Reprieve

There’s a saying that when a person suddenly changes, they’re about to die. I think that saying implies that if you do something you don’t normally do, you have to pay the price.

Last night.

I put off revealing the truth to the club members. I had promised that once Yunis-ssi officially became a member at the start of the second year, I would tell everyone the secret.

It’s about revealing a lie I’ve been hiding. For me, who has lived a life of lies and running away, revealing everything at once was incredibly difficult. Since I was going to reveal the secret to Yunis-ssi anyway, I could excuse it to myself as hitting two birds with one stone.

Revealing a hidden truth is like using muscles you’ve never used before to an extreme. It means that as time passes, you’ll be filled with regret along with a tingling aftereffect, wondering why you even did it.

While lying on the sofa in the clubroom, regretting making such a promise, Aria-yang, who was eating snacks, cautiously approached me, looking at me sideways.

There were no remaining schedules until the end-of-semester ceremony planned for Wednesday. That was the reason why all the club members were spending their time in the clubroom.

I looked at Aria-yang as she approached. Her face was full of curiosity. She must be wondering what promise I made.

“Ross, by any chance, is the secret you said you’d tell in the second year not an engagement announcement?”

At Aria-yang’s question, I unconsciously raised my upper body.

“Wh-what are you suddenly talking about?”

Aria-yang silently wore a sly smile, raising her eyebrows. Then, she raised a finger and brought it to her lips.

“Hehe, I already figured it out. If it’s still a secret, I’ll keep it to myself!”

Aria-yang’s gaze lingered on the couple ring I was wearing. So that’s why she suddenly brought up the word engagement. I let out a sigh of relief and said,

“This is just a couple ring. If I were engaged in the first place, I would have just told you guys straight away. Why would I hide it?”

“Ehhh! You’re just lying because you got caught, aren’t you?”

If you’re not going to believe me, why even ask?

She must be curious about the words I postponed, because she kept poking my side and whining for me to secretly tell her since she’d keep it to herself. While I was forcefully ignoring Aria-yang, someone knocked on the clubroom door.

“Ah, I’ll go.”

“Okay, club president.”

I stopped Lacar-gun from getting up, thinking of shaking off the annoying Aria-yang, and got up from the sofa.

I opened the door, but there was no one in sight. Remembering the past, I looked down just in case, and a cute raccoon wearing a small school uniform was looking up at me, holding a letter in its arms.

“Oh, okay. Thanks.”

I thought that was the end of the letter the raccoon handed me and tried to close the door, but the raccoon hurriedly pointed towards the hallway, so I peeked my head out the door.

There was a new wardrobe for the club members to use. It was definitely a good thing that the club members used their wish tickets to leave the dormitory and come to the hideout beyond the island, but constantly changing the location of the wardrobe to use the Trial Room was not an easy task.

There was also a fatal problem that if someone moved the wardrobe to the Trial Room, the person in the hideout couldn’t open the door and leave.

So, when I submitted Yunis-ssi’s special transfer application, I asked Headmaster Nelson if it would be possible to get a new wardrobe. He must have quickly processed my request. He’s such a grateful person after all.

The raccoon, as if it had fulfilled its role, made a todo-do- sound and ran away. Could that small body have carried the wardrobe all the way here alone? Since I didn’t see it directly, it was bound to remain a question. I couldn’t ask the person in question either.

“Lacar-gun, can you help me for a second?”

At my request, Lacar-gun quickly ran over. Lacar-gun, seeing the new wardrobe, nodded with respectful eyes, saying, ‘As expected of the club president,’ and helped move the wardrobe inside.

Gathering the opinions of the club members, we decided to fix the existing wardrobe in the passage to the island. It was the most frequently used place, and the remaining passages were only occasionally used except for the Trial Room, so it was an efficient choice.

As I headed back to the sofa after placing the wardrobe, Aria-yang narrowed her eyes and said.

“It’s bad to make me curious and not tell me!”

“…It’s building anticipation.”

At my excuse, Aria-yang, who pouted her lips to the point where I could pinch them, suddenly turned her head.

“This is a secret, but… actually, I have a big bald spot on my head. My parents told me never to show it to anyone because it’s such a terrible bald spot…!”

Aria-yang, who was talking as if it was a great secret, slightly lifted her hair, stopped her hand, and raised one corner of her lips in a ssik-.

“Curious, aren’t you? What shape is the bald spot that Aria-yang is hiding with her hair? A spot? A semicircle? Or a perfect circle? How is it, are you dying to see it? Your hands are itching~, aren’t they?”

“What are you saying…”

Aria-yang said to me with a triumphant expression, who was dumbfounded.

“If you tell me first, I’ll show it only to Ross. It’s my secret that I haven’t shown to anyone…!”

“…No, I don’t really want to know.”

“Bbaeeeeeeeeek!!!”

