“Just you wait. I’m really not going to let that one slide.”
Even after escaping from the crowd of students, Stefan kept grumbling, but by the time they reached the waiting room attached to the training grounds, he had brightened as if nothing had happened.
Adrian’s expression, whom they met outside the waiting room, was twisted beyond recognition.
Stefan, as if he had not noticed the sharp aura surrounding Adrian, smiled brightly.
“Adrian! Let’s go eat lunch! I brought Jaelin too.”
His blade-sharp eyes turned toward Jaelin. Intimidated by Adrian’s thorn-sharp demeanor, Jaelin gave a tiny greeting.
“Hello? A-Adrian.”
Whether he had not even heard Jaelin’s greeting, Adrian immediately glared fiercely at Stefan.
“Does it look like bread would go down my throat right now?”
“Yeah. We still have to eat lunch, don’t we? Is our Adrian losing to Lionel something new—has it been a day or two? Come on, let’s go!”
“You really are! I can’t tell whose side you’re on.”
Despite Adrian’s irritation, Stefan smiled cheerfully as if it were nothing.
“Of course I’m on Adrian’s side!”
Just then, the waiting room door opened and this spar’s winner, Lionel, appeared belatedly.
Spotting the figure standing at the door, Lionel slowly tilted his head to one side.
“Hello, Jaelin? And Stefan.”
“Hello. S-Senior.”
Startled by Lionel’s greeting, Stefan pointed back and forth between Lionel and Jaelin and made a fuss.
“What, what! You two know each other?”
“Yes. Jaelin and I have known each other since we were young.”
Having answered Stefan’s question, Lionel asked Jaelin gently.
“What brings you here?”
“Ah. Stefan, Adrian, and I were going to have l-lunch together.”
“Yeah? Then should I join you?”
Lionel asked, looking down at Jaelin, but before she could answer, Adrian cut in roughly.
“Are you insane? I’m not okay with it. Do you want to eat and get sick?”
Adrian’s voice was heated with boiling anger.
“What reason would there be for that? Ah, is it because you lost the spar earlier? A spar is just a spar, isn’t it?”
Lionel answered calmly. The serene smile at his lips contrasted sharply with the thoroughly agitated Adrian.
“Ugh, fuck. You really. Are you joking right now? Are you really asking because you don’t know?”
About to snap back further, Adrian clamped his mouth shut. The more he spoke, the more he would just become the narrow-minded one.
As long as other students were present, Lionel would never reveal his true colors.
“I’m not joking. It’d be nice to eat together after a long time. Come to think of it, it’s been quite a while since we shared a meal.”
“Hah.”
At Lionel’s invisible provocation, Adrian was left speechless and let out a scoff.
Just then, the swordsmanship students who had belatedly crowded toward the waiting room surrounded Lionel and burst into cheers.
Because of the gathering students, Jaelin was instantly pushed far back.
“Hey! Lionel. How does your control get more precise every time? The amount of mana you can handle seems to grow too.”
“Senior. You were really amazing today!”
“Let’s go, Lionel. We said we’d go eat something good after class today.”
Lionel, smiling among the boisterous crowd of students, slightly drooped his eyebrows toward where Jaelin stood and spoke as if regretfully.
“Oh no, I had a prior engagement. What a shame, but we’ll have to eat another time.”
Again, before Jaelin could answer, Adrian’s irritated voice rang out first.
“Regretful, my ass. You’re bad luck, so get lost, you bastard.”
A few students surrounding Lionel furrowed their brows and glared at Adrian.
Voices criticizing Adrian’s rough tongue leaked out from among them.
“His skills are lacking and he’s full of inferiority complex.”
“Lionel is just so great that he even bothers with trash like you. Be grateful.”
Adrian let out a smirk.
“Idiots playing around. Why don’t you just go lick Lionel’s feet.”
At Adrian’s sarcastic tone, the students on Lionel’s side flared with anger.
As the atmosphere grew increasingly hostile, Jaelin tugged at the hem of Adrian’s clothing as if to say stop.
But the situation had already heated beyond control.
One of the students on Lionel’s side poked Adrian’s chest and shoulder with his index finger.
Each time the student jabbed, Adrian’s body was pushed back.
“Watch your mouth. Don’t just spit out whatever comes out.”
“Stop it.”
Thick veins bulged over Adrian’s clenched fist as he bowed his head deeply.
One of the students noticed and thrust one cheek toward Adrian, taunting him.
