episode_0040

She took out a hand mirror and saw her face; her makeup was smeared, and her eyes were red.

However, Lizley merely thought that even in such a state, she looked utterly pure and pathetic.

Her appearance just now was like that of a tragic heroine.

With such a face, voice, and atmosphere…

‘Clearly… he only spoke roughly, but his face was undeniably wistful. Ras… you can never fool me. Where did you learn such naughty things…’

She believed that Ras had momentarily shown a wistful, undeniable sincerity to her as she teared up and pleaded on her knees.

In fact, it was true that Ras had felt a momentary wistfulness upon seeing Lizley’s tears.

However, Lizley simply didn’t know that the reason for that wistfulness wasn’t because of her, but a reminiscence of his memories with Marisa.

Lizley had lived as a masked narcissist for too long, so she lacked the insight to calmly assess the situation.

To her, Ras was nothing more than a puppy who would eventually lick her hand and perform tricks if she extended it.

The current display was just a brief transgression.

‘You’ll eventually come back to me, obsessed. I’ll be a little nicer to you then.’

Lizley smiled, imagining something Ras would find utterly repulsive if he heard it.

Before she knew it, light makeup once again covered her like a pleasant mask.

*

The conversation with Lizley had stretched longer than planned, leaving only the very tail end of lunchtime.

While seeing Lizley cry and kneel was satisfying, not being able to eat lunch wasn’t ideal.

Thinking I should at least buy a piece of bread, I headed towards the snack shop.

Come to think of it, since my return, Irha has been frequenting the snack shop on my behalf, offering bread as tribute, so I haven’t been there myself.

“It’ll be nice to see the snack shop after a long time. The snack shop is definitely the highlight of academy life,” I muttered as I walked.

While muttering and walking, I suddenly remembered and turned on my communication orb, revealing a stream of messages.

[Ras. Could you come to Teacher-nim’s research lab briefly after class later? Got it? See you then~ If you don’t come, I’ll come find you in front of the dormitory.]

The top message was from Rosalie, a cute threat that wasn’t really a threat.

I chuckled, sent a reply saying “Got it,” then scrolled down. Who was this now….

[Boss..! When will you be done? Come quickly~ Come play with me. Pisces is bored.]

[Boss, please buy something delicious for your kind, pretty, and cute Pisces again. No matter how I think about it, a high-class restaurant suits Pisces best ><…!]

[Boss, I'm hungry, so buy bread quickly. Hehe!]

The flood of messages were truly meaningless ones from Pisces, who was quite bored on the first day of his idle life.

The guy who's supposed to be my top minion is sending idle messages, and my dedicated errand boy keeps bringing me bizarre food.

I sighed deeply and sent a reply to Pisces.

[Yes…. rest a lot while you can. Get plenty of sleep too….]

After all, this minion would soon start getting busy, so I decided to tolerate his current behavior with generosity.

[Yikes…]

The quick-witted fellow seemed to understand that my reply meant 'You'll be rolling around later, so enjoy your free time while you can,' sending only a short reply and shutting up.

As I walked, manipulating my communication orb, I heard a refined, low-pitched voice.

"Ras-gun. No matter how much you like your girlfriend, if you operate a magic tool while walking like that, you'll cause a collision."

Marisa, who had made me feel slightly wistful on the rooftop, stood before my eyes.

If you observe her, she has such a faint presence that she tends to appear silently, like a ghost.

She was our beautiful yet peculiar Princess, with all sorts of quirks.

"Marisa? Why are you wandering around here by yourself?"

"'Wandering around,' you say… That's not a word suitable for a beautiful female student. It's truly outrageous, so I shall confiscate your magic tool."

Suddenly, she started spouting her usual bizarre logic and swiftly extended her arm towards me.

"Golden Grab Handdd…"

It was a comical cry, but the hand she stretched out was by no means comical or sloppy.

As expected of the lineage of Duke Valencia, one of the empire's foremost warriors, Marisa, though specializing in magic, possessed outstanding innate martial talent.

"Golden Grab Hand," she said… even though it was an Eastern fighting technique that in Sephiroth was likely just a fantastical skill found in the works of third-rate writers, her hand movements were very convincing.

Of course…

"What are you doing now?"

"Ugh..!"

From my perspective, having mastered various hand-to-hand combat techniques and weapon skills to their limits, it was merely a cute little show.

Her spirited attack rendered useless, she was very lightly subdued by her own outstretched arm, then lifted and left dangling in the air.

It was somehow cute to see the always calm, outwardly emotionless, beautiful girl subdued and helpless.

However, she seemed to be unable to believe the fact that she had been instantly subdued by me.

