Chapter 15

༺ The First Letter (15) ༻

Celine has been dissatisfied lately. To be more precise. This started after she heard that I had started training with Seria.

Today was the day I went to practice swordsmanship with Celine. This time, we were instructed to gather in the forest located south of the academy, not at the knight’s training ground.

Unlike the knight’s training grounds, the forest was quite far away, so Celine and I joined halfway through and then started walking together. She snorted and looked at me as if I was pathetic.

“Ian oppa, are you a pervert?”

“...... What do you mean?”

Her left hand rested on her waist while her right hand was rustling and massaging her temples. It was the reaction you had when you were astonished.

“You have to be one? After being beaten to the dust on that day, just because she asked you, you actually started helping that bitch? No, if you aren’t a pervert, are you retarded?”

“In that sense, I have beaten Seria as well.”

“That’s it!”

Celine growled, standing upright like an angry cat. No matter how much I thought about it, she didn’t seem to like Seria at all.

“A senior can beat a junior for the purpose of giving her guidance, right? However, how can a junior beat their seniors to such an extent?”

“What do seniors and juniors have to do with a duel? When seniors duel with juniors, should they go easy on them?”

The more I sided with Seria, the more I grew dissatisfied with Celine. She tried to persuade me with a frown, but it didn’t change my mind.

Seria, who I had been watching for a few days, was just often misunderstood, and was not a person without flaws. On the contrary, I even got the impression that she was a little fragile.

At first, I didn’t think much of it, but it was true that I started getting a little worried after being together with her for a few days. I had a sense of crisis that if I left her as she was, she might remain in the society as a socially dysfunctional person.

At the very least, she needed some common sense about the intricacies of human relationships. As a senior, it was natural to have that kind of care.

I felt like I had to stick around and take care of her for a while. I’m also concerned about the relationship between her and my future lover, ‘Sepia’.

Come to think of it, today’s lecture was also related to that letter from the future.

Swordsmanship practice in the forest, isn’t it the same lecture where there would be an attack by a magical beast?

The letter stated that no casualties were caused thanks to the appropriate measures having been taken. On the other hand, it meant that human casualties might occur if not properly dealt with.

I had to stop it. I then arrived at that conclusion.

The problem was that he could not guess the identity of the demonic beast.

Even the demonic beast had very different characteristics depending on the type of creature that could be termed as the prototype.

In the first place, when the density of unrefined magical power becomes too high, a demonic beast is born from contaminating the nearby creatures. Depending on the characteristics of the creature, the characteristics of the beast had no choice but to change.

Demonic beasts mainly take the form of animals, but sometimes plants can also be considered to be one. Even humans could become magical beasts when their magic density was abnormally high.

These demonic beasts had only one thing in common. The fact that they were excessively hostile to external life forms.

Other than that, everything was different. This was the case for most of their other characteristics, such as ecology, habits and weaknesses. So I had no choice but to suffer from a headache.

In fact, I was still not sure if this letter was from the future.

Isn’t that a letter from the future 7 years from now?

If I were to grab a passer-by and ask if the letter was genuine or just someone else’s prank, he would most likely choose the latter. Naturally, I was still not sure.

However, if the letter is real, an incident will occur during today’s lecture.

I calmed my mind in advance and steeled my resolve.

Unlike me, who was infinitely serious, Celine was still babbling beside me. She looked at me suspiciously.

“Ian oppa, are you listening to me?”

“......Yes? Oh yeah, I am listening.”

“What was I talking about?”

I was so immersed in my thoughts that I had forgotten that I was walking with Celine. Celine would be even more furious if it went on like this, so I decided to use the skills I had learned from Leto.

The scent I praised last time. The belonged to the girl who was approaching while pointing her finger.

“Celine.”

‘What? Maybe Celine of the Haster family has disrespected Ian oppa? What’s the matter, is Ian oppa annoyed? I’m so scared that I might cry.......’

“You smell good today.”

Celine, who had been taunting me nonstop, froze upon hearing my words, and remained paralyzed for a while.

She blushed slightly and avoided my gaze. ‘Sigh,’ she then sighed and folded her arms.

“Is it true?”

“Is that the same shampoo you used last time? It suits you.”

Then Celine looked a little bubbly and shy. She coughed unnaturally, Ahum, Ahum, and cleared her throat.

