episode_0035

Ruminus Academy’s entrance ceremony is held in the form of a banquet. It was different in nature from a typical entrance ceremony where colorful flowers fly in the sky, grand music plays, and freshmen’s families come to celebrate. It was more static, with the focus solely on the current students and the freshmen.

Therefore, there are almost no outsiders on the academy grounds on the day of the entrance ceremony. Occasionally, extremely enthusiastic parents or family members would wait until the entrance ceremony was over, but even that was only a tiny minority. Compared to the crowds that filled the place even before dawn on the day of the entrance exam, it was a drop in the ocean.

‘It’s nice and quiet.’

Grace walked through the academy grounds in the early morning like that, letting out a long breath. The dark street, as if life had not yet begun to stir. The season had turned to spring, but the temperature was still cold before the sun rose. Her breath formed a mist as she exhaled, and her cheeks smarted from the cold air.

The 새벽 landscape was not so good that a typical noble young lady would show blatant displeasure. It was silent as if something might appear, and the occasional sounds of birds and insects created a chilling atmosphere. But there was no change in Grace’s expression. She habitually tapped the sword at her waist and took out a memo from her pocket.

[Waterway below Dufaid’s Smithy. Terror attack timed with the entrance ceremony.]

A memo she had written down as soon as she realized she had regressed.

Grace stuffed the paper back into her pocket and used an artifact to change her hair color to blue. She also subtly distorted her face and created a disturbance in the aura emanating from her body to make it feel like that of a mage. After briefly checking herself in a mirror, she moved her steps towards the entrance leading down to the waterway.

‘So much has already changed from the previous turn.’

Grace thought as she tapped the scabbard.

There were many discrepancies between the ‘past’ she had experienced and the present.

The fact that Asel, famous as a spell-hater and mage hunter, became a mage, the rampant state of monsters appearing much later now, the proliferation of demon worshipers who should still be accumulating power, the labyrinth that should have been cleared long ago still being intact, and so on.

The differences were countless if listed. Of course, there were a few things that were the same. Grace had delved into those and preemptively secured some useful items. But the problem was that there were many more things that were different. Specific items weren’t where they should be, and were where they shouldn’t be.

To call it a butterfly effect, Grace hadn’t done anything significantly large yet. Clearing a few criminal organizations beforehand and showing prominence at a young age could not have caused such a large ripple effect.

Clearly… clearly there was something she didn’t know.

Thinking that, as she moved her steps, she arrived at the entrance to the waterway.

There were no guards guarding the entrance. Since entering the waterway itself wasn’t strictly prohibited, it was only natural.

Grace briefly checked the map written on the back of the memo, chewed on a piece of dried fruit, and opened the door. Soon, she began descending the damp stairs.

There was no foul odor. As the academy meticulously manages it, this waterway was in much better condition than most large cities. In the first place, it was so thoroughly enchanted with various magic that it was harder for it to get dirty. If strange actions occurred inside, boundary magic would activate, allowing for automatic tracking and restraint.

It was magic Grace didn’t need to worry about. She had no intention of causing a disturbance here.

For now.

She descended into the waterway and walked towards her destination. Water-type spirits floated on the clean water. They splashed around freely but felt Grace’s aura and all fled back to the spirit realm. Grace frowned watching them.

‘There are spirits. That means no part of the waterway is contaminated.’

Considering that the terror attack was supposed to happen nearby, it was absurd. Water spirits only play in clean and pure water. For the polluted spirit rampage terror that occurs during the entrance ceremony to happen, the water in the waterway must not be clean.

‘…This is also twisted?’

Regardless of her suspicion, her body continued to move forward. And so, she arrived at the waterway directly below Dufaid’s Smithy. The only things that greeted her were the clean flowing water and the quiet echo of her footsteps.

“…Ha.”

There was nothing unusual. Grace let out an empty laugh and pushed back the hood she was wearing.

Reflecting on her experience, if something that happened in the previous turn didn’t occur, it would invariably return in some other form. That was why Grace had hoped that at least the things happening at the academy would be exactly the same as before.

But her expectations were betrayed spectacularly.

Given this, it was impossible to prepare in advance or preemptively strike. She had to deal with it through improvisation somehow.

“…”

Grace’s face darkened.

She wanted to see Asel.

***

The entrance ceremony begins at 10 AM and ends before evening. So Asel, the day before the entrance ceremony, instead of forcing himself to stay up until dawn, went to bed early and woke up in the early morning. He forced his heavy eyelids open and lightly cast a spell to shake off fatigue.

He got out of bed, used telekinesis to tidy up his bedding, then went into the bathroom to wash up. He used magic to dry off completely. After that, he put on the uniform designated as the entrance ceremony attire and opened the window for ventilation.

Opening the window in Asel’s room offered a direct view of the training ground located behind the dormitory. It was a training ground created for the students of the Knight Faculty who handle weapons. Scarecrows made of straw stood in various places, and equipment for physical training was gathered in one spot.

Perhaps because there were only two physically-focused freshmen staying at Wijzel? No one was visible in the training ground. Ellen seemed to be sleeping, and he hadn’t seen Grace’s face yet as she hadn’t moved in. Lacey said she would be moving in today due to personal circumstances. It seemed she planned to arrive after the entrance ceremony.

‘What circumstances does she have that makes her arrive so late?’

He was curious, but he soon dismissed it. It was right to quickly shake off curiosity about others’ personal lives. Holding onto it would only stir up trouble unnecessarily.

Asel looked at the training ground, then turned his head towards the clock. There were still about three hours left until the entrance ceremony. There was plenty of time to prepare leisurely. Thinking so, he brought a glass of cold water and looked out the window again.