"I never dreamed I'd be subdued by Ras-gun like this. Surely, Ras-gun wasn't known for being skilled physically. Are you saying that being the top of the year wasn't just a bluff?"

"You saw me beat up Blaber last time, didn't you? I even changed my major from mage to warrior. I've become Professor Isera's direct disciple."

As I said it with a grin, she squirmed and struggled in the air.

"Please let me go anyway. It's incredibly humiliating… I feel like a baby cat grabbed by the scruff of its neck."

At her grumbling, I finally chuckled and let her go.

"Marisa, do you know that proud princesses say 'Kuh, kill me..!' in such situations? But if you're actually subdued by someone, don't ask them to kill you, please beg for your life."

"What kind of… Ras-gun, you're a madman too. I wondered why Irha was so strange, but it turns out she was influenced by you. Anyway, I'll gratefully take your advice to heart. More importantly, give it to me."

She glared at me and chastised me, then held out her hand like a bully extorting money.

When I stared blankly at her, she got slightly annoyed and then stubbornly snatched the communication magic tool from my hand.

"Here… take this. It's my unique identification number. You are truly an expensive man."

Marisa pressed something quickly, then returned the communication magic tool to me.

Elegant Marisa

While it wasn't exactly wrong, it was just amusing to see her refer to herself like that.

"Elegant Marisa, but why were you really wandering around here? I was on my way to the snack shop. I didn't get to eat."

"I was also on my way to the snack shop."

Marisa was the type to go to the snack shop and buy things to eat? I looked at her, slightly bewildered, and she chuckled softly as she replied.

"Even a princess is human. I'm very fond of snack shop bread. The asparagus mayonnaise bread we shared this morning was incredibly delicious."

"If you're human, snack shop bread can indeed be tasty, but asparagus mayonnaise bread is delicious…?"

"Since we're going anyway, let's eat together. You'll soon become a devotee… isn't it a good thing for friends to share hobbies?"

With a solemn expression, she pushed my back, leading me towards the snack shop.

If *that* Marisa was saying something like that, could the taste really have been so excellent? Besides, her remark about it being good for friends to share hobbies was also true.

"Alright, then we can strengthen our friendship by eating this bizarre bread."

"A good idea. Indeed, I feel like I can become very close with you. I have a very good premonition."

Five minutes after entering the snack shop.

"It's… disgusting!"

"Oh."

I had no idea in my previous life, but it seemed our Princess Valencia was undoubtedly quite insane.

*

And so, the eventful Monday at the academy roughly came to an end.

I'd grilled Lizley, eaten bizarre food with Marisa while chuckling… it had been quite a day, one way or another.

As I was packing my bag, Lizley stood awkwardly, watching me.

Fidgeting, like a shy girl in her first love.

Of course, I just ignored her casually, as I couldn't stand the sight of her.

Irha, who was sitting next to me, glanced back and forth between Lizley and me, subtly trying to gauge the situation.

It seemed she was about to speak but couldn't bring herself to, feeling awkward because of Lizley beside her.

"Let's go, minion."

"Oh!"

Lizley's expression, being treated as if she wasn't there, must have been quite a sight?

But indifference can sometimes be scarier than malice, so I did my best not to look at that 'sight to behold' expression.

Lizley also didn't seem to dare cling to me immediately on the very day she was rejected.

Well… in the first place, it wasn't really because she liked me, but rather because of Leon and to satisfy her own petty self-esteem.

As we walked down the hallway, it was evident how much happier the minion had become.

Every time Lizley acted vicious or fake, I thought it was fortunate to have someone like Irha around.

"Is there something good happening? Why are you grinning like that?"

When I spoke teasingly, she blushed slightly and replied.

"Hehe..! Something like that. I just feel like Ras cherishes his minion more than a lover after all.."

Well, it's true that Irha is much more precious and important than Lizley, but a wrong statement still needs to be corrected.

"It's that you're more precious than Lizley. Oh, and by the way, I broke up with her, so I'm single now."

"Yayyy!"

Oh, you startled me..!

The moment I said we broke up, Irha leaped into the air with joy, and I was truly surprised.

Was it really something to be *that* happy about?

"Ras!! Did you really break up with Lizley? So you're alone now? Really? Whoaa!!! Ras is single!"

Followed by Irha's voice, as if equipped with its own loudspeaker.

It was almost as if she inherently projected mana into her voice.

With a voice that loud, the news of Lizley and my breakup would probably spread through the entire academy neighborhood in no time.

Indeed, several students passing by were already whispering as they watched Irha and me….

There had been many times when Irha's loud voice had caused embarrassment, but this time, I felt that her loud voice was somewhat commendable.

By the way… even after returning, it seems there aren't many normal women around me.