Chapter 139: Club Activities and their Result

Speaking frankly, our expedition ended in failure. It all stemmed from my negligence and Letina’s inexperience. Were it the old me, I’d have gone about it more carefully. I’ve already been reborn with this body for ten years, but during that time I had only experienced a few harsh battles.

My old self would’ve gone through over a dozen fights by now. Which meant…

“I have grown dull.”

“You’re dull?”

“Hm? I feel like you are saying it with a different nuance…”

Once we returned to the academy, I held a review meeting with Letina. Our classes were already over and the students were returning home at their discretion. Cortina had also returned to the staff room.

“Well, real battles really are different from hunting some animals, after all.”

“My fault was that I did not research enough. Since it was a region full of Poison Molds, I should have studied up on their ecology.”

“If we knew about its weakness for fire attribute in advance, it wouldn’t have turned out like that.”

We sighed in disappointment and exchanged our opinions about our respective blunders. This way, we would be aware of each other’s weaknesses and keep them in mind for future battles.

“Looks like it’s important to look up the monsters’ ecology and intellect when you know the place.”

“We’ve been leaving it to others all this time. We have to learn to do it ourselves.”

“Indeed… Oh, Nicole, we have to head to the music room already.”

“Whoops.”

It seemed that our meeting dragged on longer than I thought, it was already time for the club activities. I was currently part of the music club. It’s not like I had a particular interest in music, but that place was useful for procuring steel threads. The inconsistency in the budget due to that was covered up by Maxwell.

We entered the music room, took our respective musical instruments in hands and put them in tune. Letina’s was a violin while mine was piano. This also served to make my fingers more dexterous so I was quite proud of my choice.

After our fingers got used to the instruments, we started our ensemble. As we did, it only took a few minutes for a big crowd of audiences to form outside the room.

This has been the norm lately. I was a bit taller now and my childish features were starting to slowly disappear. Letina wasn’t exactly well endowed, but her body was still more developed than mine.

As such, the scene of us gracefully playing music was quite a sight for the eyes of the male students. And not just boys, as almost half of the group consisted of girls. I didn’t get it.

“They could just join the club rather than stand and watch.”

I muttered as I slid my fingers across the piano keyboard. But Letina’s sharp ears caught it.

“It’s not like them watching us would hurt or anything, right?”

“I mean, I guess?”

“They even seem to refer to you as the second-coming of the saint.”

“If they are going to call me something, I’d rather it be second-coming of the sword saint.”

“Honestly speaking, you are far too weak for a sword saint. Besides, you look more like Lady Maria than Lord Lyell.”

I swung the sword every day to the point the blisters on my hand popped, but Cortina healed them without lending an ear to anything I said. Thanks to that, my hands were still squishy. I had unexpectedly low muscles too, looking so thin it seemed like I had twigs for limbs.

Given how delicate and slender I looked, it was about time I gave up and accepted that I had even less aptitude for the sword than in my previous life.

On the other hand, my long and flexible fingers were perfect for thread manipulation. Thanks to that, I was getting quite skilled at reinforcing my body through threads. Playing this piano was one such training, but it seemed that the boys had taken it quite favorably. And our audience was growing day by day.

“Hahh…”

After finishing one song, I heaved a small sigh. It came from my uneasiness due to the unwanted attention, but our visitors seem to have taken it as a tranced sigh of a beauty absorbed in music. I had no such intention, but I was being likened to a saint, the second-coming of Maria through the rumors… Rather, I felt like they were pressuring me into it.

“Are we not going to hunt today?”

“We already did enough during the lesson, so there’s no need to do it after school as well.”

“You are indeed right… Did you let Michelle and Cloud know?”

“I did.”

The only problem was Cloud’s income that was linked to his livelihood, but we just defeated that buffalo so he should be fine for a few days.

In that case, I should have everyone rest their bodies for the next few days. Speaking of Cloud, it seemed that he was the target of envy among the Adventurers. On one side was the sociable and charming Michelle. On the other, a gorgeous noble beauty Letina. And there was also me, the hero’s daughter. He was playing with people like us, so that outcome was only natural.

Being surrounded by three beautiful little girls whose appearances showed great promises made the other Adventurers act harshly. Thanks to that, he rarely partied up with people other than us.

“Besides, if Cloud parties up with others, that would serve to improve his self-worth too.”

“But given how envious others are of him, that would be impossible.”

“I suppose having a harem didn’t turn out well for him.”

“…If I had to say, you are the biggest reason it happened.”

Letina answered with an exasperated voice, but I was under the assumption that I was the least popular among us three. I wasn’t as friendly as Michelle, neither was I as refined as Letina. As proof of that, whenever people addressed me they always got cold feet. The only one that could hold a proper conversation with me was Matisse.

My unsociable nature from the previous life seemed to have left some lasting effects, the people around always shied away from me. This was certainly not because I had no friends or anything. I can declare that with absolute, decisive confidence.

I talked a bit with Letina during the break and then we moved on to another song. After we finished it, someone started applauding us. We had many visitors now, but only a bare few clapped their hands.

They probably didn’t want to interrupt the song, or maybe they thought it wasn’t a good atmosphere to cut in… It was probably something along those lines. Either way, it took me by surprise when someone applauded us.

It was a tall young man who appeared to be in his mid-twenties.