Ch.122Chapter 122. Into the Light (3)

“So.”

“Where have you been all this time?”

Emily and Cynthia asked me with sparkling eyes, looking genuinely curious.

I had anticipated this question and prepared my answer, but it still felt burdensome.

Slurp-

I pretended to take a sip of tea to calm myself, avoiding their eyes.

The four of us were together at a café inside the Crescen Academy after a long time.

Since vacation started today, the café was almost empty.

That made it even more uncomfortable.

“Well, I was helping Lady Yuria.”

“Hmm.”

“So you really are part of the Black Shadow Corps, right?”

Cynthia and Emily, except for Elaine, had excited expressions as if they’d known it all along.

‘Well, that’s true.’

“That’s right.”

“Ohhh.”

“I knew it.”

I never thought the day would come when I’d admit to someone else that I belonged to the Black Shadow Corps.

This was only possible because Addy had improved the image of the Black Shadow Corps.

If that hadn’t happened, saying “I’m from the Black Shadow Corps” would have been like committing social suicide.

“Oh, by the way, Elaine knows about you now too. We explained everything while you were gone.”

Cynthia looked back and forth between me and Elaine as if she’d just remembered something.

Nod- Nod-

Elaine glanced at me briefly before giving a slight nod.

“That’s right. I heard everything about what happened through Cynthia.”

Come to think of it, until I revealed my identity to Elaine in the O’Neil Kingdom, she knew nothing about me.

Judging by what Cynthia said, it seems Elaine hadn’t mentioned anything about me while I was away.

Before, Cynthia and Emily knew about me but Elaine didn’t. Now it’s the opposite.

Only Elaine knows the truth that I’m actually the leader of the Black Shadow Corps.

“Yeah. So Ryu, you’re working with the alliance that Aunt Yuria created, right?”

“Huh…?”

Emily suddenly jumped in as if it were an urgent matter.

I knew very well about the alliance Yuria had created.

While I was resting after losing Arte Flora, one of the elders of The Nameless Organization in the west, Yuria discovered quite a lot.

It started with finding important documents about The Nameless Organization at Princess Arte’s quarters.

The “Nameless Organization” that advocated having no name turned out to have a deeper history than expected.

Although no official founding date could be found, according to Yuria’s findings, an organization with the same purpose had existed for at least hundreds of years.

An organization dedicated to reviving the nameless demon that was eliminated by the first emperor of Crescen.

Although their power had grown relatively recently, their goal of reviving the demon had been passed down since ancient times.

Yuria also discovered the organizational structure of The Nameless Organization.

It had a very simple structure.

Led by a leader called the “Founder,” with three elders beneath.

Officially, that was it.

Of course, there were numerous forces following the Founder and personnel under each elder.

And two of those elders had already been captured.

Landgar, the vice-chancellor of Crescen Academy, and Kilvis, who was caught in the O’Neil Kingdom.

The remaining one was Arte Flora, the princess of Flora Kingdom, whom I narrowly missed capturing.

At that point, we thought The Nameless Organization was almost finished.

But as the investigation continued, we discovered that they were closer to achieving their core objective than we thought.

Thanks to the information extracted from Kilvis’s mind in the O’Neil Kingdom.

The Founder, leader of The Nameless Organization, had already completed the preparations needed to revive the nameless demon and had begun the revival ritual.

After the three months required for the ritual, the nameless demon would be revived in the world.

Having learned this, Yuria was using all her intelligence resources to find the Founder during the ritual, but still without success.

This was also why Yuria had openly declared the formation of an alliance.

To find the Founder, who could be considered the last remnant of The Nameless Organization, performing the ritual somewhere.

“I do work with Yuria, I mean, Lady Yuria.”

“Wow! That’s great!”

Emily clenched her fist with genuine delight, smiling brightly.

I already knew that Emily had been accepted into Yuria’s alliance.

However, I didn’t plan to work officially for Yuria’s alliance as Emily hoped.

I actually intended to focus on academy life.

I’d been away from the academy for quite a while, and it was about time for a new quest to appear.

But of all times, it had to be vacation.

“Really…? Ryu, you’re really working there?”

“Uh, umm. Yeah. I guess?”

It was technically true since I wouldn’t completely ignore Yuria’s work while focusing on academy life.

Cynthia asked me again, half-doubting.

To be honest, I wasn’t certain either.

