episode_0073

It was supposed to be a joke to tell her not to worry about my injury, but it seemed to have made her worry even more.

“You really won’t get hurt, right?”

Johanna said, gripping my uninjured hand tightly with both of hers.

Was it because her usually blank eyes were red, as if tears might fall at any moment?

Or was it because Johanna was pressed close, holding my hand and looking up at me?

My heart tickled.

I knew I shouldn’t, but I felt like making her cry.

If I were to shake off Johanna’s hand right now and say, ‘You’re the only one who ever injured me, Senior-nim,’ I might see her tears, but I didn’t.

I wasn’t such trash as to say something like that just to see Johanna cry.

“Of course. Professor Alicia is coming too, so it’ll be hard to get hurt, won’t it?”

Not only was Professor Alicia, one of the strongest, going with them, but the Emperor’s Shadow would also be near Baron Ashro’s residence.

“But…”

I had said it to reassure her, but Johanna still seemed worried. She didn’t let go of my hand.

“Senior-nim, if I get even a little hurt during the mission, I’ll grant you any one wish you make, no questions asked.”

“…Anything?”

“Anything. In return, how about you grant me one wish if I come back completely unharmed?”

“Okay…”

Only then did the worry in Johanna’s voice somewhat disappear, but she still held my hand tightly, not letting go.

“Senior-nim, could you let go of my hand now?”

“Why? Do you dislike me holding your hand?”

“No, that’s not it.”

To be honest, I thought it wouldn’t be bad if she kept holding it.

“Then why?”

“Senior-nim, isn’t your class still going on?”

“Ah…”

Johanna let out a sigh, as if she had just realized she’d left class in the middle of it.

I got hurt, Johanna took me to the infirmary, and now we were sitting on a bench. Class hadn’t ended.

“Anyway, I was planning to look around more for the field trip, so let’s go together.”

“Okay.”

And so, Johanna and I left the bench and walked towards the outdoor training ground where Johanna had her class.

When Johanna and I arrived, all the students in the training ground stared intently at us.

Pounding footsteps.

A woman with short brown hair saw us and immediately ran over in a hurry.

It was Johanna’s best friend, Jena Sguro.

I thought she’d speak to Johanna first, but Jena spoke to me first.

“Are you okay?”

It seemed she was worried that I had been injured because of her sword.

“Yes, I’m fine. If anything, I’m more sorry for suddenly appearing.”

“No. If it weren’t for you, Johanna would have been seriously hurt. Thank you so much.”

Jena bowed and expressed her gratitude to me.

Other students began murmuring when a second-year student bowed to a first-year, and a noble to a commoner at that.

But Jena seemed unfazed by the murmurs around her, as if she were simply doing what was natural.

“You don’t have to do this. The Priest-nim also said I’d be fine in just a day.”

When I said I was fine, Jena finally straightened up and approached Johanna.

“Johanna! Why did you do that?! Getting distracted during a spar. Do you know how worried I was? If Loki hadn’t been there, you would have been seriously hurt.”

Unlike when she spoke to me, she spoke to Johanna as if scolding her.

But her voice was full of worry.

“Sorry.”

Jena continued to scold Johanna after that.

Johanna listened quietly to Jena’s scolding, as if admitting her mistake.

Ten minutes later, when Jena was done scolding Johanna, Professor Gedra opened his mouth.

“Class isn’t over yet. Continue sparring.”

At Professor Gedra’s words, the second-year students resumed their sparring.

I watched the second-year students spar until class ended.

As second-year students, they were stronger than other first-years, but they were quite lacking compared to the special class students.

To the extent that I could defeat them without even using illusions, with the exception of Johanna.

***

Loki was currently wandering around the academy alone.

After class, Johanna wanted to keep staying with Loki, but Jena grabbed Johanna, insisting that she still had class, and dragged her back to their classroom.

The time was too awkward for him to go back to his dorm.

‘Shall I try going to the library?’

As befits the continent’s top educational institution, the academy’s library was massive.

The colossal library held countless books, as if it contained all the information in the world.

While walking around the vast library.

He spotted Clara sitting and looking at a book.

Perhaps because of her pale skin, her black hair and red eyes stood out.

She was furrowing her brow as if struggling with a problem, but that only made her more beautiful.

“Clara-ssi~!”

Loki approached Clara, waving his hand.

“…Be quiet. This is a library.”

Clara frowned even deeper when she saw Loki, but she didn’t particularly stop him from approaching.

