Chapter 121 Cetha

Thus do many skills lead to victory.

That's what I needed. To explore the outside world first, to be stimulated and learn about it all, then to absorb as many skills as possible in order to… well, be allowed to live. To avoid dying, and to kill before I be killed.

That is how, for as long as being a student in the aristocratic academy was plainly useless, I decided that I wouldn't attend anymore. And I knew I should be going out. So maybe I would.

Then again, maybe I won't, I thought. At least, I get to be spending time with her, now. With Cetha the elf. The monster's home. The pretty elf maiden was seated right next to me, and I turned to her, seeking her eyes and attention.

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The weak, pale, and full of grace elf—no, divine fairy of the Benelloan Forest was here with me, getting herself an education from high society. She wasn't so sickly burning with fever, now. Quite the contrary, she was the peaceful fairy whose sole beauty reminded me of a day's soothing stroll within the woods under the high tree branches, the sun, and the shadows it cast; the pretty elf was a soothingly fresh picture to look at.

Looking at the elf narrowing her eyes and slightly crunching her features down at the grandmaster of the amphitheater, she sometimes nodded decisively at the master's words or hung her head to the side asking silent questions, as she concentrated on the course. It had been long since Cetha woke up from her never-ending nightmare of a fever. Every day, now, at every hour, I could admire the elf's growing charm and appeal, looking at the unbidden picture of a maiden fairy's authenticity her soul projected forth.

Her thin, pale fingers either pressed on her lips as she worked her thoughts or on the tip of her quill when she wrote the precious information about mana down on her sheet. Her slim arms shifted positions under her lady's dress, sometimes digging themselves firmly onto the long desk we shared, and sometimes established as sturdy pillars meant to support her tiny head up, with her chin deep within her hands.

Cetha the elf studied unlike me. I could see she was in it for real. Receiving a high-standing education on mana really was what she had dreamed of. Being here, at school, learning from the knowledgeable masters she so much respected and admired, assimilating new knowledge by the day, writing and illustrating words, spread onto her books.

She had told me herself. Countless times. After she meekly introduced herself to me for the first time and we had "officially" met, and after each day of the three weeks we spent, either waiting for the academy to open to us or actually attending the courses here. She told me countless times how super-epic receiving an education was to her, and how eager she was to study and become as knowledgeable as our "Uncle" caretaker. Since she was a wee lass, according to the elf, she wished to become a learned lady, especially in the field of art magic.

The cheerful elf avoided talking about it, for obvious reasons, but I guessed the poor elf's situation, basically held captive in the forest, couldn't quite permit her to go about her dream. And even before, being the daughter of an elven king, I guess most of her responsibilities lied elsewhere. That's how she managed to be so mature and adult when it came to the Academy: When I voiced the bland opinion I had about all of this school affair, saying I was mostly disappointed and didn't expect it to be like this, the mature elf, who was 20 years old but still considered a minor according to the elf culture, was always quick to passionately explain to me why it was actually so great.

Well, I didn't know about the academy, but she was great.

Before her thin, smooth lady's hand parted with her quill and ink and brushed strands of her light silverish green hair behind her pointy elf ear, she hesitantly turned to me, fidgeting her hands with a slow smile climbing on her features.

"...W-What are you staring at me like this for, Aoi?" she whispered, trying to be somewhat intimidating for some reason. After a silence of maintained eye contact, I looked away and buried my head within my arms on our desk, eventually saying I was just admiring her. By now, she had gotten used to my bluntness, so she managed to hide her embarrassment by quickly following up— "What, still falling behind with the course, mm? Want to take a look at my—"

"No." Everything but looking at more notes. Sensing the elf's loneliness after my blatant refusal, I shifted my head, still buried within my arms, to look up at the majestic maiden fairy again, thanked her, and told her I'd gladly use her notes tonight or something.

Well, I knew I couldn't get to admire the forest fairy's beauty for too long, though, since she obviously was a little put off by my longing directed to her, as her cheeks and the ends of her ears turned scarlet and she couldn't concentrate on the course.

And then, my thoughts longed for the outside world again. Princess Elina wasn't a fraud for bringing me here to her aristocrat's academy, since I basically said my wish was to learn tons and tons of things about the outside world, but man, she did also promise to make a monster-hunter of me, too.

As for the Main Quest I received from the System, that one quest which basically read "Go and get all comfortable with the third princess, 0/1" in the end, I didn't accomplish it yet. I had followed the System's instructions and got into the noblewoman's apartments, but nothing quest-related came after that.

Being "all comfortable," I did share the third princess bed, but all I did was fall asleep, and that was that. Eventually, I was woken up the next day at dawn… and was profusely scolded. She didn't even ask me how I, in the first place, managed to get in there with all the security, guards, and magic barriers meant to keep intruders out, and instantly told me my behavior couldn't have been more reckless and irresponsible. The issue was that, basically, what if someone had found her pet soldier here? Access to the royal grounds was forbidden to the common people.

Eventually, I had to go out, but she insisted it had to be the next night out of fear that I was seen on my way out. During that day, I stayed with the noblewoman's apartments and watched her go about all sorts of things in the morning when she took care of her work, then saw her off to her daily dose of business, and then welcomed her back when the night was falling. There, out of curiosity, I randomly asked the noblewoman about who it was that gave her the name Elina in order to ask them if they would be so kind as to provide me with a name so that people can call me, too. Eventually, that day, the noblewoman's own little pet soldier was named Aoi like receiving a name was no big deal, and I was happy.

After that, the days passed uneventfully: I met the elven princess after she was healed, called her my family, saw how meek and shy she was acting toward me, tilted my head at her behavior, and asked her if she still felt feverish, then waited she was feeling less meek, told her that we were making our own little family together saying she was my home and refuge… and before I knew it, the monster and the elf had grown close enough to each other so that I was given a lesson on how "making a family together" was a serious proposal to make to a girl, that I probably didn't even understand how serious I said was, that she could get the wrong idea, that I could be oh-so-socially hopeless when it came to that, and that, to sum it all up, I couldn't just blurt out the words "I like you, let's make a family together" to someone, just like that.

But as the days passed, my argument was still the same: I didn't care what was right or what was wrong, and besides, she had agreed to become the monster's home, so as far as I was concerned, we were making our own family anyway. "Y-Y-Y-You should feel embarrassed, at least! Ch-Children are… like… way too soon…!" was what I was told by the blushing elf maiden, and that was all. As you could guess, I didn't quite understand that part about children, but oh well.