Chapter 14

Rumors at Krangbuiyer Academy spread incredibly fast.

So fast that you could feel like, “I woke up and I’m a superstar?”

“They say Benjamin’s favorite is in here.”

At first, it started innocuously with the word “favorite.”

“Is it you? The Class F hope?”

Yeah, even that “Is it you?” joke was bearable.

The performance of slamming the classroom door open was extremely irritating, but even that I chalked up to my fate.

“Who’s the boss of this class?”

But come on, “boss” is a bit much!

I reflexively scrunched up my face and looked at the speaker. But the person who actually brought up that outdated word looked more confident than anyone.

‘This is driving me crazy!’

The shame was entirely mine.

How did my past self read that without flinching? In fact, back then I think I found it kind of funny when words like that appeared…

No, anyway, it wasn’t just one or two people who came looking for me like that. And most of them were upperclassmen.

‘Those people must have taken our homeroom professor’s class at least once.’

The freshmen might not know, but the upperclassmen had already experienced Benjamin’s extreme favoritism.

For the word “excellent” to come out of that man’s mouth, it was no wonder everyone was curious.

The problem was that the rumor had been blown way out of proportion.

‘They say this year’s Class F freshman took down a rank 3 monster alone on the first day in one hit!’
‘I heard she moved at a speed even awakened individuals couldn’t follow!’
‘Professor Benjamin saw it and gave a standing ovation, shouting “Excellent!”’

Listening to rumors that mixed truth and exaggeration, I let out a hollow laugh.

No, since when was Agility D- a speed that eyes couldn’t follow? And when did our homeroom professor give a standing ovation!

I explained myself one by one to the upperclassmen who came looking for me, but it was useless. Because new testimonies kept popping up and adding fuel to the rumor.

‘Isn’t that her? The one who declared war on the top entrant, saying she’d take the valedictorian spot!’
‘She was famous since the entrance exam. Apparently she knocked out her combat opponent and made them give up on the exam!’

…Lucy Saint’s fame—is it really okay to leave it like this?

At this point, I was starting to think it wasn’t fame but infamy.

“Lucy.”

While I was thoughtlessly tugging at Lucy’s flowing hair, Theodore approached. He handed me one of the sandwiches he was holding in both hands and said.

“Let’s eat together.”

“Ah…”

“You said people need to eat to have strength, Lucy.”

Did I really say something that K-national-like?

Feeling oddly embarrassed, I roughly tidied my hair and took the sandwich. Then Theodore naturally took the seat next to me.

Actually, I had planned to eat lunch in the cafeteria today.

But from the first class through to lunchtime, the stares pouring onto Lucy were excessive. I felt like I’d get indigestion if I ate there, so I had retreated to a quiet back garden.

“Sigh…”

I’ve only just finished one first class, and is it really okay to be this tired already?

Even though the first class was a relatively normal theory class called ‘History of the Academy,’ I was already drained. After lunch, I still had two more classes to attend.

I slowly unwrapped the sandwich and took a bite.

‘Ha, and it’s delicious even now?’

I quickly took another bite and thought.

I’d felt it during the entrance exam too, but the cafeteria here is a real gem. Even the basic sandwiches are delicious. As expected of a prestigious academy.

Theodore, having confirmed I was eating, finally bit into his own sandwich. Thus began our quiet meal for two.

Occasionally I could hear children’s voices or signs of people, but not enough to bother me.

“It’s really quiet here.”

“Right?”

“How did you find a place like this?”

I asked Theodore, looking at him. The author hadn’t described the academy’s internal geography in detail, so I didn’t know these small spots either.

Theodore blinked a few times, then stammered out an answer.

“W-Well, I found it by chance too, I mean, you can’t just train every day…”

He seemed flustered and his words were jumbled, but I roughly understood.

He meant he’d been wandering around the academy because training every day was hard, and found it by chance.

It seemed he’d explored the academy quite a bit even outside of being with me. I nodded in understanding and turned my attention back to the sandwich. No, I tried to turn it back.

“Huh? Wait a second.”

Theodore called to me, then poked his own cheek with his finger.

‘What is this. Is he acting cute?’

It’s cute, but…

As I stared at Theodore with a puzzled look, he tapped his cheek a couple more times with his finger and said.