“There’s no one else here anyway, so this much should be fine, right?”

Loki said, sitting opposite Clara.

Perhaps because it was class time, there was no one else left in the library.

Though if he took a book and went outside, he’d be caught immediately.

“Why did you come here?”

“I wanted to see your face, Clara-ssi, and I thought I’d read a book.”

To be precise, he came because he was bored.

“You’ve already seen my face. If you’re going to read, then read quietly.”

“Then I’ll go get some books, please wait here.”

Loki went to find books, and about 20 minutes later.

Loki appeared, holding two thick books.

Loki’s uniform was covered in dust, as if he’d been up to something for 20 minutes.

“What did you do?”

“Wow~ The books were hiding, so it took some time to find them.”

Clara ignored him and continued reading the book she had been reading.

After another ten minutes of reading, Clara looked at Loki.

Only a single page had been turned in the thick book Loki had brought.

Sigh.

Anyone could tell Loki was sleeping, as his head kept bobbing up and down.

Clara placed a hand on Loki’s shoulder. She shook him gently.

“If you’re going to sleep, go somewhere out of sight. Your head bobbing is distracting.”

“Yawn~ Should I?”

It was truly incomprehensible why he had come to the library.

Loki stretched once and then walked straight out of the library.

…Just like that?

“Put away the books before you go!”

“Since we’re friends, Clara-ssi, could you put them away for me~~?”

Loki waved his hand and walked straight out of the library.

Sigh.

A sigh escaped her automatically.

The reason she didn’t stop him from approaching, despite such an attitude, was.

Perhaps because he wasn’t approaching her for her background or looks, at the very least.

Tsk.

Clara recalled the man who had been staring at her and then spoken to her during the recent break.

He had claimed to be a third-year and talked about various things related to magic, but it was all material she had learned five years ago, and she knew he hadn’t spoken to her to discuss magic.

So she told the noisy man to get lost.

Clara looked at the thick books Loki had brought.

They were books she had never seen before.

‘No title written?’

There was no title, and they looked old and worn.

Clara closed the book she was reading and opened the one Loki had brought.

(Silence)

Rustle.

Clara quietly turned the page.

Rustle.

Next.

Rustle.

Next.

Rustle.

Next.

Rustle, rustle, rustle, rustle, rustle, rustle, rustle.

Only the sound of Clara turning pages quietly filled the library.

Clara read the entire book to the end, oblivious to the passage of time.

She desperately wanted to take the book out, but it was impossible right now.

“Hah!”

Clara, who had planned to borrow it at lunchtime, checked the note on the back of the book and let out a bemused laugh.

[This book is not registered in the library, so whoever finds it may take it.]

She couldn’t recognize the owner from the handwriting, but a rough drawing of a mask was at the end of the text.

If she hadn’t read this book, this note would never have been discovered.

In Clara’s hands, as she left the library, were two worn books.

.

.

.

Baron Ashro’s mansion.

“Master, the special class students are arriving tomorrow. Will everything be alright?”

“Damn it! I shouldn’t have accepted it!”

Baron Ashro raged furiously at the butler’s words.

If he could have just spread the drugs and extorted money with them.

He could have become a central noble instead of a frontier noble like this!

“There’s not much money left now. Soon there won’t even be enough to pay the servants.”

“Those insignificant fellows can be paid later! The problem is that I don’t have money to give *him*.”

He had given him an enormous amount of money in exchange for the drugs.

On top of that, that guy demanded regular tribute.

“If Cardinal were to say he stole the drugs…”

“Ha! Who would believe a thief like that?”

“But can the special class catch Cardinal?”

“How many high-ranking nobles are there! Even the Crown Prince is part of the special class. Even if they can’t catch him, who knows if they’ll help if I pretend to be pitiful?”

He had originally planned to hire mercenaries, but there wasn’t even enough money left to hire mercenaries to catch Cardinal.

The Baron rubbed his stomach.

The day Cardinal appeared at the mansion. Cardinal, who had only been running away, kicked him in the stomach right before disappearing from the mansion.

“Cardinal!!!!!!”

.

.

The next day.

After the special class arrived at the mansion.

While he was trying his best to appear pitiful to the Crown Prince and the high-ranking nobles.

“I cannot possibly imagine how heartbroken you must be to have lost a family heirloom. I will surely catch that wicked phantom thief!”

One masked lunatic among the special class students gripped his hand and declared boldly.

“By the way, what exactly is the family heirloom Cardinal stole?”