How Cute

“Wow~ Well, this is unavoidable. I completely lost. Totally lost.”

“…To think that a 1-star is attending Luin Academy.”

I put down the practice sword I was holding and raised my hand with a pleasant smile.

The student who was sparring with me seemed unsatisfied with my reaction and grumbled.

At the same time, the class ended.

This was truly welcome news for me, who had been making a moderate effort.

Let me return the practice sword and head home with a beaming face.

Oh, by the way, my whole body is aching. Is it because I performed a good deed yesterday by throwing my body? Well, I’ve never exerted my body like this in my life.

I don’t even know what state my body is in right now.

Will it get better if I just rest?

I was about to head home with these thoughts.

“Sion.”

Sheena, with her blue hair, stopped me as I was about to leave.

Even in my heavy-bodied state, seeing Sheena’s face makes me feel like my fatigue is melting away.

Along with that, numerous jealous gazes pour down from around us.

I understand. Sheena is popular.

Beautiful appearance, upright character, but the mysteriousness of not letting anyone get close makes her stand out even more.

But for some reason, Sheena now has a slightly stiff face.

Like a teenage girl who seems to be nervous

Seeing Sheena with such a rigid face reminds me of how she stiffened her face and suddenly disappeared yesterday.

Could her stopping me now be related to that?

“…Miss Sheena?”

Hearing my voice, she hesitated for a moment and then carefully asked.

“Sion, are you tired?”

“No, no! If I were already tired right after school ended, I’d be no better than a scarecrow, not a person. What can I do for you?”

Oh my, has my fatigue completely shown through?

I should be careful not to worry her unnecessarily.

“Um… do you have some time?”

“Haha, for Miss Sheena, I should make time even if I don’t have any.”

I forced a smile while hiding my tired appearance. With the ‘Deceiver’ trait, she probably won’t notice.

“Ah… if you don’t have time, you don’t need to force yourself. I’m sorry. I spoke out of turn.”

Sheena’s face stiffened slightly as she spoke.

The way she takes each of my words seriously is both amusing and cute. This is why I enjoy conversing with Sheena.

“Kuhup, that’s just a figure of speech. Miss Sheena, let me give you some advice as a friend. If you believe everything others say so literally, you’ll get into trouble someday.”

“…I don’t think I’ll get into trouble as long as you don’t speak that way.”

Sheena, who belatedly realized she had been played, grumbled while slightly crumpling her face. Has she grown?

But Sheena’s expression quickly stiffened again as before.

I’m curious about what she wants to say that makes her have such an expression.

“Um… so, you see… well…..”

Sheena, blushing intensely and rolling her eyes here and there.

“So… Sion is… that is…”

She, not knowing what to do, eventually closed her eyes tightly and almost shouted.

“S-Sion, are you in a relationship with Lady Charlotte?!”

Sheena’s face was bright red as she blurted this out.

After observing her for a moment, I could roughly guess why she had been stiffening her face since yesterday.

It’s natural for her to show such a jealous reaction when seeing her only friend getting along well with someone else, especially another girl.

It’s a pure and fresh appearance appropriate for her age.

Jealous Sheena, something I’ve never seen in the game, this is precious. I should store this completely in my head.

“I didn’t know Miss Sheena had such an interest in me. This is quite embarrassing.”

“Th-that’s not it! It’s… um…”

Sheena falls apart.

That clumsy appearance of not being able to express her emotions fluently in language is unbearably cute.

“…Well, it does seem like you two are much closer than with me. Somehow you’ve even started calling each other by first names.”

Grabbing the laughter trying to escape from my mouth by the collar and putting it back in, I managed to open my mouth.

“Haha. You misunderstand, Miss Sheena. How could a plain person like me be in a relationship with Lady Charlotte? As you know, Lady Charlotte has an outgoing personality, so we just became friends quickly. My first friend will always be you, Miss Sheena.”

“…Is that so?”

“Yes. Don’t you believe me? We’re friends, aren’t we?”

“If Sion says so. Then… may I ask one more thing?”

“What is it?”

“I told you before that I can see the special power others possess, didn’t I?”

“Yes.”