“Wh-What... I’m not using it just because Ian oppa likes it, you know? Ar-Aren’t you glad that we met today?”

The tone of her voice was strangely high, but Celine didn’t seem to notice that.

I’m glad it worked. I sensed that she was relieved, and heaved a sigh of relief inwardly.

First of all, if the two-person group moved separately, there was the risk of being defeated individually when the attack of the demonic beasts became a reality. However, it was impossible to warn my partner about a massive stampede of the demonic beasts since there was no proper evidence right now.

Then there was only one answer. Before the attack of the demonic beasts, first notice the situation and then report it to Professor Derek.

I don’t know how strong the demonic beasts lurking in the forest were, but Professor Derek still had a history of subjugating famous demonic beasts countless times. There was no way he could lose in a place where there were even 100 students enrolled in the academy.

But if there was one problem, it was that I needed someone who would completely believe my words and follow me?

My eyes naturally turned to Celine. Even though I didn’t say anything, as if she knew my thoughts, she came over to me with a smirk.

“How are you, Ian oppa? It’s a party of two-person, but what about us two going together after a long time?”

“To have a date while the two of us are armed with our swords, in a place where demonic beasts might be lurking. Isn’t that romantic?”

Celine chuckled upon hearing my sarcasm. She seemed to be quite enthusiastic about this new training we will be doing.

“Aren’t they supposed to just be low-level beasts? Even if this place is on the outskirts, after all, it’s still within the academy grounds.”

That was the general idea. No matter how neglected the breeding of demonic beasts was, this place was still within the academy grounds, even the hunting festival was held here every year.

He could tell just by looking at what people thought of the earlier incident with Emma. The predominant view was that a student in the Alchemy Department, unable to protect herself, had an accident.

But what if it wasn’t the case?

Because of that ‘letter’, various emotions were swirling in my mind. Anxiety, nervousness, and feelings of duty and guilt.

No one believed this letter. Only I, on the premise that this letter was saying the truth, could prevent the loss of lives that would appear today.

I felt lonely and painful. I momentarily bit my lips, then, as usual, tried to invite Celine to accompany me.

If it was Celine, she was someone whom I knew well, and above all else, she was someone I could trust and rely on to watch my back. However, I kept my mouth shut when I felt someone’s gaze.

My eyes flickered to the side. There, eyes resembling the sea were staring at me.

Her eyelids drooped again after having been filled with hope for a brief moment, as if she didn’t want to feel disappointed.

While thinking something like that, I couldn’t help but stare at those eyes whose glitter soon faded.

I was troubled for a while. But the hesitation was short-lived.

“...... Celine, partner up with someone else today.”

“Yes, yes. Anyway, Ian oppa only has this Celine... what?’

Celine, who had already swelled up in anticipation of what was going to come out of my mouth, immediately frowned and asked me.

I confirmed my intent to her again.

“Today, I’m going to group up with someone else. Not to mention there are many other people besides me.”

“Well, yes, but... Aha.”

Celine, who was shocked, soon realized that my gaze was on someone else and uttered in an icy voice.

A cold light flashed in her eyes.

“...... Do you want to partner up with that bitch?”

“She seems to have no one but me.”

Celine’s eyebrows furrowed in irritation. She whimpered and turned coldly away from me.

“Are you seriously going to do it? From now on, we are going to be adversaries.”

She left after uttering such an angry remark. She must have been furious.

I hoped she would let this slide but still things turned this way. Thinking as such, I sighed and walked over to Seria.

Seria, who was left alone among the people who were forming a group, seemed particularly lonely. However, now I’m a bit acquainted with her.

In fact, Seria wasn’t ignoring anybody, and surprisingly, she was someone who feared loneliness.

I called Seria, who was looking only at her toes with her head lowered.

“Seria.”

“Ye-Yes!?”

Seria jumped with a cute scream, perhaps startled by my sudden call. She looked at me with bewildered eyes.

To such Seria, I made a simple proposal.

“Let’s team up.”

“...... Pardon?”

Seria tilted her head as if she had no idea what I was talking about. So I had to utter one more time as if to assert my intent.

“I want you to team up with me.”

Seria then looked blankly at me.

She avoided my gaze and hesitated for a moment, then soon she coughed in vain as her former arrogant expression returned to her face.

“...... Yes, gla-gladly.”

She bit her tongue again.

Seria was still the same.