Chapter 7: People in the restaurant

When he carefully laid Olga on the dormitory bed and came out, Erica was waiting at the building entrance.

“Thank you.”

“No need for thanks. I thought you’d been dragged away again… but it looks like you’re not badly hurt.”

To be precise, it was closer to him healing the bruises before she could see them.

Erica suddenly looked intently into his eyes.

“But you… your eyes have changed. Have you pulled yourself together?”

“Pulled myself together, huh…”

Cais smiled bitterly.

The moment he decided to let go of his childhood friends, the system coincidentally finished loading, and his past memories returned.

“Cais?”

Erica tilted her head. Cais gestured towards a nearby vending machine.

“I’m thirsty, would you like something to drink?”

Cais inserted coins into the vending machine and took out a drink.

Vending machines were still uncommon, but the Royal Academy in the capital was among the first places to prioritize such convenience facilities.

Cais tossed a can to Erica.

Erica seemed slightly surprised but skillfully caught it with one hand.

“Are you really Cais…?”

“As you can see.”

“It feels like something… fundamentally changed about you.”

“Where?”

Cais found her question intriguing. Erica thought for a moment, then spoke.

“For example… the Cais I know wouldn’t have thrown the drink just now; he would have handed it to me directly.”

“Here.”

Cais approached and handed her the can he was about to drink.

“Like this?”

“What is this.”

Erica let out a small laugh. This time, Cais was surprised by her reaction.

“What’s with that look? If you have something to say, say it.”

“You… you can actually smile properly.”

“What kind of rude thing is that to say?”

“No, it’s just that I’ve never seen you smile before.”

Whenever he saw her in the classroom, her lips were sealed, and her expression was unreadable.

“Well, I don’t smile often.”

To his surprise, she readily agreed and nodded. Her expression held an undeniable hint of loneliness.

‘Does even someone admired by everyone have a hidden pain?’

But he didn’t want to bring up such a heavy topic right now.

“But it suited you well.”

“Huh…?”

“Your smile, I mean.”

“Ugh.”

A look of disgust appeared on Erica’s face. She asked with eyes that seemed to say, ‘Are you out of your mind?’

“That sounds like a pick-up line…?”

“Well, it could be.”

“Is that all?”

Cais simply nodded, without further excuses or denials.

It was too bothersome to clear up every minor misunderstanding now.

Moreover, he didn’t think Erica was the type to maliciously misinterpret his words.

‘So that was Erica’s joke, then.’

He finished the can and looked up at the sky, dyed red by the sunset.

‘How much time has passed exactly? At least hundreds of years, maybe a thousand, or even more.’

Cais, having diligently attended classes and accumulated knowledge, knew basic history.

Yet, nowhere was the name ‘Sage King’ mentioned.

Considering Luminark’s achievements and contributions, he should have filled an entire chapter in textbooks and more.

‘But there isn’t even a single line mentioning him. That means someone erased my existence. Who is that guy, or rather, who are those guys?’

There were many potential candidates.

Luminark was betrayed by his comrades and disciples and died.

Afterwards, the very existence of Luminark was likely erased from history by their hands.

‘Because history is written by the victors.’

It felt like a mountain of tasks had piled up for him to do.

Due to the incomplete system magic, there were many gaps in his returned memories.

He couldn’t even fully recall the faces or names of his thirteen disciples, the Sages.

‘Who the traitors were, and why they did it…’

He had to retrieve the fragments of his lost memories and exact the revenge he couldn’t in his previous life.

But at this moment, he didn’t want to think about such troublesome things.

The red sunset spread across the sky he looked up at.

Engraving that majestic sight in his eyes, Cais murmured.

“Then and now, the evening sunset is beautiful.”

Perhaps this scene would remain unchanged, just as beautiful, even after a thousand or two thousand years?

Cais said to Erica.

“Then I’ll head in first.”

“Oh…? Oh.”

It was an uncharacteristically dazed reply from her.

Even after Cais left, Erica remained seated on the bench for a while.

The can she was given was still half full.

“How can he just get up and leave after finishing his own drink?”

Erica secretly made a sulky face.

It was the face she showed only when alone, unseen by anyone.

“I can’t stay here forever either.”

Remembering what she had to do, Erica gulped down the rest of the drink and stood up.

****

Cais sat on the chair beside the bed and waited until Olga regained consciousness.

Not long after, Olga opened his eyes with a faint groan.

