episode_0007

“Hmm… How many periods have passed?”

I let out a sigh and basked in the warm sunlight.

Having just wandered through the cave of emptiness, I was fortunate to find the exit and escape from it.

After clearing the trial of courage in the cave of emptiness, there were other trials awaiting me, but I felt that my body wouldn’t endure them, so I left the cave, leaving my body behind inside.

As I made my way out of the cave, the sound of water droplets falling echoed like a reverberation every 10 seconds, which was somewhat unsettling. However, it was better than the muddy ground inside the cave, so I managed to escape successfully.

Upon exiting the cave of emptiness, as I took my first steps, a tremendous pain engulfed my body as if it were overwhelmed.

“Ugh… It must be a side effect…”

Startled by this pain that hit me like a surprise box, my body instinctively hunched over to endure it.

This sudden increase in stats led to my weak body suddenly jumping to an S-rank, resulting in these side effects.

When adapting to Gazelle’s blood, pain also came, but that was merely ‘adaptation.’ My weak body couldn’t adapt to becoming stronger.

Wow, it hurts terribly. Although there may be something lacking due to the side effect of both vitality and stamina stats jumping to S-rank at once, good comes with the bad. As long as it doesn’t hurt, it’s fine; why nitpick?

Enduring the pain while my body adjusts to this situation, I decided to head towards the academy, hobbling with one leg dragging like a cripple.

By the time I moved my feet, the sun floating in the sky had reached its zenith.

If the sun is directly overhead like that, it means it’s noon. It’s the hottest and most scorching time right now.

And now, I arrived at the academy.

It took a whopping hour.

It was around 11 o’clock until a while ago, but now it had passed 12 o’clock, turning into lunchtime.

I needed to eat lunch, but my feet were too tired, so I wanted to rest now.

Entering the academy, I headed straight to Itan Dormitory, where my dorm was located.

Itan Dormitory.

Among the dormitories in this academy, Itan Dormitory had the fewest residents, typically housing peculiar or very weak students.

However, to the extent that students became weak or strange, the academy did not conduct classes rigorously, and most students could choose Beta or Alpha Dormitories.

Except for me.

“It’s still huge.”

Compared to the low number of residents, Itan Dormitory was massive.

While other dorms were stacked like apartments, Itan Dormitory was simply a mansion itself.

Living in such a mansion with ‘him’ alone… Truly, the academy is nice at times.

Since my legs were still weak, I limped my way to the dormitory door. Upon opening it, a woman greeted me.

“Shieline, you’re back? Come in quickly. Let’s eat.”

Contrasting colors. A woman with a somber hair color, treated as ominous in this world, had black hair and eyes filled with desolation. She welcomed me with an apron tied around her head.

Her name was Sheryl von Astront. She was the dormitory manager of Itan Dormitory, a senior student in the third year, and my only roommate.

“Yes… I’m back. I couldn’t stand the food at the academy…”

“Oh, really?”

*Swish.*

“Did you do well in class? Hehe, let’s eat now. I’m hungry.”

Bounding over like a rabbit, Sheryl, who was about 10cm shorter than me but still embraced me, lifted her heels and patted my head.

When we first met, Sheryl seemed wary of me, but now she has become so comfortable.

Well, I’ve grown comfortable too, and despite not having a single drop of bloodlust, the girl I like is Sheryl.

After holding me for about 5 seconds, Sheryl released me from her embrace, moved her hand to my back, put on a ring, leaned forward with her upper body, pushed her face close to mine, and giggled like a child.

Then she took my hand and led me to a restaurant.

“Wow, is that meat?”

Upon arriving at the restaurant, the first thing I saw was none other than Minotaur meat.

The massive Minotaur’s prime rib was temptingly laid out on a large plate in front of me.

Unable to resist the temptation, I sat down immediately, pulled out a knife and fork, and began to cut and eat the Minotaur meat.

Seemingly pleased by my actions, Sheryl walked over to sit beside me, pulled out a knife and fork just like me, and began to savor the meat as well.

It was tender, juicy, and warmly enveloped my mouth.

How beautifully cooked this medium rare meat was. It seemed like in the future, our senior Sheryl could easily transition from being a magician to a chef.

“Senior Sheryl! It’s really delicious! How about becoming a chef in the future?”

“R-really? Haha… It’s been a while since someone praised me like this…”

Blushing slightly at my compliment, Sheryl scratched her head awkwardly with her finger.

Did I say something that made her feel embarrassed? I’m not sure.

“…Only 6 days left, right?”

While eating the meat, thoughts of the guild battle and social gathering day, which was six days away, crossed my mind.

Six days… Yes, in six days, I could have Lulu perform the blood ritual.

What a thrilling moment it would be. If that moment arrived, I felt like I might be overwhelmed with excitement.

Thinking about my friend Lulu performing the blood ritual, I couldn’t contain my excitement.

Observing my excited expression, Sheryl wiped the juice off my lips and asked, “Why the face? Thinking naughty thoughts?”

“Yes.”

“Is that so? Who are you thinking about?”

“It’s a secret.”

In response to Sheryl’s question, I firmly stated that I had indeed been thinking naughty thoughts.

Perhaps I was getting too excited about Lulu performing the blood ritual? Sheryl and I often bantered in this manner.

