Chapter 59: Estroza’s Frustration

“…I’m sorry. My sister has shown an unsightly display.”

“No, rather… it’s my fault for knocking her unconscious.”

“No. It’s that fool’s problem for not surrendering.”

“…Is that so?”

“I thought she would get into big trouble someday, so you don’t have to worry too much about it.”

---

Creak.

Misako and Sion entered a separate room attached to the dojo.

It was a very small and simple place with only a table.

Misako took out cushions from under the table and laid them on the floor.

Sion felt awkward for no reason, as it resembled a Japanese-style tatami room.

“This place is a room for guests. So, feel free to relax.”

“Then, I’ll be at ease….”

Misako sat facing Sion.

She took out two gold coins and one silver coin from her pocket.

“I will give you the gold coins on behalf of Miyu. Two gold coins and one silver coin… is that right?”

“…Is it okay?”

“She is not a fool who would take back what she said. …If any problems arise later, I will take responsibility. So, accept it.”

“…Yes.”

Clink.

A total of four gold coins and two silver coins.

Sion tightly gripped the wallet in her pocket.

‘I made money in an instant. But… this won’t be enough yet.’

Sion’s goal in earning money was for the next semester’s tuition.

Four gold coins was definitely a lot of money for earning in a day, but it was still far from enough to pay the tuition.

She would have to do a part-time job or adventurer work, or something.

As she was resolving this in her mind, Misako carefully spoke.

“…Winning against Miyu in a match means that there is no problem for you to join the judo club.”

“……That’s true.”

Miyu’s conditions were two.

If she won, she would receive twice the money she received.

If she lost, Sion would not come to the judo club.

In other words, since Sion won, there was no problem for her to join the judo club.

“Sion, I want to hear your thoughts.”

“I don’t really want to join the judo club.”

Sion decided to confront Misako’s question head-on.

Glare!

Misako’s eyes became even more intense.

But Sion did not avoid her gaze either.

‘No matter what, what’s not meant to be, isn’t meant to be.’

There was no reason to join the judo club.

In the first place, she could learn just by looking, so why waste time?

She hadn’t even earned enough tuition yet, so she couldn’t afford to waste time.

Just when she was nervous that she might push her again,

“…I understand.”

“Yes?”

“I reflected on myself after seeing Miyu. I fully understood how dogmatic and ridiculous it is to force one’s thoughts on others….”

She gave a bitter smile.

…Did she reflect on herself through Miyu’s appearance?

Come to think of it, they were both the same in that they clung to Sion to have a match.

“You don’t have to join the club.”

“…Thank you for your consideration.”

“Instead, I have one suggestion to make.”

Misako pointed to her eyes with her finger.

“Surely you said. Before dueling with me for the first time, you wanted to see me duel with Michelle Fontatz.”

“….”

“It’s just my guess, but your eyes seem a bit ‘special’.”

Sion tried to maintain a poker face.

The fewer people who knew about her ‘Identification Eye,’ the better.

Horiyama Misako was probably a good person, but… she didn’t know if she could trust her yet.

“You don’t have to answer. I’m not asking to probe you.”

“…I’m sorry.”

“No, I should be the one apologizing. I must have hurt your feelings. Nevertheless, the reason I’m saying this is… to make a suggestion.”

Swish.

She took out a piece of paper from the table and showed it.

She wondered if it was a club membership application, but it wasn’t.

-Club Observation Consent Form

“…Club observation?”

“Think of it as similar to a lecture at the academy.”

“Ah….”

Auditing (Listening).

It literally refers to the act of listening to a lecture without registering for it.

In this case, it would be closer to the concept of visiting a club that you have not joined.

“I hope you see and learn more techniques.”

“…Are you saying it’s okay for me to copy the techniques I see with my eyes?”

“If that helps, gladly.”

“What’s the reason?”

Sion couldn’t understand.

According to Michelle’s explanation, Misako was a true martial artist who had been learning judo since she was born.

She couldn’t possibly like people like Sion who immediately learn the techniques she saw with her eyes.

She would feel intense jealousy, or feel it was an insult to martial arts.

But why was she making this suggestion?

“See the techniques, learn them, and use them in real combat. If you become interested in judo while doing so… then think about joining again. That’s my suggestion.”

“…What if I don’t join until the end?”

“Then there’s nothing I can do. But I want you to remember. The door to our judo dojo is always open.”

