episode_0041

I walked around the campus for a while with Irha, who was having a blast.

He usually walked a step behind me, at a 45-degree angle, always in his subordinate position, but today he was just walking by my side.

Why is he so happy about Lizley and I breaking up? What’s the big deal?

“What are you doing today, Ras?” Irha, bubbling with excitement, asked me in a bouncy voice.

“First, Rosalie Teacher-nim asked to see me for a bit, so I’ll head to the lab… then I need to help Pisces find a house.”

Irha immediately became dejected again.

“Ah… Teacher-nim, and that detestable crow woman… Ugh… Ras, you have so many pretty women around you, don’t you?”

When I thought about it, despite never having a proper relationship in my previous life, almost all the women who were involved with me, whether by fate or ill fate, were beauties.

Semere, the most beautiful flower on the continent; the warrior of the Sephiroth Empire, a beauty no less stunning; and finally, Rosalie, the Saintess—all were people I had a considerable connection with.

Moreover, Marisa and Pisces, while a little strange, had jaw-dropping looks.

Also, though it’s extremely unpleasant, Lizley’s appearance is outstanding, and even Emma, who is relatively ordinary, or Heidi, who was a maid, would receive quite a few flirtatious glances anywhere.

“That’s true.”

At my agreement, Irha glanced at me repeatedly.

Feeling like teasing him, I began to recite the names of the beautiful women to Irha.

“Rosalie Teacher-nim, Pisces, Marisa, Professor Isera… they really are all beauties.”

“Huh..! What about me?!”

That reaction, bursting out with an indignant voice the moment I mentioned only others’ names and not his own, was incredibly cute.

“You’re pretty too, Irha. I’ve been feeding you well lately, and you’ve got a refined air about you now. And you’ve been training quite diligently too, haven’t you?”

“Hehe..! Is that so?? I need to work even harder then..!!! Ras, I’m going to train today, so I’ll contact you later!”

“Alright. Let’s gather and eat dinner together later. Train hard.”

After sending off Irha, who was skipping away with a bright smile at just one word of praise, I headed to Rosalie’s lab.

*

In Rosalie’s lab, we had a brief consultation of sorts about the blood test results.

She said that my pyro mana factor was slightly different from that of other pyro-affinity users, being stronger but also having some risks, so I would need continuous treatment to lower my body temperature.

“In summary, Ras will have to keep seeing Teacher-nim consistently~ and very regularly from now on. Teacher-nim will take good care of you, so don’t worry too much, okay?”

Rosalie winked as if to tell me not to worry, and stroked my head.

Since I already knew that my Mind’s Eye Realm was a rather unruly power and required continuous management, I meekly submitted my head to her stroking hand.

Come to think of it, Semere had also said similar things after examining my body in the past.

However, the difference was that back then, the overall elements of my being, which they called my mind, qi, and body, were severely damaged, so the diagnosis was almost like a terminal sentence.

“It’s better if we see each other every day, and even if you’re busy, you absolutely must come once every three days. Understood, Ras?”

“Yep..!”

There’s no harm in listening to what the doctor says, no matter what, so I answered very obediently.

“What are you doing now, Ras? Training separately? Studying? Oh, and aren’t you supposed to retake your assessment?”

“The assessment, yes. But today, I’m planning to help Pisces find a house first.”

“Sounds fun! Can Teacher-nim come too? Are you perhaps going on a date with just Pisces, you two? Hehe.”

Rosalie, raising both hands and asking playfully, had a different vibe than usual, but she was plenty cute.

But didn’t Rosalie also know that I was dating Lizley? Why is she excluding Lizley so naturally?

Perhaps Irha’s voice was too loud, and Rosalie heard it from here? I subtly asked her about it.

“Hmm~ No matter how I look at it, I didn’t get *any* vibe that you and Lizley were dating. I first saw her when she came to visit you in the hospital, and you didn’t seem like lovers *at all*. Are you perhaps still in a passionate relationship with Lizley?”

Rosalie’s answer was surprisingly simple and without much explanation, but it was accurate nonetheless.

“No. We broke up. In fact, we practically broke up on the day of that hospital visit… Teacher-nim’s intuition is really amazing.”

“Ung. Rosalie was always known for being smart~ Look at this! People like me, who have a slightly prominent back of the head, are naturally quick-witted and have good intuition.”

Then she took my hand and placed it precisely against the back of her head, which startled me for a moment.

“Oh… it certainly… feels very unique. It’s addictive.”

And the slightly bulging back of her head, which I could barely feel, felt very good to stroke.

“Ras, it’s great that you accept even these sudden, random things! Anyway~ Congratulations, Ras, on escaping from a bad girlfriend who wouldn’t even show her face when you were sick.”

“Haha… Well, I guess you could say it’s thanks to that.”

With that, I held Rosalie, who somehow leaned deeper into my embrace than usual, and continued to stroke her smart head for a long time.

For some reason, Rosalie was purring with her breath today.

*

“Irha, your fighting spirit is great today. Is there something good happening?”

“Ah…!! Yes..!!”

Irha had been receiving private lessons from Professor Isera after school lately.

Professor Isera said that she could see a ‘warrior’s soul’ in Irha… but his fundamentals were lacking to the point that he needed to repeat the rest of the classes.

The stubborn and foolish Irha surprisingly had a good sense for fighting and weapon techniques, and most importantly, he handled the arduous physical training, which might seem boring and difficult, without a single complaint.

“Hehe..! Ras broke up with Lizley and became single. And he told me, ‘You’re pretty too, Irha,’ in a honey-dripping voice. I want to say that, but I have to hold it in!”

‘Hehe, it’s all thanks to Teacher-nim taking such good care of me!!’

