episode_0026

At my explanation, Elfin and Ion looked like they were talking about some kind of nonsense about washing away ghosts, while Lulu looked like there was such a rule.

“So… Junior… No, to Ain’s dormitory…”

“You can come in and buy anything at any time. There was a rule like that.”

Although they are students, they are still adults, and since the rule is that noble families succeed the eldest daughter, this seems to be a rule created to prevent children from failing to continue the family line even after they become adults at the age of 12 and continue to study at the academy for 7 years.

However, I remember Damyeon and her friends telling me that they knew that very few students actually enforced this rule.

“This is something I’ll bring up after visiting the miscellaneous study group… but there’s no reason not to use the existing rules, right?”

I have declared that I will not be overprotective of myself, so my thought is that in return, I should at least make it present in front of my eyes.

Staying alone in such a large room was more lonely than I thought.

In reality, it was like a war, raising a child and taking care of my son, and after that was all over, I lived a peaceful life, balancing work and rest, feeling like it was a break in life…

Here, I have no choice but to live diligently, as I don’t know when I will be able to escape and become young again.

If you ask why I am explaining this in such a rambling manner while building up…

As I have repeatedly made excuses for myself, as my body grows younger, my mind and head follow suit, and when I see pretty girls, such thoughts come to mind.

I want to be with someone, I want to hug someone of the opposite sex, and things like that. (It’s not just this thought, but other thoughts also come up below.)

The reason is that, although the words sound plausible, in the end, I feel lonely.

“That, that, is that so!”

Lulu blushes again and shouts. Her screams echo faintly through the walls of the labyrinth.

“I think it would probably be okay to rotate for about a week. Do you think that’s fair?”

I told them about my sinister thoughts, but the females seemed oblivious to such thoughts and were simply absorbed in the fact that they were meant to live with the males.

How do you know? If you sit around with your faces flushed and your heads steaming, each with a serious expression on their face, the kids will notice.

Another day passed. After the incident with the group and the cohabitation? Elfin, Ion, and Lulu fought more fiercely for some reason. Whether it was because of my feelings or because it was real, we got one step closer to the depths of the labyrinth.

“I can finish it tomorrow.”

After finishing preparing for camping, Lulu looks up at the artificial moonlight for the last time and mutters.

“If the mock maze is like this, I’m going to have a hard time from now on.”

Lulu shakes her head at my muttering.

“No, this is definitely an anomaly. This labyrinth isn’t that big or difficult. I don’t know what happened to the other students, but the professors will check closely after the practical training is over.”

After a quick meal and a short break, I looked at the artificial moonlight and saw Lulu hugging her knees, spreading her hands, and mumbling something to herself. (Elfin and Ion had left to wash up.)

“Why are you mumbling to yourself like that, Lulu?”

As I sat closer, Lulu gave a short reply, “Calculation.”

“I was thinking about what we would need and how much space we would use since six females would take turns going in.”

After a while, Lulu says this, as if she had finished calculating to some extent.

“I’ll probably use the most expensive cleansing tools and bath products, so I’ll just put a lot of them in there.”

“What about Bandi?”

Lulu thinks for a moment about my question.

“The only high-end items that I use are those that are presented only to the Empress. Marquis Goldbunny, Young Lady… Well, that’s okay. Even if Bandi uses it, he’ll use the same one as me. I’ll ask him later and if it’s the same, I’ll put it together or something. ”

“What are you talking about?”

Elfin and Ion, who have become much neater, approach. Ion seems curious about what we talked about.

“I was calculating what I would need when I entered Ain’s room.”

“If you think about it, you might need something like that. Well, you use a lot. I think I’ll be fine with just a few clothes and my body.”

“I only sleep in the dorms, so I don’t need much space. Lulu, do you need a study table and tools? ”

Ion and Elfin don’t seem to have much left in their room.

“That may be the case now. But will it be the same when you guys are together with Ain? Ain, where are you and what are you doing after class?”

Lulu raises an eyebrow at Elfin and Ion, then asks me.

“Study group or dormitory. I don’t go out much, so I’m often in the dormitory.”

After hearing my answer, Lulu looks at Elfin and Ion again.

“Should we still go out? At least when we’re with Ain.”

“Hmm… That makes sense.”

Elfin was the first to agree.

“If I were to spend the week with Ain, the study of the Emperor would probably be conducted on my own. Then, I would also spend more time in Ain’s room.”

