Chapter 37: Exam’s over! Part 1

The Friday the exam ended, countless students rushed out of the school through the system, but by Saturday morning, almost all the students had disappeared from campus.

The five who went to the system to hang out were no exception, including Ellie.

“What should we do first? Where do we start?”

The one most excited and with shining eyes was Isabel, but Clea, Stella, and even Philia were fidgeting too.

After something difficult, everyone wants to relax.

It’s the reward mentality at work.

But the reward mentality works in proportion to how difficult things were.

They all wanted to have fun.

And they wanted to have a lot of fun.

Ellie, seeing her friends’ transparent expressions as they thought, ‘I’m going to enjoy it as much as I struggled…! I’m going to have so much fun!!’, smiled wryly.

‘Guess I have to make sure they don’t do anything weird.’

Of course, she’d let them have fun, and she herself would have fun too.

The midterms were tough for Ellie as well.

In modern Korea, when girls go out together, the first stop is usually a delicious restaurant, followed by a cute café to take pictures for social media.

Depending on their preferences, they might take life-changing photos or add visits to exhibitions, clubs, or a walk along the river.

There may not be pictures in this world, but enjoying good food and seeing beautiful things is timeless.

“I’ve heard of a place; how about we have a meal there first?”

Following Clea’s recommendation, they enjoyed an expensive course meal at a restaurant.

“I heard there’s a jewelry district down that street. How about we take a look? Not that I really want to see anything.”

Following Stella’s suggestion, they all giggled while looking at pretty stones.

It was supposed to end as window shopping.

“This isn’t expensive at all. How about I buy one for each of you?”

Isabel, who had extraordinary wealth among the nobles, said that.

“R-really…? Ah, no… Even though we’re friends, I can’t just accept something like this…”

“Stella, stop looking and speak.”

Ellie thought for a moment and then decided.

“Then, Isabel, would you like to buy them? Let’s each get one in our symbolic color.”

“Each?”

“Yeah. Each. How about friendship rings or friendship necklaces?”

The girls’ faces lit up at those words.

“I love that!”

Isabel shouted.

They all had the same idea.

There was a brief debate about whether to choose rings, necklaces, or bracelets, but in the end, they agreed on necklaces.

“Then, sir, could you pick a pretty stone for each of us that matches our hair color? Oh, please make mine transparent.”

“Yes, of course! Please wait a moment!”

The jeweler, seeing such unexpected big customers, chuckled and went into the back of the store, returning a moment later.

“Now, how about these five? They’re a perfect size for necklaces. The colors are beautiful and the quality is excellent. If you’d like, I can cut them into the same shape and make them into necklaces.”

“Q…!”

“…!”

‘Could it be that jewels have a magical power over women?’ Now, the girls’ cheeks were flushed red as they imagined owning these beautifully sparkling stones, their hearts racing.

Only Ellie remained calm.

She picked up the stone, smiling as she said.

“Sir, this is fake.”

“!?”

The girls, who had been looking at the stones with shining eyes, now showed expressions of shock.

Ellie, stopping her friends who were about to shout, turned to the calm-looking jeweler and asked again.

“Excuse me? Could you explain why this is fake?”

“Hehehe, I’m really sorry. My eyes haven’t been so good lately, so I must have made a mistake.”

The jeweler laughed naturally, picked up the fake gemstone, and sighed dramatically.

“Ah, this really is fake! I apologize again. I must have picked the wrong one from the ones next to it.”

“Really?”

Ellie smiled lightly.

“Then, could you show me the box where you brought it from? I’d like to see if you can really make a mistake between a fake and a real one sitting side by side.”

“…That’s…”

“You wouldn’t be able to, would you? If you really were a jeweler who knew your eyes weren’t good.”

“Ha, haha, well, the thing is, I was doing a quick stock clearance—”

“Sir.”

Ellie smiled and shook her head.

“Honestly, I expected this kind of trick once I came in here. So, if you apologized right away and backed down, I was willing to just lower the price and let it slide.”

But.