And since Irha was such a foolish fellow, he ended up swapping the thought he intended to keep to himself with the appropriate words he intended to say aloud.

“Hmm..? My little Ras broke up? He’s single? And he complimented your looks, Irha?? In a honey-dripping voice?”

“Ah..! *Squawk*..!!”

Unfortunately, Professor Isera had very good hearing, so she didn’t miss a single word of Irha’s, who always had a self-amplification magic active.

Irha, who had involuntarily revealed Ras’s personal affairs, became a seagull sweating profusely, but Professor Isera’s interest was elsewhere.

“Hmm… this boy… he actually knows how to compliment a woman’s looks. In that case, did you steal Ras from Lizley?”

“Ah… it’s not like that… I just said that Ras seems to have a lot of pretty women around him, and then Ras, after hearing that, started naming them one by one…”

Irha was rambling, but Professor Isera was the type to ask a ton of questions about only what she was curious about without giving any chance to be flustered, so she paid little mind to Irha.

“Ohh..! So it means you’re nothing. Who else did he name among the beauties around him? Rosalie was definitely one of them, I presume…”

“Rosalie Teacher-nim, and Marisa, our classmate, and… he talked about Professor-nim too! Then my name came up. And I’m Ras’s subordinate and loyal follower, so we’re super close…”

Meanwhile, Irha had conveniently omitted the annoying Pisces from his story.

“It’s enough that I was on that list. Hehe… Now that he’s single, all that’s left is to legally claim him.”

“…????”

Instead of adding any further explanation, Professor Isera stroked the unusually shiny, luxurious glove as if showing it off.

“There’s a cartel among adults that kids don’t know about, Irha. Anyway… let’s stop here for today.”

“Yes..!”

It seemed Isera was extremely fond of the glove Ras had given her.

*

“It was quite an interesting day, after all.”

Sitting on a bench on the rooftop of the boys’ dormitory and feeling the night breeze that was slowly beginning to carry the scent of summer, I felt refreshed.

The afternoon and evening had passed quite boisterously and loudly.

My number one subordinate, whose eyes had spun around in excitement, shouting, “Maaasterrrrrr…! Please marry Pisces!!” after I helped him find a suitable house that doubled as a research workshop.

Rosalie, sweating profusely trying to pry away and calm down that Pisces, and Pisces’s skit where he was rebelling and squabbling, was surprisingly a heartwarming sight.

Afterwards, Irha and Mirha even joined us for a delicious dinner at ‘Bald Man’s Delight.’

Irha was incredibly excited to visit the restaurant where he used to work, now as a complete guest.

However, it was a slight shame that Professor Isera had disappeared, saying she had something to take care of… but there would be plenty of opportunities to eat together.

Anyway… while I’ve gained emotional richness by becoming quite popular these days, I’m well aware that I shouldn’t become complacent.

“For now… I’ve avoided my body becoming crippled. And I’ve also managed to avoid the Kashrum incident, so at least for the next month or two, my family won’t suddenly be destroyed.”

My father, having listened to my advice, cleanly pulled out of the Kashrum-related matter, which was the most important issue.

After my father had secured the monopoly, he was just about to import Kashrum in large quantities and widely distribute it on the market, so he was able to withdraw without significant losses.

The method my father chose to completely free himself from even the slightest suspicion or connection was voluntary reporting.

‘Under Etgard’s initiative, we imported Kashrum and conducted a final safety inspection just before sale, during which we accidentally discovered a defect. We will dispose of the entire quantity and accept the loss.’

The Kashrum issue was quite important because this hallucinogenic cigar was the very thing that rapidly sent the ailing emperor, whose body was deteriorating, to his grave before my regression.

They said that a component inside reacted with the emperor’s chronic illness and severely affected his body or something…

I don’t know the exact details since I wasn’t a royal official, but anyway, because it directly affected the emperor, Etgard couldn’t avoid ruin.

Normally, Duke Valencia, who presented the item, should have taken responsibility, but there’s no way the Empress’s biological father would take responsibility for such an incident.

Naturally, Etgard was cut off as a scapegoat by Valencia and was utterly crushed by Leon, who had been waiting for his chance.

‘Ras, we succeeded in definitively resolving the Kashrum matter, but we couldn’t completely sever ties with Valencia… I apologize.’

However, a slight variable arose: Rodrigo unfortunately took a liking to my father because of his neat and generous way of handling affairs.

Well… there’s no immediate need to cling to this with my life on the line since Rodrigo won’t be removed by Leon for at least half a year.

Right now, it’s more important to do the things I can do at the academy.

Leon becoming emperor, Lizley becoming empress, and Emma living a life of luxury and ease under them.

I plan to stop these three things myself in this life.

Honestly, whether Lizley cheats or gets discarded by Leon because of it… these things mean nothing to me.

Originally, if they hadn’t thought to provoke me and just left me alone in this life?

I would have just broken up or annulled the engagement with Lizley and let those crazy people claw and bite at each other, and moved on.

In my previous life, the last two people I killed were Lizley and Leon, and as much as I tormented them before killing them, I guess I had intended to give them at least a minimum chance.

However… since these foolish idiots ended up targeting and provoking me again, I no longer have any reason to be lenient.

My response to the Succubus’s Tears incident proceeded as a slightly passive counter-attack, due to Irha’s rehabilitation and the drug’s extremely dangerous nature, but from now on, it would be good to set the stage myself.

“Leon’s power and backing are highly unsatisfactory… so maybe I should build some strong backing for myself first?”

As the saying goes, [fighting fire with fire], when confronting a royal lineage, it’s best to use another royal lineage as a shield.

It was time for Skada and Eisenstein to catch Sephiroth’s eye.

And isn’t a country ruled by an Empress quite romantic, by the way?