“It seems Ryu isn’t sure either. Let’s not ask questions that are too difficult.”

‘Hmm?’

Elaine interrupted the conversation between Cynthia and me.

At Elaine’s serious tone suggesting they avoid difficult questions, Cynthia was about to say something but then closed her mouth.

It didn’t seem like such a difficult question to me.

“Anyway, the fact that you’ve returned.”

Elaine, who had cut off Cynthia’s words, was still looking at me with a serious expression.

“Does that mean you’ll continue attending the academy?”

“Yeah. That’s right.”

“That’s a relief.”

As she said this, the corners of Elaine’s mouth clearly turned upward, though subtly.

As if she was very pleased.

“This doesn’t seem like such a difficult question to me.”

Elaine’s smile didn’t last long as Cynthia jumped in, puffing her cheeks in disapproval.

“It is a difficult question. Ryu might be in a situation where revealing where he’s active could be challenging.”

Elaine didn’t back down and countered Cynthia’s words.

“That might be true, but… Ryu, is that right?”

“Well, yeah.”

I needed to change the subject quickly.

Trying to avoid the direct gazes of the two women, I thought about how to change the topic and came up with a good idea.

“By the way, Elaine.”

“Yes?”

When I called her name, Elaine responded with a smile, probably thinking I was going to take her side.

“You’re speaking casually with the others now?”

“Ah.”

I’d noticed it earlier but hadn’t mentioned it, and now seemed like a good time.

Elaine, who always maintained a formal posture and polite speech with others, was speaking very casually with Cynthia and Emily.

And this from someone who once said formal speech was much more comfortable and she would never speak casually.

At my observation, Elaine slightly lowered her head, either embarrassed or flustered, and couldn’t continue speaking.

“After our O’Neil Kingdom Knights tour, we decided to speak casually with each other. It would have been so much better if we’d done this earlier.”

Cynthia spoke in a playful voice, answering for Elaine who couldn’t respond.

Emily nodded enthusiastically beside her.

Elaine was completely flustered and couldn’t string her words together properly.

“Why did the conversation suddenly turn this way…”

Elaine muttered quietly with a slightly dissatisfied voice.

“Hmm? Because it’s nice to see. You used to refuse to speak casually no matter how much we asked.”

“…”

Elaine couldn’t respond to my not-quite-criticism.

Cynthia and Emily seized the opportunity to start teasing Elaine.

Watching the three of them bicker, I couldn’t help but smile.

When did they all become so close?

“But why are you still speaking formally to me?”

“Pardon?”

The topic of conversation had completely shifted from the Black Shadow Corps and Yuria’s alliance.

Elaine had a bewildered expression and couldn’t meet my eyes properly.

Mission accomplished in changing the subject.

“Tsk. You speak casually with them, but being so formal with just me makes me feel left out.”

“T-That’s! Well, you and the others are different…!”

“How are we different?”

“…Um, well.”

Elaine flinched at my question, then furrowed her brow as she tried to figure out what to say.

“F-First of all, to say we’re fellow students…”

“We are fellow students, right? Cynthia? Emily?”

“It is a bit strange, but that’s true.”

“Yeah, yeah. That’s right.”

“Uh…”

Elaine’s rebuttal was immediately blocked.

She sent a pleading look to Cynthia and Emily, but the two just smiled.

“So from now on, you’ll speak casually with me too?”

“What? How could I!”

“Hmm? So you’re saying I’m not your equal as a student?”

“No, that’s not it, I mean, Ryu. Please think about it.”

“Hmm. I’m hurt?”

Elaine looked like she was about to cry at my teasing, desperately trying to explain that wasn’t what she meant.

Cynthia and Emily beside her couldn’t hold back their laughter at the sight.

‘This is fun.’

I couldn’t hold back my laughter either.

Though I wasn’t laughing openly, the corners of my mouth naturally turned up seeing Elaine so flustered.

It was a rare sight to see Elaine so panicked and at a loss.

“Sigh, I feel like I’m the only one being kept at a distance. I should go.”

“Ryu, Ryu!”

Pretending not to hear Elaine’s panicked voice, I naturally stood up from my seat.

Emily and Cynthia just smiled, knowing I was joking, but not Elaine.

Completely flustered, she jumped up from her seat and followed me anxiously.

Pfft-

I burst into laughter.