“Why? Want to hit me? Go ahead, hit me. Let’s make a proper scene this time, shall we? Because you always make such timid little scenes, you barely get off with penalty points or campus service. I’ll let you beat me up good, enough to get you suspended.”
Adrian smirked and raised his bowed head. Clear mockery hung at the corners of his mouth.
“Hah, a bunch of nobodies strutting around. So busy guarding Lionel’s attendant post, aren’t we. Your palms must be worn raw, hey.”
The air pulled taut with tension.
It was a hair-trigger situation where it would not be at all strange for swords to be drawn right here and now.
At the insulting remarks, several of the swordsmanship students encircled Adrian and simultaneously began to emit killing intent.
Jaelin and Stefan, standing behind Adrian, felt their whole bodies freeze at the killing intent that suddenly swept over them.
“Have you all lost your minds? Who do you think you are, emitting killing intent?”
Sensing the killing intent, Adrian shouted and stepped forward to protect Jaelin and Stefan.
But the swordsmanship students showed no sign of backing down at all.
It was just as Adrian was about to raise his fist. That was when Lionel stepped forward to mediate the fight.
It was a low, calm voice, but one with force.
“Let’s stop here. Any violence within the Academy is forbidden. And you shouldn’t emit killing intent in front of students from other majors who are no different from ordinary people.”
“But that bastard……!”
“There’s no need to get caught up in every provocation. And those who enjoy privileges have a duty to protect as well. Isn’t that right?”
Lionel smiled gently and patted the swordsmanship student’s shoulder as if to say, understand.
He was speaking indirectly, but Lionel’s point was clear.
Since you are nobles, you should naturally be exemplary in a manner befitting that. Here, backing off a step is actually the way to win.
A sense of chosen-people superiority that only noble students could understand flowed secretly between the lines.
Lionel was subtly provoking the psychology of the students standing opposite Adrian, strengthening their solidarity with the students while simultaneously steering their behavior in the direction he wanted.
At a single word from Lionel, the swordsmanship students all withdrew their killing intent at once.
Only then did Stefan, his body finally loosening, step in front of Adrian and struggle to pull down his fist-clenched arm.
“We need to go eat lunch now. Adrian, let’s go!”
Stefan quickly shot a look at Jaelin.
Understanding the meaning behind Stefan’s look, Jaelin grabbed Adrian’s other arm and pulled.
“Consider yourself lucky today.”
The group of students who had picked the fight to the very end moved away from Jaelin along with Lionel.
***
The department head’s office was located in the east wing of the Magical Engineering Building.
Standing before the bright silver door, intricately engraved with the aspen pattern that was Pelodian’s symbol, Jaelin knocked on the door layered with the traces of time.
Soon a voice granting entry came from beyond the door.
As Jaelin opened the door and entered, a middle-aged woman removed the glasses she had been wearing and raised her head. The department head, her face slightly furrowed, asked.
“A face I’ve never seen before, hmm. Are you, by any chance, Jaelin?”
“Yes. H-hello.”
“So I finally meet you. I am Ines, the head of the magical design department. Have a seat.”
Ines moved to the sofa occupying the center of the department head’s office and gestured for Jaelin to sit.
The moment Jaelin sat down, Ines went straight to the point.
“The reason I called a student in like this is that I read the research proposal you submitted and found it very impressive. Yes—you want to research a formula for amplifying magical power.”
“Yes. D-Department Head.”
“If that formula were developed, the magical tool market would change dramatically. It would make it possible to implement powerful magic even with very small magic stones.”
At the department head’s words, Jaelin quietly nodded.
Jaelin, too, could all too easily predict what impact the successful development of that formula would have on society.
“There have been many designers interested in researching formulas for amplifying magical power before. I was one of them once. But they were all delusions. Unless Winona herself returns, developing a formula that amplifies energy from a small source again is no easy feat.”
The department head, her fingers interlaced, leaned her upper body toward Jaelin.
“But your research proposal, student, is different from others—it has practicality. I can’t say there are no inadequate parts, but still. Frankly, you are not at the level to be attending here. Rather, it would make more sense if you were the one teaching. But no matter how outstanding you are, without a Pelodian diploma, there is no way to prove your ability.”
Straightening her body again and putting her glasses back on, Ines’s gaze fixed squarely on Jaelin.
“Research theses are to be submitted in the graduation semester, but given the nature of the topic, prepare it in advance. With a single thesis like that, you could graduate at any time.”