I used my strength to lay Aria-yang, who was lunging at me to grab my collar, down on the sofa, and took out the letter I had put in my pocket. I thought it was a letter for me, but the name written on the back of the envelope was Kane-ssi.

It seems that because she moved her place of residence, she changed the address so that the letters would come to the clubroom. Kane-ssi was sitting in front of the alchemy table, which was so disorganized that it was dizzying, reading a book related to camping. She must be thinking of going camping during the winter vacation.

“Kane-ssi, you’ve got a letter.”

She was so focused on the book that she didn’t seem to hear my voice, so when I shook the letter in front of her, Kane-ssi finally pulled her face back. Kane-ssi, who was looking at me and the letter with a surprised face, put the letter in her arms with the words, “Thank you.” It seemed like she was looking at the letter carefully, but she didn’t seem to be thinking of checking it right away.

As I was about to go back to the sofa, I slightly changed direction and approached Luna-yang, who was reading a magical engineering textbook, seeing Aria-yang glaring at me with resentful eyes.

The cute girlfriend, who had an ambitious goal of becoming the top student in the department in the second-year grade test, was studying hard even when everyone was resting.

I approached quietly so as not to disturb her, but Luna-yang turned her head as if she knew and met my gaze. I smiled at the sight of Luna-yang, who was holding my hand with a pretty smile.

It was almost dinner time. The academic schedule was over, and to change the gloomy atmosphere of the capital and the academy. A banquet was held every day in the cafeteria. Barbecue, seafood pasta, and all kinds of food are served in a buffet style. Even decent wine in the evening.

It was also the reason why Aria-yang, who had been withering away due to Professor Leora’s harsh training, was getting chubby again.

Luna-yang asked me cautiously as I was about to tell her to go to dinner.

“Ross, do you have anything else to do during the winter vacation?”

Of course, I had a lot to do. I had to get the Shadow Window, and I had to help Modiste with the lilies again. In addition, I was scheduled to learn the first stage of intangible from Raikan-nim at the main family.

“I’m a little busy, but… I can always make time for Luna-yang.”

If I had to pick the most important thing to me right now, the highest priority was Luna-yang. I don’t welcome putting things with Luna-yang off.

Luna-yang, who smiled shyly at my words, said in a happy voice.

“It’s okay anytime, but if you have time during the vacation, can you come to our family? Everyone wants to see Ross….”

“Of course.”

I was planning to go to the east to check the eastern border myself someday. It wouldn’t be bad to see Luna-yang and see the east with my own eyes this time.

“That’s a relief. Thank you, Ross.”

Luna-yang was very happy that I immediately accepted her proposal. Come to think of it, I don’t think I’ve ever rejected Luna-yang’s proposal. I’ve never wanted to reject Luna-yang’s proposal even once.

…Except when we’re about to do something lewd.

***

The next day.

I met Raikan-nim in the faculty room to hear about the training during the vacation, and I felt a commotion when I was about to return to the clubroom.

I thought they must be busy because tomorrow is the end-of-semester ceremony, but I unconsciously pricked up my ears at the voice I heard.

“How could that happen? The alchemy department’s warehouse has alarm magic on it, so even a professor wouldn’t be able to break in without leaving any traces, right?”

“That’s what I’m saying. What’s even worse is that the missing item is Kalikum’s root… Shouldn’t we warn the students in advance?”

When a female professor said in an uneasy voice, someone scoffed.

“Hey, the vice principal is checking the students and professors who used the 5th floor stairs yesterday, so the culprit will be caught soon.”

Kalikum’s root…? I rubbed my forehead and pondered because it was the first time I had heard the name, when someone put their hand on my shoulder.

“Tsk tsk, a student eavesdropping on the professors’ conversation. You’re a bad disciple.”

When I scratched my head and apologized to Raikan-nim, who was smiling ssik-, he waved his hand as if it was okay.

“Don’t worry, even the most skilled thief won’t be able to reach the 5th floor unless they use the stairs. The culprit will be caught soon.”

At Raikan-nim’s words, I asked in a small voice.

“What is Kalikum’s root?”

At my question, Raikan-nim glanced around and leaned in to whisper softly in my ear.

“It’s a poisonous plant that kills you very painfully if you don’t take the antidote within 30 minutes. It doesn’t have any symptoms or taste until the poison spreads throughout your body, so it used to be used for assassination.”

“Why do you keep such a dangerous thing in the academy warehouse?”

Raikan-nim smiled ssik- at my pure question.

“You know, everyone except the combat department are cowards. The alchemy and magic departments take classes related to poison in the fourth year, so they use it for experiments at that time.”

Raikan-nim, who is close to a pure warrior, seems to dislike using poison. I nodded as if I agreed and left the faculty room.

The academy’s warehouse being robbed wasn’t in the novel, but that didn’t mean I, a first-year student, should step in.

It’s the vacation tomorrow anyway. I had a lot to do and a lot of problems to solve. I didn’t need to get involved in this kind of problem.

Thinking that way, I headed to the clubroom.