episode_0035

“Ucal, if you have a moment, would you like to spar with me?”

At that moment, the one who spoke to me was Victor.

Seeing Helena next to me, he politely asked for her permission.

“If it’s not too much trouble, may I borrow Ucal for a moment, Lady Helena? Since receiving advice from Ucal last time, I would like to test it through sparring.”

Helena, still smiling and holding onto my arm, turned her gaze in that direction and after a brief hesitation, replied cheerfully.

“Sure! Besides, except for the entrance exam, I haven’t seen Ucal wield a sword, so I’d be happy to watch at the training ground.”

“Well, that might be a bit awkward. I don’t want to interfere with the intense passion that seems to be exclusive to men. I apologize, Lady Helena.”

Victor, feeling slightly embarrassed and awkward, apologized as Helena silently watched him.

“Alright. Since I spent a lot of time with Ucal today, I’ll step aside so you two can spar. But next time, I’ll be watching, so keep that in mind.”

“Thank you for your consideration, Lady Helena.”

Watching Helena leave, Victor truly felt grateful.

“By the way, does she have a reason to spar with me?”

As he followed Victor towards the fencing training hall, he couldn’t help but ponder.

Generally, Victor doesn’t prefer sparring outside of class hours.

He prioritizes his personal training more, which is why he hasn’t proposed sparring outside of class hours despite playing countless matches at Sungyong University.

As mentioned earlier, he considers taking away someone else’s training time for sparring as an intrusion into their personal training time.

As Victor seemed to head towards the fencing training hall, he looked around and realizing no one was there, he quickly led me to the back of the building.

“Weren’t we supposed to spar? Why did you suddenly come this way? This place isn’t suitable for sparring.”

The guy, who seemed to be pondering with his head wrapped around my words, opened his mouth as if he had made up his mind.

“You’re right. I didn’t bring you here today to spar. There was a girl who was with you at the entrance ceremony and mock dungeon class. We even had a meal together once when we ate with you before.”

“You’re talking about Claire?”

“Yeah, her name was Claire. There are a lot of bad rumors going around about her now.”

“What? What are you talking about?”

It’s true that due to Claire’s cautious nature towards others because of her past, she doesn’t easily get along with people, but almost no one dislikes her for consistently showing a diligent attitude.

I’ve never heard or experienced an event related to Claire in the first place.

“Explain a little more in detail. Please tell me as much as you know.”

“Well, it seems that the Swordsmanship Department and the Magic Department don’t usually mix well, so I only found out recently. Most of the details are just gossip about her, and the important part is the rumor that if you associate with her or help her, you’ll face retaliation.”

Victor, who was scanning my face, expressed a sorry expression.

“I actually witnessed her being harassed once. I tried to stop it since she’s your friend, but couldn’t help due to the powerful noble families at the center and only received warnings. I’m sorry for not actively helping. I know it’s late, but I wanted to let you know today.”

“You owe a debt. And honestly, I don’t want to ignore the fact that someone is being harassed anymore.”

For a moment, I almost asked Victor why he was telling me now, but managed to hold back.

“It’s unreasonable from Victor’s perspective too. He’s willing to endure being targeted by nobles just to inform me.”

“Victor, please do me one favor. Let Professor Chris from the Swordsmanship Department and Professor Seigan from the Magic Department know that due to personal reasons, I might not be able to attend classes for a while. If possible, ensure that other students don’t hear about it. There are several classes in the Magic Department, so asking Professor Seigan should suffice.”

“Got it. I’m sorry for being so late again…”

With a sigh, the guy who wiped his head came into view, but it wasn’t Victor’s fault.

“It’s because of my incompetence.”

“No, you must have thought a lot from your perspective too, so I appreciate your courage in telling me. I’ll ask for what you mentioned.”

Quickly leaving a message for Victor, I left the back of the building.

“It’s strange no matter how much I think about it.”

While Claire is cautious of others, if she opens up, she’s kind-hearted, but that doesn’t mean she’s a pushover.

She’s not the type to stand idly by when someone is being harassed.

When I watched over her, I didn’t sense anything wrong, but the fact that such incidents continued was clearly odd.

It’s highly likely that other students realized I was watching her, except for when I excluded myself, and it was done discreetly.

Now is the only opportunity to fix the mismatched button by skipping class and discreetly monitoring other students without being noticed.

Although I haven’t acquired stealth-related skills, with high agility and keen senses, I should be able to observe without being detected by students at least.

Not long after scouring the school, I was able to locate where Claire was.

It seemed like she had just arrived at the classroom to take another class in the Magic Department that didn’t overlap with mine.

The professor who arrived at the classroom soon called attendance, looked around, and then glanced towards Claire.

“Claire, did you forget your textbook again? I must have told you to prepare properly. I will deduct points, so be aware of that.”

“I’m sorry…”

Claire quietly bowed her head in apology, catching my eye.

“Claire isn’t the type to lose or forget her textbook.”

Once the class ended and the professor left, my doubts were resolved.

One of the girls who attended the class with us took out the textbook from under the desk and threw it towards Claire.

“You should thank me for finding the textbook you were searching for, right? If you keep showing such delinquent behavior, how much will the professor dislike you~”

As Claire quietly picked up the textbook, appearing displeased, another female student beside her prevented her from tearing the rest of the books and threw them on the ground.

“I told you not to tear the book. If you attract attention for no reason, we’ll be the ones in trouble.”

“Hmph. I don’t know why we have to care so much, but well, since you said so.”

As the group of girls left, Claire picked up the remaining books and quietly headed to her locker.

And when I secretly followed her to check, the outside of the locker looked fine, but inside it was filled with all sorts of scribbles and paint…

Upon closer inspection, I could identify a few peculiarities.

First, in classes I attend with Claire, even though I am absent, nothing is touched.

In other classes, there are incidents like stealing textbooks or sending on errands.

Moreover, there were some students who seemed to periodically check my whereabouts and report back.

It seemed like a system was in place to make it seem like nothing happened immediately if I were to meet her, so thorough that I couldn’t notice.

‘I wonder what this is.’

Such a crappy development was never in the original work.

Although she appeared to be holding on stubbornly, I felt the pain in my chest as if she would collapse at any moment.

Why are you holding on stubbornly? You’re not someone who just takes things lying down.

Despite the frustrating feelings, she went to the cafeteria to eat, sat down, and started eating. A group of former female students heard something from a student and then approached Claire, laughing maliciously.

“Claire, I came to tell you some good news.”

When she appeared, Claire confidently looked at her, but her hands trembled slightly.

“Your ex-boyfriend Yukal had personal reasons and went back home, so he won’t be attending academy classes for a while. He managed to get first place while leading like that, but how does it feel to be abandoned like this?”

Laughing, the girl tore open the milk on Claire’s tray and poured it over Claire’s head—

At that sight, the last thread of my sanity snapped.