Ain also tilts his head at Elfin’s opinion.

“By the way, the male dorm rooms are really spacious and each has a bathroom with a shower, right?”

“Yeah.”

Ion nods at my answer.

“Ah, then I don’t really need to go out and do physical training, right? Then I guess I should buy some exercise equipment too?”

“That’s why I was thinking about it. First of all, since you said there’s only one small table in Ain’s room, you’ll need that too…”

As Lulu began to worry again, I roughly drew the layout of the room on the floor of the labyrinth with my fingernail.

The large room has a large bed, a dressing table, and a small table. The closet is built-in, so it doesn’t take up much space.

Although I have quite a lot of clothes, my closet is much bigger, and there would be enough space for several females to hang their clothes.

“Wow, isn’t the male dorm bed huge? And there’s still a ton of space left over.”

Ion’s eyes widened and he looked at the room layout I had drawn.

Elfin didn’t seem to mind as long as he had a place to study. Since Ion was going to bring the exercise equipment anyway, it seemed like they were going to use it together.

Lulu continues to feel anxious, measuring the size here and there with her fingers.

“Hoyo, he’s not like me, so he doesn’t need as much space as Elfin or Ion or you, but I’m not sure about Bam or Bandi. It would be nice if he could use this much.”

As Lulu said that, pointing to more than half of the empty space, Ion shrugged.

“Isn’t this taking up too much space?”

“It doesn’t matter if you use it widely. Anyway, the contents on the research table will be fixed with magic and used foldable. I’ll have to check later if the height and conditions are suitable for that.”

So the next day came, and it was around lunchtime on the fourth day that we were finally able to reach the depths of the labyrinth.

The innermost part of the labyrinth is where the core of the labyrinth is located. If you obtain the core, you can consider yourself to have conquered the labyrinth.

“That’s…um…”

Elfin lets out a sigh of relief as he sees the core of the labyrinth in its place.

As far as I know, the core of the mock labyrinth is constructed by putting non-power into a badge with the Academy’s symbol on it and then recovering it to complete the practice, but the badge is lying around the labyrinth core.

“This is my first time seeing something like that.”

As Ion said, where the core of the labyrinth should be, a large eye was watching us. Every time the eye looked at me, I felt a creepy feeling.

As I inadvertently grabbed Lulu’s sleeve, Lulu used magic to blow away the eyeball in the nuclear position.

“Damn, that’s annoying!”

The pupils slowly began to disappear without much resistance as they were hit by Lulu’s magic. However, since the pupils watched me until the very end and disappeared, the eerie feeling did not go away for a moment.

“…Still, I conquered the labyrinth.”

As the pupils disappear, the labyrinth walls rearrange themselves with a loud noise.

After some time had passed, the labyrinth walls had been rearranged, creating a straight path from the entrance to the location of the core.

“Look over there, it’s the professors.”

As Ion points with his hand, at the end of the line, I see a professor I know, a professor I don’t know, and surprisingly, Bam, Hoyo, Bandi, and the private soldiers they seem to have brought rushing in.

“Your Highness, Cadet Ion, Cadet Lulu! Cadet Ain is safe too!”

The recovery magic professor comes running diligently to check on us, and the other professors also sigh in relief when they confirm that we are safe.

“Seniors.”

“Are you okay, Ain?”

Bandi examined my body, and Bam and Hoyo also approached with faces full of worry.

“Wow~~ You’re safe! I heard you haven’t come out of the mock labyrinth in a while, so I gathered up some soldiers and formed a rescue team!”

Hoyo wiped his forehead with a relieved expression. Bam’s expression brightened slightly as if he was relieved as well.

“You did well. I was quite worried.”

“Then. The chairman couldn’t sleep for three days because he was worried.”

“…Tsk, stop talking nonsense, hoyo.”

As she said, Bam, Bandi, and Hoyo had dark circles under their eyes, indicating that they had trouble sleeping.

While the professors were looking around the depths of the labyrinth with Elfin, Ion, and Lulu to figure out the situation, I smiled at Bam, Hoyo, and Bandi.

“You can rest assured now. I, Elfin, Ion, and Lulu are all fine.”

I knew I was talking to Elfin, but when I told Ion and Lulu about it, Bam and Hoyo opened their eyes wide as if they were curious.

However, Bandi’s expression became slightly worse because he seemed to have realized that something was going on between us.

“First, let’s go to the miscellaneous study group. I have something important to tell you.”