Appearance

After talking with Estel about future plans, I headed to the Messiah clubroom on the second basement floor of the main building.

The conversation went on longer than expected. Amber even joined in to flesh out the roughly sketched plan, and I ended up skipping dinner.

I thought everyone would have returned to the dormitory since it was late, but there were still two people in the clubroom.

Aria was snoring and scratching her belly on the bed, and Luna was sitting at her desk, studying something diligently. She was so focused that she didn’t even notice I had arrived, her eyes fixed on the book.

Thinking I should get Aria back to the dormitory first, I carefully approached the bed. Aria, who had become chubby and cute during the vacation, was back to her old self. No, the dark circles under her eyes suggest she’s been having a hard time lately.

“Aria, it’s late. You should go back to the dormitory now.”

As I woke Aria up with those words, she sleepily opened her eyes and immediately reached out her hand to me in the air.

“Just teleport me to the dormitory like this. With space magic, papak…!”

“You wanna get papak-ed? Get up now.”

When I pretended to flick her forehead, Aria finally grumbled and got up, yawning widely before turning to me.

“…Ross seems busy these days.”

“It’s almost the triathlon. There’s more to do than I thought, so I’m busy.”

For some reason, when I solve one problem, two more come back. If it weren’t for my karma, I would have run away a long time ago.

Aria frowned, touching her disheveled brown hair.

“I’m not even participating in the triathlon…! Why is it so hard…!!!”

From the day of the opening ceremony, Aria started receiving separate training from Professor Leora. That was why she returned to the clubroom and lay on the bed like a corpse after training.

“Still, the diet effect is definitely there.”

“…I might end up with just bones left.”

Aria, who had been whining, glanced at me slyly. Understanding the meaning of that look, I let out a hollow laugh and took out a box of chocolates from the space warehouse.

I warned Aria, who was eagerly shining her eyes and politely holding out her hands as if she had been waiting for it.

“Eat in moderation and brush your teeth before you sleep. Don’t skip it because you’re too lazy.”

For some reason, it felt like Aria might have fallen asleep while eating before. I hadn’t seen it, but I could somehow be sure.

“Ross… are you my dad?”

At Aria’s pouting face, I brought the box of chocolates, which I was about to put on her hands, back to my side.

“Fine, then no.”

“Okay! I’ll listen to you!”

When I handed the chocolates to Aria, who had become polite again, she left the clubroom without even saying thank you. She looked like a cat getting a treat from its owner and running away.

With a sigh, I turned my gaze to Luna. Aria had been quite noisy, but perhaps because she had a strong concentration, Luna was still focused on the book, diligently calculating something in her notebook. The expression ‘engrossed’ suits her.

I had seen her reading or studying before, but this was the first time I had seen her so focused. I quietly headed to the sofa where I could see Luna’s face.

It’s a face I see every day, but I find a different charm every time. I should be used to it by now, but this feeling is something I can’t get used to at all.

Just seeing her pursing her lips, moving her eyes diligently, and concentrating makes me smile for no reason.

It pushes away all the negative emotions inside me, and soft feelings take their place. I can’t deny that it’s a strange yet pleasant addiction.

Just being in the same space makes the faint emotions deepen with Luna’s color. It feels like a part of me that was somehow lacking is being filled.

I think that today with Luna is the happiest day, but I also have the expectation that tomorrow will be even happier.

A person who makes me look forward to tomorrow.

That was what Luna meant to me.

After staring at her with my chin propped up for a while, Luna finally finished her calculations, put down her fountain pen, and stretched.

“Heueung―.”

I couldn’t help but smile at the expression on her face, which was filled with the satisfaction of solving a problem. Luna flinched, startled by the sound. She’s like a scared puppy, so cute that I want to pet her.

“R-Ross?! H-How long have you been here?”

“Not long. I was just watching you because you seemed so focused.”

Thinking she had shown me an embarrassing side of herself, Luna’s face flushed, and she covered her face with both hands. Does Luna still not know what I like?

I got up from the sofa and approached Luna. And without a word, I gently hugged Luna from behind. I feel relieved by Luna’s scent that tickles my nose.

Every time I try to hug Luna, I feel a small sense of unease. I have a shallow anxiety that she might not like me hugging her, or that she might reject me.

That must be a common anxiety between me and Ross.

But that small anxiety always melts away in Luna’s warm warmth and turns into satisfaction and happiness.

“Watching you quietly, I think I’ve fallen for you again.”

As I whispered that in her ear, I could feel Luna flinch. When I burst out laughing, Luna suddenly lowered her hands that were covering her face and kissed me on the cheek.

When I looked at her in surprise, Luna, who had met my gaze, said shyly.

“…I fell for Ross first.”

Her face reveals unadorned, vivid emotions. She’s someone who suits the expression ‘lovely’. Because of that, I sometimes feel mischievous.

“I didn’t mean to have a competition.”

As I said that with a smile, Luna pursed her lips and, contrary to my expectations, leaned closer to me.

At a distance where our breaths mingled, Luna looked straight at me. Her blue eyes shone like beautiful jewels.

“I’m just confessing. So that Ross can know my heart.”

My heart is pounding wildly. As if the previous heartbeats were a lie. I was an addict with no way out of this emotion that permeated deeply and intensely without any permission.

“…I don’t think I can hold back the kiss any longer.”

Luna answered my mischievous words, which hid my shyness, with a kiss. At the end of the day, I felt a warm warmth from her leaning on me.