Just then, his gaze caught sight of a woman with red hair entering the training ground.

It was Grace. She was wearing sportswear that exposed her stomach and armpits coolly and leggings, with her hair tightly tied back. Then, after lightly warming up, she began running around the training ground. Her face was expressionless, but conversely, she seemed to be deep in thought. Asel sipped his water and observed her.

“Huu…”

Grace ran exactly ten laps around the training ground, then wiped off her sweat and started doing strength training. Even from a distance, she was lifting a considerable weight. A heavy sound echoed each time she placed the equipment on the ground.

‘I’d lose if I fought her bare-handed.’

While Asel was having a silly thought, Grace finished her strength training and took a blunted sword gathered in the corner, beginning to strike the scarecrows. At first, she swung the sword without any aura, gradually raising her aura as she continued her training.

After quite some time, Grace’s eyes narrowed for a moment. She imbued a part of her raised aura into the sword and swung it directly towards the scarecrow’s neck.

Slash!

Even though the sword was blunted, the blade she swung cut off the scarecrow’s head without any resistance. The straw head rolled on the ground. Grace, who had been standing still, controlling her energy, looked at the pile of straw and let out an ‘Ah’.

“Isn’t cutting this not allowed? Do I have to pay compensation?”

She muttered that, then wiped the sweat from her forehead and turned around. Then she picked up the water bottle she had placed on the ground, looked up at the sky, and drank water.

“…”

“…”

Their eyes met like that. Grace froze in the act of drinking water, and Asel smiled and waved his hand.

“Hello.”

“Keh… Kek kek…!!”

Grace spat out the water she was drinking just like that. Perhaps she choked, she coughed several times and hit her chest. With that, water droplets splashed everywhere from her sweat-soaked top. Her breasts, which were not just large but violently so, also jiggled wildly.

Asel subtly averted his gaze from that scene.

He felt like something big would happen if he kept looking.

***

Since it wasn’t appropriate to talk in the dormitory, Asel went down to the training ground before Grace could collect herself.

Fortunately, Grace quickly recovered. Her disordered breathing also returned to normal, and perhaps the distracting thoughts she couldn’t hide were gone, as she was smiling broadly the whole time. Asel sat on a bench with her and talked.

She tucked the hair that was obstructing her side vision behind her ear and asked in a shy voice.

“Oh, it’s been a while. Asel. Have you been well?”

“So-so. How about you?”

“I was… busy, but it wasn’t bad!”

“When did you move into the dormitory? I didn’t see you yesterday.”

“At dawn! I came straight after finishing my business. I didn’t need a carriage as I didn’t have much to pack. I came in quietly.”

Grace giggled and placed her hands neatly on her knees.

The cold and cool atmosphere she had shown at dawn was nowhere to be seen. She fidgeted, repeatedly glancing at Asel and breaking into smiles, like a girl who had recently discovered love. As if just watching him was enough.

Then, she suddenly widened her eyes at a fact that came to mind and pursed her lips. It looked like she had something to say but was wondering if she should bring it up. After quite some time, she finally seemed to make up her mind and opened her mouth.

“Um… Asel. What I said the other day…”

“…? What are you talking about?”

“T-the thing about calling you a magic weirdo. I’m sorry, I didn’t mean it like that. I was just a little surprised…”

“Ah.”

He wondered what she was talking about, but she must mean what happened at the tent.

It was something Asel had forgotten about until Grace brought it up. If they had genuinely argued and criticized each other, he would still remember, but they had parted ways quite amicably without any such thing. There was no need to hold onto the other person’s slip of the tongue and take revenge.

“It’s okay. I’m not bothered by it, so don’t blame yourself too much.”

“R-really? That’s a relief.”

Grace placed a hand on her chest and let out a sigh of relief. Asel smiled faintly and watched her, then realized she was getting closer and unconsciously blurted out.

“You’ve gotten closer than a moment ago. Do you have something to say secretly?”

“…! I-I’m sorry! I didn’t realize!”

Grace was startled and quickly returned to her original spot. She made a sound like ‘Ugh’ and rolled her eyes back and forth.

She had resolved through her conversation with Asel in the tent to bury unnecessary emotions and memories in the past, but as she talked with him again like this, her old habits began to creep out.

She immediately wanted to burrow into Asel’s arms, smell his scent, leave marks on his neck and shoulders, and deeply engrave teeth marks where anyone could see. She wanted to mark him as hers all over his body.

Her unconscious approach towards him was because such thoughts were dormant in a place Grace herself was not aware of. Upon realizing it, her desire was further ignited. But she squeezed out patience she didn’t have to suppress her desire.

‘I have to bear it…! Asel and I are just friends yet…!’

She hypnotized herself like that and watched Asel’s reaction. Asel wore an awkward expression at her reaction, which was more intense than he expected.

“…I didn’t mean it negatively.”

“No, no. You said it because you felt burdened, right? I’ll smell sweaty too. I’m fine!”

“…Really? You don’t look fine at all.”

“It’s just a momentary flush! It’ll subside soon!”

Grace said that, then began taking deep breaths to compose herself. After doing so, her desires subsided to some extent shortly after. She opened her closed eyes and let out a final long breath.

“Ah, you two were here.”

Just then, Lacey, who was inside the dormitory, approached the two. She immediately continued speaking before Asel could open his mouth.

“The Dean is looking for both of you.”

“…The Dean?”

“Yes.”

Lacey nodded her head.

“He said he had something to tell you regarding the top rank before the entrance ceremony.”