“Here, there’s breadcrumbs.”

Ah, I see.

Realizing my misunderstanding, I quickly brushed near my cheek.

But the breadcrumb was surprisingly stubborn, and Theodore shook his head as if it hadn’t fallen off yet.

“Not there…”

Trailing off, Theodore eventually reached his hand toward my face. He seemed about to remove it himself.

Just as his hand was about to touch my cheek—

“Hello?”

Aagh!

Startled by the sudden appearance of a person, I screamed and backed away. Theodore also flinched in surprise.

A face popped in between us from behind.

The owner of that face was, surprisingly, someone I knew.

“Long time no see, Lucy.”

The mage Hayden.

He waved his hand with his characteristic slick smile.

‘What the hell…?’

I was a bit flustered.

Of course, I already knew Hayden would pass Krangbuiyer Academy. He’d been noticed by the supervisor during the combat support test, so he’d be assigned to Class F like Theodore.

However, the two actually first met after the second semester began, and the reason was simple.

‘You’re supposed to be skipping school the entire first semester!’

So why are you here?

“Um, Hayden.”

“Yeah?”

“Were you attending the academy too?”

At my question, Hayden smiled smoothly and answered.

“For now.”

“You weren’t at the entrance ceremony yesterday.”

“Ah, places with lots of people are a bit uncomfortable for me.”

That ‘uncomfortable’ somehow auto-translated to ‘annoying’ in my ears.

Regardless, Hayden continued.

“But I’ve been hearing some interesting rumors already.”

“Was the star of those rumors me, by any chance?”

“That’s right. Lucy, from the first day of school—”

I clamped my hand over Hayden’s mouth. Then I said.

“I think I know what it is, so don’t say it.”

Hayden grinned and nodded. That smiling face was far from trustworthy, but I decided to let him go for now.

“Um…”

While I released Hayden’s mouth, a small voice squeezed in. It was Theodore.

‘Right, these two are strangers.’

I’d forgotten for a moment, but in the original flow, Hayden and Theodore hadn’t met yet.

Which means this is their first meeting.

Should I introduce them?

“This is Hayden, and this is Theodore Wither.”

I even kindly added their respective awakened classes. Other information I either didn’t know or shouldn’t know yet, so I skipped it.

“How do you two know each other?”

Theodore asked, looking at Hayden as if trying to dig something up.

It was quite a sharp look for a future companion, but at this point he’d be very wary and guarded, so it couldn’t be helped.

I deliberately explained more lightly to ease the mood.

“We met by chance during the entrance exam. We were in rooms right next to each other during the combat support test.”

“Maybe it’s fate.”

Hayden said as he brushed my cheek.

Wait, that breadcrumb was still there?

Feeling needlessly embarrassed, I brushed my cheek a couple more times (though the breadcrumb had probably already fallen).

“But why—”

Ding—

Just as Theodore was about to say something, the bell rang. It signaled the end of lunch.

“…We should get to class.”

Theodore didn’t seem inclined to continue what he’d been about to say and changed the subject to class.

What was he trying to say?

I was a little curious, but I didn’t feel like pressing, so I nodded. And I looked toward Hayden to tell him to come along.

“Huh?”

Hayden was gone.

I blinked and looked around, and I could see a brown head far off in the distance.

“See you next time, Lucy!”

With that, he winked one eye and vanished in an instant. Come to think of it, one of his awakened skills was a movement skill.

I clicked my tongue at his faithful adherence to his setting.

I’d wondered if the original setting had changed since he suddenly showed up at the academy. At this rate, it seemed Hayden would safely receive an academic warning in the first semester, just like in the original.

‘Anyway, he really hates being tied down anywhere.’

Just as I was about to clean up and head back to the classroom—

!Sudden Quest!
: Take an academy class together with Hayden!
Success Reward: Hayden Tracker, Hint for the Next Quest / On failure, Theodore Affection –10

…Does this system have no conscience?

Why does it give me a quest to grab Hayden and attend class together after Hayden has already left!

“Lucy?”

Protagonist, could you please grab Hayden for me instead?

Swallowing the request I couldn’t bring myself to make, I let out a hollow laugh.