***

I don’t know where the rumor started, but within a few days, a rumor spread rapidly among the nobles.

A rumor of a monster who makes deals with demons or kills those involved in pseudo-religious cults.

The rumor is that he killed Tarantula, the Green Magic Tower Master who made a deal with a demon, and even brutally killed the Sixth Imperial Prince, a member of the Imperial Family, for human sacrifice.

The rumor grew even more based on trust because the Green Magic Tower Master had not been seen recently and his whereabouts were unknown after heading north.

Everyone was having lively discussions about who the monster was and speculating about the reasons for his killings.

Some saw it as the emergence of a new hero to punish the wicked.

Others interpreted it as the emergence of a new great evil that only devours small evils.

When it was revealed that the Green Magic Tower had unofficially requested the Imperial Family to search for the Magic Tower Master, there was no one in the capital who didn’t know the rumor.

In a situation where everyone’s attention was focused, letters arrived for those named in Modiste. The rumor was that the monster would participate in this Modiste meeting under the name ‘Lily’.

Originally, there was no one who would miss the meeting. Modiste’s information power was already incomparable to other information guilds.

Even the most secret secrets that one thought only they knew were just passing stories at the meeting. It is a meeting where it is a loss for anyone named in Modiste not to attend.

The fact that the person in the rumor, who had not shown himself anywhere, would appear in such a place made the participants feel a sense of pride in the meeting.

It is a place where those who believe that information is the most powerful weapon gather. And in fact, most of them are people who have the power to rule many people by wielding that information as a weapon.

It was an opportunity to see the new trend with their own eyes before anyone else.

There was no way that Princess Bella, Roel’s lover, would miss that opportunity.

The basement of Modiste’s secret building. A place like a giant cave using space expansion magic was, as always, filled with all sorts of fancy decorations and people who minimized exposure with masks and robes.

Maids in maid outfits are busily preparing food on a long table. All sorts of chefs gathered under the cooperation of money and threats to cater to the picky guests.

Food that satisfies the palates of gourmets is constantly coming out, like a festival, and the musician’s music does not stop. There is no unnecessary movement in the maids and servers.

This meeting perfectly packages luxury. All participants are nobles who know etiquette, and only people who act that way.

The Modiste Guild Master, wearing a black cat mask, sat at the head of the long table, wearing a beautiful gothic black dress and diligently playing with her spoon.

There was a single empty seat next to the Guild Master. The participants speculated that the seat might be for ‘Lily’.

The location of the seat has great significance in the meeting. The more influential a person is, the closer they sit to the Guild Master.

Then, how much of a person is Lily, who sits next to the Guild Master at her first participation? A strange question settled in one side of the participants’ hearts.

Suddenly, the bell of the luxurious clock hanging on the wall rang. It was the sound that always announced the start of the meeting, but Lily’s seat was still empty.

Could it be that she’s not participating? Someone turned their head and looked expectantly for the door to open, but the closed, heavy iron door showed no sign of opening.

The participants glanced around, but no one came forward. Even the Guild Master, who should start the story by tapping the glass with a spoon, is silent.

A deep silence fell on the table.

At the moment when the deep silence fell.

Without any warning, everyone in that place felt a huge presence. As if tearing through space, an abyss with a size that would swallow everything in this space appeared in the air with a red flash.

I feel that the flow of air has changed. Even the survival instinct detects danger and wets the palms with sweat.

While everyone was blankly looking at it in the sudden situation, they suddenly felt an intense energy that broke through the deep silence.

A man wearing a bizarre mask and a pure white robe emerged from the abyss that seemed to suck in all the light. Black and white. It was only natural that the eyes of everyone sitting at the table were focused on that clear contrast.

This is the ‘Lily’ of the rumors.

No one explained it, but everyone could clearly know it with that intense presence.

The abyss behind Lily boasts an enormous density.

The iron door remained closed. Lily appeared in this place as if by magic, without any warning.

There was no one among the participants here who did not know that it was fundamentally different from teleportation.

Is Lily perhaps manipulating [Space]?

When that thought flashed through the participants’ minds. Lily moved to her seat. The abyss, which boasted a huge density, disappeared without a trace, and only the sound of footsteps echoed in the space where even breathing was silenced.

Just walking silently, Lily’s enormous presence made the people sitting nearby lower their eyes without realizing it.

They had not talked about what kind of person Lily was, but everyone could forcibly realize it.

A mass of madness united by one belief.

Even people who had never actually experienced madness felt an ominous feeling that constantly stimulated the survival instinct engraved in their blood.

Lily, who sat in her seat, scanned everyone sitting at the table with eyes that seemed to see through everything. Only a handful of people could withstand that gaze.

A monster that boasts a strong presence just by being in the same space. Naturally, the evaluation that Lily is a Sword Master class person comes to people’s minds.

“Welcome, Lily. Is this your first meeting?”

Lily silently reached out and took the golden wine glass from the Guild Master’s hand.

The participants gasped at that arrogant behavior, but the person who committed the rudeness nonchalantly brought the glass to her lips.

It was as if she was telling everyone that she was allowed to do so.

Lily, who had emptied the glass, finally opened her mouth.

“Let’s begin.”

It was a voice that made me feel like countless voices were overlapping.

It is even a hollow voice that does not contain any emotion.

At the same time as that word, the presence that had been pressing down on the table disappeared in an instant.

The sound of someone swallowing could be heard.