“Now that you’re being so shameless, I’m getting angry. But more than that, I can’t believe it. You’re just babbling because you’re scared you got caught.”

Ellie held up the fake gemstone and casually crushed it.

Of course, even though it was a fake gemstone, it wasn’t made of sugar, so even an adult man couldn’t crush it with just two fingers.

The jeweler’s eyes widened as he realized Ellie was a magician.

“Is this the system? Do you really think that if I drag this stone and you in front of the judge, you’ll be set free just by making some ridiculous excuses?”

“Th-that’s…”

“Or should I just use my friends’ authority and kill you? Do you think the judges will come after me to punish me?”

“Th… “

“Ugh, forget it.”

Ellie sighed.

“Sir.”

“…Yes.”

“How much do you think your life is worth?”

“…I-I’ll give you five of the best jewels from the shop…”

“Is that all? If we’re talking about the price of your life, shouldn’t it be your entire fortune?”

“Well, I don’t own them completely. I have them on the condition that most of the sales revenue goes back to the original owner…! If we talk about the amount, it’s equivalent to my entire fortune!”

“…Hah. From the way you’re talking, it seems like you still have a bit left, but I’ll let it slide. Bring them here.”

“Yes!”

The merchant went back to the shop’s back.

Ellie turned around and, awkwardly smiling at her friends’ staring eyes, said, “What’s up?”

“Nothing.”

“Okay.”

It was just another typical ‘Ellie action.’

Her friends were starting to get used to it.

They always thought she was amazing, though.

***

An hour later, the five girls walked out into the market street, each holding a necklace with a high-quality jewel.

“…It’s pretty, really.”

Philia muttered, looking at the red stone that resembled her.

“Yeah. It’s pretty. I’ll wear it to bed tonight too.”

What I like even more is that the necklace design is the same for all of them.

‘So this is what it’s like to match something with friends.’

Something that clearly shows we’re friends, and something that will remind me of them even when I’m alone.

I felt surprisingly warm inside.

It’s pretty good.

Yeah. It’s pretty good.

‘If this were the country I was in before entering the academy, I would have cringed at hearing the words friendship necklace.’

Philia suddenly became embarrassed and cleared her throat.

Whether it was because of her past self or her current self, or maybe both, she wasn’t sure.

***

“What are we doing now?”

“Hmm… well, I do want to visit one place now that we’re here.”

Ellie said, holding a roasted potato she bought from a street vendor.

“Where?”

“Southern District 3-2.”

Clea’s eyes widened at the address she had heard before.

Ellie nodded at her.

“Yeah. I want to see if that old man is okay.”

The ‘old man’ was, of course, Master Classman.

However, when they arrived, the workshop door was firmly closed.

When Ellie stopped a passing noblewoman and asked, she was told that the shop had closed about a month ago and that he had left somewhere.

“Thank you!”

After sending the woman on her way, Philia asked, “Isn’t this a bad thing?”

“Huh? What do you mean?”

“You had a contract with him, right? But now that this has happened, the contract period…”

“Ah, was that what you meant? No, no, that’s absolutely not it.”

Ellie added, as if it were obvious.

“That old man, even if he dies, he won’t break the contract. Even if he dies, he’ll probably find a way to keep it.”

Philia looked at Ellie’s eyes as she said that and suddenly wondered, Just how far can she see with those eyes?

And anyone verified by Ellie would surely be an amazing person, or at least a good one.

‘Wait a second.’

If the person Ellie had verified was amazing or good, doesn’t that mean I’m one of those ‘verified people’? After all, I’m one of only four of Ellie’s friends.

“Ugh…”

Philia suddenly felt embarrassed.

It was a bit overwhelming, yet she was also happy.

She could feel her face turning bright red.

It wasn’t out of arrogance, but this was the reason Ellie had come to her as a friend.

“Philia? What’s wrong?”

“Oh, nothing. Ahem.”

Clearing her throat alone, Philia asked her friends, “Do you want to take a break for a bit? Or does anyone want to do something?”

***

“Ah! I do!”

Isabel shouted.

“What is it?”

“I want to try drinking alcohol once!”