Misako said that and handed over her student ID.

“…Why this?”

“It’s the number on the student ID. Contact me anytime when you want to join or when you want to observe.”

“Ah, okay.”

Simply put, it meant to take down her number.

This was the first time she had been asked so confidently, so she was a little embarrassed.

Sion stared at the student ID for a moment and then reached out.

Her photo was placed alone on the wallpaper of the student ID.

“Senior, you used to have short hair.”

“…That’s a photo from when I was a freshman. I don’t want you to look at it much.”

“Ah, I’m sorry.”

The photo on her student ID that she saw while taking down the number.

It was a short-haired girl with a very rebellious face.

…If she was a 3rd grader now, that meant it was a photo from 2 years ago.

“I’ll take it if you’ve finished taking down the number.”

“Ah, okay.”

Tak!

As soon as Sion finished taking down the number, Misako quickly took her student ID.

Her face was still expressionless, but….

The neck visible between the collars was slightly red.

…Everyone is embarrassed by their student ID photo.

Sion understood her feelings.

---

Meanwhile, at that time.

Adventurer’s Guild located in Bizanti Academy shopping district.

There was a female student neatly dressed in a school uniform.

Slurp-

A woman sitting at a table inside the Adventurer’s Guild and drinking coffee.

No one could approach the atmosphere, which was quite different from the Adventurer’s Guild, where sweat and blood were rampant.

Her name was Estroza Perwell.

She was drinking coffee, and under the table, she was diligently moving her fingers towards her student ID.

‘Since I have time, let’s check what posts have been uploaded to the bulletin board.’

What she was tapping was Byzantium Academy’s student ID.

To be exact, she was operating an application called ‘Bizanti’ built into it.

…She hadn’t told anyone, but she had a hobby of looking at Bizanti’s bulletin board.

As she was scrolling down with an indifferent face, an unwelcome title came into her eyes.

[Title: But isn’t the famous freshman from the magic department a bit cute?]

Grind!

Estroza’s teeth grated involuntarily.

The ‘famous freshman from the magic department’ meant there was only one person on the bulletin board.

The so-called ‘hot cheat key’ that can go to the ‘hot bulletin board’ just by uploading related content.

It must have been a story about Sion, whom she hated.

[Title: But isn’t the famous freshman from the magic department a bit cute?]

[Content: I looked up the picture because there were so many words here, and to be honest, it looks cute…. I want to protect him a little. Should I say it stimulates my maternal instinct? Am I the only one who feels that way?]

[Hot Chu: 3 / Not Recommended: 0]

[5 comments]

[Anonymous 1: He’s cute. A bit of a small animal feeling lol]

[Battle Maniac: He looks so different from the rumors that I’m experiencing cognitive dissonance.]

[Anonymous 2: How does he look? Link please]

[Anonymous 3 (writer): If you search for ‘actual’, it will appear at the very top. Recently, it went hot ㅇㅇ]

[Anonymous 2: ㄳ]

Tot! Tododot!

Estroza pressed the back button and immediately searched for ‘actual’ in the search box.

Clicking on the title at the top, ‘The rumored freshman’s actual appearance’.

Sure enough, Sion’s appearance was captured.

Sion walking around the academy campus with Patrick.

Sion tying his shoelaces.

Sion wiping the sweat from his forehead, etc!

She didn’t know who took it, but there were really a lot of pictures.

‘Who on earth took such an outrageous picture…. The last picture even looks like a practical class.’

No matter how she looked at it, it seemed like the same magic department freshman took it.

Was there even a molester among the same freshmen?

The creepy feeling was only temporary, and she looked at the comments.

[Hot Chu: 54 / Not Recommended: 3]

[132 comments]

[Anonymous 1: M*ssing guy lol No, he just takes pictures secretly.]

[Anonymous 2: Where did you find the sweating picture?]

[Fire Fist of the Reypole Family: He looks like he has a lot of problems with women ㅇㅇ;]

[Real Man: I’m the same man, but I’m a little turned on;]

[Anonymous 3: What?]

[Real Man: If you treat it like a woman, it becomes a woman.]

[Anonymous 3: M*ssing guy]

“…It’s absurd.”

Estroza frowned as she looked at the vulgar comments.

In fact, the Hot Chu was more eye-catching than the comments.