Even in that conversation, Sheryl sometimes asked me who I was thinking about, and if I replied “you,” she would ask who specifically, to which I’d respond with “a secret.”

Then, Sheryl would playfully nudge my shoulder and ask who it was, but I can’t remember when that happened. It must have been during our first year.

“Well… Who are you thinking about? If it’s not me… I’ll kill you.”

“What? What did you say?”

Hearing Sheryl mutter to herself, I asked what she meant, but she seemed flustered and quickly said, “Oh, nothing. Just eat. I’m going for a walk.”

“Okay.”

Without revealing what she muttered, Sheryl, still looking flustered, hastily got up from her seat and left the restaurant.

I was curious about what she said, but since I assumed it was probably something like deciding what to have for dinner, I thought it would be fine and continued to enjoy the Minotaur meat.

But why this unease? There didn’t seem to be anything strange happening… There were no elements causing this unease… Something feels like it’s about to go wrong.

Well, it’s probably just my imagination, so I shrugged it off and continued to eat the meat.

But this is really delicious. I should ask Sheryl to pack some for me in a lunchbox later.

Behind me, as I continued to eat meat, a system window appeared that I had not seen before.

[Hidden passive skill. Emotions detected through emotion detection: Shiryl von Astront’s emotions are ‘love’, ‘love’, ‘love’, ‘love’, ‘love’, ‘love’, ‘love’, ‘love’, ‘love’, ‘love’, ‘love’, ‘attachment’, ‘excitement’, ‘joy’, ‘sorrow’, ‘anger’.]

[Wow, this is fucked up.]

*

“H-ha…ha…huff…ha…ha…”

Contrary to the news that Shiryl had gone outside, she was in her own room, the caretaker’s room.

The reason she was breathing so heavily was not from intense exercise or running a lot but because,

“H-ha…I like you…I love you, love you, love you…Shiirain…”

Holding a giant doll resembling Shiirain, she was shamelessly inhaling the doll’s scent.

Then, treating the doll like Shiirain, Shiryl lay the doll gently on the bed and locked her room as she walked around.

She locked the door straight away to hide her secret.

“Ah…! Radiant…! Beautiful…! Cute…! Cool…! The best…! My beloved Shiirain…!”

Unlike an ordinary room, the caretaker’s room, her room, was filled with ‘photos of Shiirain.’

From pictures of Shiirain eating, smiling, excited faces, injured faces from fights, crying faces, hugging herself, being hugged by someone, walking away, side views, front views, lower views, surprised faces, shocked faces, delighted faces, happy faces, unbuttoning her school uniform to cool off, brushing her hair up, etc., there were even intrusive photos of Shiirain’s private life.

If Shiirain were to see the state of this room, Shiryl’s room was so full of Shiirain’s photos on the ceiling, floor, walls—everything.

In one word, it could be described as ‘madness.’

She even pasted photos on the desk and wardrobe due to lack of space.

The reason she obsessed over Shiirain was because of something Shiirain said in the past.

It happened about two months ago.

Despite having exceptional talent, Shiryl had been tormented by the Beta and Alpha dormitory caretakers for being the caretaker of Itan Dormitory.

So, although Shiryl endured difficult days, she continued to live for her only roommate, Shiirain.

One day, Shiryl was particularly roughed up by the caretakers, and the reason was that the other caretakers were in a bad mood.

As a result, Shiirain could see that Shiryl was hurt and said with a worried face,

“I can’t be without my senior. Don’t get hurt. If you’re annoyed, just smack them! I’ll help too!”

It was a very ordinary comforting phrase that anyone could say, but at that moment, Shiryl’s mind was breaking down.

She could have rebelled. However, she couldn’t casually touch those of higher rank.

So her mind was shattered, and the one who repaired that breakdown was Shiirain.

It’s essential.

Shiryl had never heard such words before.

Don’t get hurt.

She had never heard these words either. She had only heard orders to endure.

I’ll help.

This statement was the decisive blow that made Shiryl this way.

No one had ever helped her before.

Being the caretaker of Itan Dormitory was one reason, and her family’s downfall was another.

There was no one to help her, a girl whose family had fallen apart.

But he appeared.

Before her stood a man with pure white hair.

From that moment on, Sheryl kept Sieline in her heart, exacting revenge on the supervisors who tormented her by submitting the photos she occasionally took with a storage spell to the academy, sending all the supervisors to another academy.

While Sheryl did face consequences, she didn’t transfer schools. As her love for Sieline grew, she changed.

It was a transformation born from her possessiveness and the distorted love she received in her childhood.

“Ah… Ahh… Sieline… I can’t live without you… You can’t get hurt… If you ever get hurt because of someone else…”

With her back against the door, Sheryl, half asleep, blended her talents of “magic” and “life force,” enveloping the room.

“I’ll help you just the same! For you…!!”

At that moment, Sheryl’s face resembled that of a happy child deeply in love.

However, due to her twisted love and possessiveness, her demeanor had changed.

She appeared as someone who could kill a person if they only had love.

“But who could it be… The woman Sieline is thinking of… If it’s not me, I will definitely kill her.”

Spewing harsh words while emitting life force, Sheryl, realizing that Sieline might suspect something if she stayed inside any longer, urgently unlocked the door she had sealed and headed to the dining hall.

With conflicting emotions of ‘life force’ and ‘love.’