“Mmm… is this my room?”

“Are you awake?”

“Cais?! What happened…? We were clearly then…”

“Erica, who happened to be passing by, helped us.”

“Oh, Erica did… that’s a relief.”

Olga tried to sit up but realized his body was perfectly fine, without any injuries.

“What? I was hit so badly… but there isn’t a single scratch. And come to think of it, Cais, you’re the same.”

“Erica used recovery magic on us.”

Cais very naturally threw Erica under the bus. He couldn’t reveal that he had healed them with system magic right now.

“Oh, really…? I should thank Erica then.”

“No, there’s no need for that. I already thanked her plenty on your behalf. And Erica said she doesn’t like being bothered for such things. She’d probably get angry if you went to see her.”

He hadn’t coordinated his story with Erica.

Since she did help them, even if Olga went to thank her, they’d probably manage a rough conversation.

However, Erica would quickly realize the oddities in the conversation and figure out that the truth had been twisted.

‘That wouldn’t be good. She has sharp instincts.’

Meanwhile, Olga still tried to insist.

“Still…”

“No, no, really, it’s fine, don’t worry.”

Just then, Olga’s stomach growled. Come to think of it, it was dinnertime. They had forgotten to eat because of the incident.

Seeing this, Cais checked outside the window, where it was beginning to get dark.

“At this hour, the cafeteria must be closed already. How about we eat out tonight? My treat.”

“What’s gotten into you? Besides, aren’t you not doing so well financially?”

“Something good happened.”

“Something good…?”

“I’ll tell you later.”

On the street near the school’s main gate, there was a family restaurant where students could go without feeling burdened.

Even children of nobles couldn’t spend lavishly as students, so the place was always crowded with them.

Of course, local citizens also frequented it.

As they entered the restaurant, an employee spoke to them with an awkward expression.

“I apologize, but there are no empty tables right now. If it’s alright with you, you might be able to share a table with other customers.”

At the mention of sharing a table, Olga said to Cais with a worried face.

“Cais, let’s just go back.”

“We came all this way, why bother going back?”

“If we end up sitting with our academy classmates, something troublesome might happen again.”

“I don’t care at all. And why should we worry about what they think? If they’re truly uncomfortable, they can just leave.”

Cais added.

“Besides, there’s no guarantee the others are students. They could be office workers or a family.”

Olga was somewhat surprised by Cais’s uncharacteristically strong opinion, but since it wasn’t wrong, he decided to go along with it.

“Whew… alright.”

At the table they were led to, Olga froze like ice.

This was because three girls were sitting at the table they were to share.

The employee must have guided Cais and Olga after getting their permission, but who could have known things would turn out this way?

The people were none other than Valeria, Serena, and Lucia.

They also stiffened their faces upon seeing Cais and Olga.

It seemed they had been gathered, exchanging some words.

Olga hastily grabbed the employee who was turning to leave after seating them.

“Um, excuse me. Are there no other tables?”

“I apologize, but this is the only table available right now.”

Olga’s face became despondent.

He slightly tugged Cais’s sleeve and shook his head subtly.

But Cais nonchalantly pulled out a chair.

“You’d be more comfortable on the opposite side, right?”

“Cais!”

Olga called out to Cais.

To explain the current situation, it was like this.

It was a six-person table where three people sat facing three others. Cais and Olga were on one side, and Valeria, Serena, and Lucia were on the other.

In particular, Cais was sitting right next to Lucia and Serena, so unlike Olga, there was no empty space between them.

Cais picked up the menu the employee had given him and spoke.

“Choose what you want to eat.”

“Are you really okay…?”

Olga still kept glancing at Cais, unsure of what to do.

Right next to them, Serena, Valeria, and Lucia were still staring, as if dumbfounded.

“Oh? Is it because they’re here? Don’t worry about it; I don’t care anymore. I’ve forgotten them from my heart.”

Cais answered, directly mentioning his childhood friends. Olga, who heard this, was utterly shocked.

Olga had carefully asked, deliberately avoiding naming them, but Cais had brought them up so openly.

Then, a reaction came immediately.

“Cais Raynaldsord!”

Serena, sitting right next to Cais, called his name with a sharp voice.

“Why?”

“Don’t sit next to me!”

“They said this is the only table available, what do you want me to do?”

“Leave this place.”

Cais blinked for a moment, then retorted with an incredulous tone.

“This isn’t your house, why should I?”