Even if there were only 10 Hot Chu, she could go to the Hot Bulletin Board, but there were 54 Hot Chu.

…Estroza, who had never been to the Hot Bulletin Board, was a little envious of it.

‘Anyway, I can’t allow Sion to receive good reviews.’

She hated Sion.

Starting with being miserably defeated in the duel,

She also publicly sniped at Sion during Professor Horyuju’s class and was humiliated in reverse.

Recently, she was also very unpleasant that her spirit affinity was F-grade.

Someone said that if you hate someone, you hate even breathing.

Estroza’s feelings of hating Sion were exactly like that.

‘Pretending to be innocent and making me eat water… I can’t forgive you.’

Tododod!

The angry finger pointing began.

After finding and entering the post on the bulletin board that praised Sion’s appearance earlier.

She started writing malicious comments.

[Hot Chu: 3 / Not Recommended: 1]

[8 comments]

[Anonymous 1: He’s cute. A bit of a small animal feeling lol]

[Battle Maniac: He looks so different from the rumors that I’m experiencing cognitive dissonance.]

[Anonymous 2: How does he look? Link please]

[Anonymous 3 (writer): If you search for ‘actual’, it will appear at the very top. Recently, it went hot ㅇㅇ]

[Anonymous 2: ㄳ]

[Magic Effort Party: But isn’t he that handsome? Rather, I don’t like him because he lacks masculine aspects hmm;;]

[Magic Effort Party: He looks too girly, so he doesn’t look like a man.]

[Magic Effort Party: He’s short when you actually see him;; The person who took the picture took it well, but the actual person is much worseㅋ]

As she started writing malicious comments, people started responding.

[Anonymous 3 (writer): Why is this kid suddenly going wild alone?]

[Anonymous 4: He’s a famous villain on the bulletin board. A kid who is inferior to him.]

[Anonymous 5: There were 0 dislikes earlier, so did this kid press 1 dislike? It’s transparent ㅋㅋ]

[Anonymous 6: Don’t feed him; He’s mentally ill. He’s a mental patient who always appears in posts related to magic department freshmen.]

[Magic Effort Party: Bullshit ㅋㅋ Inferiority complex, are you looking at me?]

[Anonymous 6: No no, but I don’t have to watch the video. You have a terribly ugly face and your grades are terrible, right? Are you feeling inferior to the academy freshman? ㅋ]

“Th, this….”

Estroza’s fist trembled.

Was it because she was active with a fixed nickname, but there was someone who recognized her.

But how dare they say to her, who is like a flower in the magic department?

Just as she was about to start typing in anger again.

[You cannot write a comment.]

“…Huh?”

A warning message that she had never seen while active on the bulletin board appeared.

[Your accumulated warnings have exceeded a certain number of times.]

[Warning Reason: Negative Comments, Hate Speech, Cursing]

[You cannot write or comment on the Bizanti bulletin board for 1 week.]

“……Damn it.”

Nothing is working out.

They even took away the only joy she had.

The anger towards Sion in her heart only grew stronger.

She turned off Bizanti and checked the time through her student ID.

[Current time is 19:50]

‘…But why isn’t he coming?’

Estroza clearly told Sion.

To gather people by 6 pm for tomorrow’s assignment.

However, even though it was almost 2 hours after the appointed time, no one came.

‘…Should I post a message in the talk room now?’

She opened the talk room.

A 4-person talk room that Geibolg randomly invited.

But she hadn’t even read it until now, and suddenly leaving a chat asking when they were coming was… something that hurt her pride.

“Hmph, I’ll have to scold them when they come.”

Nobles are originally beings who wait.

They are the kind of people who are in a position to make their opponents anxious.

Anyway, they would need her for the assignment.

Then, it would be better to wait leisurely at the Adventurer’s Guild now.

“It’s a perfect plan. Hehehe… Hweetji!!”

Drip.

A runny nose came out with a sneeze, and she immediately wiped it with a handkerchief.

Was it because she was sitting in a seat close to the door, but Estroza’s body was shivering.

…She couldn’t possibly catch a cold like this.

‘I really won’t let them off the hook when they come.’

She sat without showing any signs of coldness and waited for Sion.

And until the Adventurer’s Guild’s business hours ended…

Estroza drank more than 5 cups of coffee and waited for Sion, who didn’t come.

…Occasionally, only her sneeze echoed emptily inside the Adventurer’s Guild.