“I clearly sensed two special powers in you. But precisely yesterday, I began to sense a higher level of power from you than before.”

Sheena continued.

“What’s even more surprising is… that power has become even stronger today. As if it has advanced one step forward. If the previous one shone with a purple light… this newly acquired power is shining with a golden light.”

Hmm… from what I’m hearing, what Sheena saw is probably my Wanderer class.

Since Wanderer is a legendary grade superior to Counter and Deceiver, it would naturally feel more advanced to Sheena than what she had seen in me before.

And that power, that is, the Wanderer becoming stronger, is probably because… I awakened ‘Yengak’ while throwing myself to save Elise yesterday.

[You are going against your nature. You feel a vague approach of ‘Yengak’]

It was really sudden. To gain enlightenment just from trying to save a person.

It seems that I gain enlightenment by going against my nature… which is quite troubling.

I need to go against my nature, but I don’t know what my nature is.

If knowing oneself was easy, everyone would be a monk.

As long as I don’t know what my nature is, it’s impossible to intentionally gain enlightenment.

My own nature. I don’t know how long it will take to find my nature, but at least I won’t find it easily.

“Haha, growth and I really don’t go well together.”

I casually scratched my face while looking at a distant mountain.

I’m perplexed about whether I should reveal this Wanderer class to Sheena, and if I do, how I should explain it.

The concept of class is always a term from the game system.

To explain this to a being within the game, I would need to provide appropriate analogies…

“Don’t you want to tell me?”

“N-no, that’s not it…”

As I tried to evade, Sheena looked down at the ground gently and puffed her cheeks very slightly.

“…And we’re friends.”

…Tremendous destructive power! To think that Sheena, who always shows mature and admirable behavior, would sulk like this.

Faced with this unexpected ambush, I had no choice but to surrender.

“Normally, I wouldn’t have revealed this to anyone… but since Miss Sheena is my first friend, I’ll tell you. But you must not tell anyone else, okay?”

“Of course!”

Sheena’s downcast eyes sparkled brightly. Is she excited because it feels like sharing a secret with a friend?

“Two days ago, a spirit named Merquin gave me a blessing, didn’t she? With that blessing as a catalyst, I awakened a new power. A power called Wanderer. Thanks to it, I can perform various skills.”

“By skills, you mean…”

“Well, Miss Sheena, would you hide your right hand behind your back? So I can’t see it.”

Sheena obediently hid her hand behind her back as I requested.

“Now, please extend your fingers as you wish. I’ll try to guess how many fingers you’ve extended.”

Sheena tilted her head, wondering what I was talking about, but soon followed my request and extended her fingers.

Two.

“Two.”

“…Didn’t you just guess correctly by chance?”

“You’re quite suspicious, Miss Sheena. Is this how you trust your friend? If you still don’t believe me, how about trying again?”

“This time, you won’t be able to guess.”

Four.

“Four.”

“…”

Sheena gave no reaction and moved her fingers again. This time it’s one.

“One.”

“…Have you awakened the ability to read others’ minds?!”

With each number I recited, her eyes grew wider, and she eventually expressed slight astonishment.

Khuhu, this is so satisfying. My fatigue is completely gone.

“That’s not it. How should I explain… an ability to cram everything happening in the surrounding environment into my head?”

“Oh… that would be very useful for reading not only an opponent’s movements but also understanding the surroundings.”

“The only downside is that my head throbs quite a bit.”

“Still… I’m envious. I will definitely receive a blessing next semester.”

Sheena clenched her fist and made a firm resolution. Someone like Sheena would easily receive a blessing.

Should I yield the next blessing?

“Ah, and this isn’t all.”

“There’s another ability?”

“I awakened another ability just yesterday. Are you curious?”

This is not a lie.

Just yesterday, with a new Yengak, that is, enlightenment, I gained one more ability that could be deployed as a Wanderer.

“I am curious.”

Sheena looked at me with wide eyes full of expectation.

When someone expects something, you should respond accordingly.

“Please bring your ear closer.”

Sheena carefully brought her ear to me.

“It’s…”

“It is?”

I whispered in her ear.

“A secret.”

I couldn’t see it, but at that moment, Sheena’s expression seemed to completely sour.