Chapter 122: Under The Table Agreement

Han was mistaken about what he had exactly seen. Timothy wasn't simply seated with one person but two people—one of which was the cloaked figure, Ellynn and the other was someone he couldn't identify.

He wasn't sure on what to think about this matter, it was probably a good thing that they were associating with Ellynn. It hadn't exactly taken them too long to realize that Ellynn was actually a good person but he wasn't so sure about that other person. He couldn't exactly tell who he or she was, before he could finally grasp on their persona, the features seemed to morph into something else entirely. There seemed to be…

"K-Kai?" A female voice spoke up in bewilderment just right near him.

Glancing at the speaker revealed it to be Lu Rei and they seemed to have identified the person with apparent ease. Was this a classmate of theirs? Because although Han didn't exactly bother much right now, he was sure that he was familiar with most of their faces.

He raised a brow and decided to ask something but was beat to it by somebody else speaking up.

A certain Noble clicked their tongue, "It's… him." His voice was dripping with an unnatural distaste, "He's not a good influence, I don't like that he's talking with both Timothy and Ellynn. I know that Timothy isn't the most fond of me, how about you go talk to them, Han?"

It made him blink.

This was the most verbal disagreement made by Sir Leon de Harrington and that certainly said a lot about that particular individual. But even he was unsure if he should approach Timothy and the other two right now. Instead Han further swept his gaze over the dining hall, he soon found the ginger haired lady waving at them and beckoning them over with a frown over her face. Even she seemed perturbed by what had happened.

And there was her younger brother who seemed that they couldn't care less of wherever Timothy had sat at—as long as they stayed a good distance away from him and his sister. Or at least, that was what he deemed their look to be.

"Han?"

He glanced back at the young Noble that still held a frown over their face. "Sorry, what was that?" Why were they ordering him to go fetch for Timothy if they were aware of the apparent dislike of his companion over him? Was this Kai fellow really that bad when Lu Rei didn't exactly react in an overt negative manner? It was only right that Timothy had the opportunity to befriend whoever he wanted.

"Are you not inviting Timothy back to our table, Han?" Sir Leon de Harrington asked him. The young man glanced at the said person before looking at him once more, their frown had eased up but they weren't exactly smiling either.

Han scratched the back of his head, "I mean, he can do whatever he wanted…" That sounded quite uncaring to him, he cleared his throat and tried to smile, "And he's got a good head on his shoulders, I don't think that he's the type of person who's easily influenced by someone else."

The young Lord let out a resigned sigh and nodded, "I'll take your word for it, but for now—let's eat lunch then."

He was about to agree when he heard a voice speak behind them. It wasn't exactly in a hushed voice either.

"Now that there's currently an unoccupied seat in your table, will you be inviting someone else to sit with you?"

"Can I join you for lunch?"

"I'd really love to eat with you!"

"Perhaps we can continue our discussion?"

He wasn't exactly sure who had spoken up first but it made his eye twitch for a moment. Why were they thinking of something like that?! He glanced back to see a few people looking expectantly at Donovan and Lady Angelika, were they really hoping to seat with the Nobles just because his friend was missing? Weren't they all actually friends?

Perhaps it was a simple matter—heck, it was just a seating arrangement.

But it still felt relevant to him, in a way, it wasn't only the Student Ranking that mattered in this Academy… it also involved who you associated with. His [ Fame ] statistic was enough proof that it was important enough. And yet, although he had expected Sir Leon de Harrington to decline politely to all of them, he did the exact opposite.

"I'm not sure if all of us would fit in our tiny table," The Noble gave them a sheepish smile. "Perhaps it could be mitigated by finding a larger table for all of us?"

It took all of Han's effort to not slap a hand over his face. There was only so much that Han Jing could take with crowds!

.. .

There were a few things that came to Ellynn's mind as she soon found herself across the strange illusory Mage and Timothy. The first one, she wondered why she was here in the first place. She had agreed to thank Timothy and Han for bringing her back here, that's why. She should have watched her tongue.

And so it was the second and third one that mattered more. What was the reason why this supposedly friend of Han's was associating with such a weird person? And why didn't he want his friend to be involved here? Surely, they would have preferred to be in this situation with someone he was more comfortable with and yet he wanted her to be the one who came with him.

Although she soon found out why.

"My word! I didn't expect that Timothy here would bring in such a lovely lady to accompany us," His gaze flitted over her with a friendly smile before they swept over to Timothy with an apparent glare, "Although I was explicitly asking for your friend to join us and not her. I should have clarified it earlier but I assumed you knew who your friend was. I don't really believe your friends with Miss Half Elf here." The Mage expression lightened up once more. He chuckled and waved a hand at the younger boy. "Isn't he there now? Why don't you invite them over?"

It unnerved her.

This person was younger than her—but even her good vision as a Half Elf to see through magic couldn't fully untangle and unweave the current illusions that they were casting in front of them. When she had assumed she had finally found the true identity beneath that persona… another would shimmer just beneath it and promised more. They were doing that much magic and were also maintaining a silencing spell that muted their conversation from eavesdroppers.

And most of all, it was this person calling her lovely. Nobody in their right mind would say something like that! Unless they wished to be ostracized by everybody else, although perhaps they were already being avoided. She was used to people sitting far away from her table and pretending she didn't exist but the number of empty tables were far more than usual.

Timothy let out a sigh, "The reason why I looked for you—"

"You only managed to find me because I let you find me~" The Mage cut them off with a smile.

"It was because I want to negotiate the terms. You want a particular book in this hidden library and so I believe that with Miss Ellynn's help, it will be much easier for me and her to accomplish it rather than me with Han," Timothy explained to them.

And it was there that Ellynn finally grasped what was truly happening, she narrowed her gaze at the Mage and decided to speak up, "Why are you asking a first year student to do something like this? You should do it yourself."

"Hmm… it's not really supposed to be your business, and I do hope that it stays that way." The Mage propped a hand underneath her chin and flashed her a smile, her appearance was now something close to her own, "We don't want anything to happen over that pretty—"

"I won't tolerate you threatening my friend." Timothy spoke up and managed his own smile, although one of his eyes was twitching at them. "I know that finding this library is advantageous for me and Han, but if you keep that attitude of yours, I'm afraid that we'll have to decline."

The Mage reverted back into a shaggy haired young man, he leaned back into his seat and clicked his tongue, "You're no fun, perhaps this is why I wanted your friend to be the one to join us instead of this vixen. At least I assume that he's more willing to interact in a more entertaining manner—but alright, let's put aside the petty tricks for now. I don't care who you bring to this library, be it this girl, that other girl on the table or your side girl if you have one. Wait you—I mean you don't, you can't have all the ladies you know?"

He wasn't exactly going to stop with such senseless wording was he?

Ellynn had a thought about blasting them out now with a [ Wind Gust ] and she was sure that she could actually do it and yet she couldn't. It would simply outcast her even further and this incident would be brought up to the Headmaster, but most importantly, if this person actually had an idea of where one of the hidden libraries actually were… she had to see it for herself too.

"I take it that you agree? Good." Timothy immediately stood up and glanced over at her, "Thank you for coming here, Miss Ellynn but I have to get going myself." Somehow despite the conversation that had just occurred, he was able to get back on his feet at once. "We'll discuss the details later right?"