeks relentlessly.
Even though Poara was contracted to a Spirit Lord, she had still managed to spy on him using her spirits.
That kind of persistence was… impressive.

“You really don’t understand a girl’s heart, do you!”

“S-Sorry…”

Same here, Poara. I felt a bit bad watching him repeatedly apologize.
But romance isn’t one-sided — it’s mutual.
This was something Beakiring had to figure out on her own.

“Hang in there.”

I quietly backed away, hoping Poara wouldn’t be completely broken by this.
Getting involved here would only be a headache.

‘I should go get ready and meet Seron.’

That’s what I was thinking as I turned to leave — when suddenly, someone called my name.

“Hanon.”

I turned toward the familiar voice and saw light blue hair.
A girl with a rather sullen expression was staring at me.

“Sharin?”

Even before I could wonder why she showed up out of nowhere, she walked up to me, raised her fist—

Smack!

—and thumped me in the chest with a pout.

“What’s that for?”

Even as I asked, Sharin continued to throw a few more punches.
To someone like me with a body of steel, they felt like soft little taps.
But judging by her satisfied expression, she seemed to have cooled off a bit.

Like she’d just scolded a villain and felt good about it.

“Husband, stop going around making girls fall for you.”

…I wasn’t even sure what I’d done wrong.

“You’re going on a date with Seron, aren’t you?”

“Yeah, I was just about to get ready.”

I couldn’t lie, so I answered honestly — and Sharin gave me another soft punch.

“Take me with you.”

…Where did that come from?