Battle Race in the Fantasy World

Battle Race in the Fantasy World – 105

EP.105 Good Changes, Bad Changes

The meeting with Grand Duke Littorio ended in a very satisfactory direction.

‘…Or maybe it was just satisfactory for me?’

In hindsight, there was a feeling that he might have gone a bit overboard.

The gym, or rather the indoor training hall, wasn’t just about the space; the equipment inside was also important.

A shower room needed to be installed. Better cooling and heating magic needed to be set up, among other things.

In less than five minutes, he had poured out a list of demands like suggestions.

In front of someone who was offering to donate, he had essentially asked them to spend generously.

Despite this, Grand Duke Littorio didn’t show any sign of displeasure and agreed to everything.

Was it out of genuine gratitude, or did he have other thoughts in mind?

It wasn’t clear, but the most important thing was that he listened and agreed.

‘A gym that’s larger than it is now. A gym with more equipment. A gym with a shower room right next to it.’

Returning to the indoor training hall and sitting in front of the equipment, Kyle’s mind was filled with those thoughts.

It was already spacious enough, but a gym even larger than this? New equipment coming in!

There was still about an hour left before he had to go meet the Saintess.

So, he thought he’d do some light upper body exercises, but he couldn’t focus at all.

‘Order the equipment from the north. Make the floor capable of handling deadlifts. Make the shower room as spacious as possible to reduce inconvenience. That way, people working out will be comfortable.’

With such thoughts occupying his mind, all he was doing was barbell curls.

He tried to do other exercises, but whenever he got lost in thought, he found himself doing barbell curls again.

It wasn’t long before he realized he wasn’t in a state to work out.

Kyle let out a low groan and fell into contemplation.

He had time to spare, but he couldn’t focus on exercising.

After thinking for a moment, Kyle seemed to have an idea and nodded.

Then, he gathered his clothes and headed somewhere.

‘They said a sorcery club was formed. Maybe I should go take a look.’

Perhaps it was because the academy was modeled after real-world universities.

The academy had clubs, just like in universities.

And from what he had heard, after the recent academy attack, sorcery had been re-evaluated, leading to the creation of the sorcery club. Naturally, Tisha was the club president.

“Excuse me.”

As Kyle opened the door to the sorcery club room, a few students greeted him.

Two freshmen, two sophomores, and one junior and one senior.

The commonality was that they were all commoner students.

“Oh, oh! Kyle! Kyle Jonathan!”

“It’s really Kyle Jonathan!!”

Yes, it’s Kyle Jonathan. So, could you please stop looking at me like I’m the protagonist of some special feature?

“Hello. This is the sorcery club, right?”

“Yes. Oh, are you here to see Tisha?”

He hadn’t even mentioned Tisha, but suddenly her name came up.

Kyle inadvertently replied, “Ah, yes.”

“Tisha went to the library a little while ago. The sorcery club activities just ended. The people here are just organizing books. You should try the library.”

“Oh… okay. Thank you. Take care.”

Originally, he came to check out the sorcery club. But thinking about it, it felt a bit awkward without Tisha.

It was a bit burdensome to laugh and chat with people he didn’t know.

It would be different if they were notable supporting characters, but they weren’t.

Caught off guard, Kyle found himself heading to the library to see Tisha.

Naturally, she would be on the fifth floor where the sorcery books were.

Climbing the stairs to the fifth floor, Kyle tilted his head.

‘With the increased interest in sorcery, I thought there would be more students here….’

It was no different from before. Except for the librarian, the floor was empty. It was very quiet.

Even the librarian was nodding off, indicating that there was hardly any foot traffic.

It seemed that the brief surge in popularity had quickly subsided.

Perhaps people found it wasteful to invest time in sorcery when they already had the excellent means of magic.

He had expected this. Why bother with uncertain sorcery when there was reliable magic?

Even though sorcery showed potential, magic was still far superior.

Tisha probably acknowledged this as well.

‘Maybe that’s why Tisha is even more dedicated to sorcery.’

How much had she grown with the book he had found for her?

He wanted to ask, to confirm, but he was a complete novice in sorcery.

Even if he asked, he wouldn’t understand the answers, so it was pointless.

“Tisha?”

He called her name as quietly as possible. But there was no response.

He wandered around, looking for her, who would surely be deeply immersed in sorcery today as well.

It didn’t take long for Kyle to find the person he was looking for.

“Ugh….”

Was she trying to reach a book on the top shelf?

Tisha was on a ladder, stretching her hand out. However, she looked quite precarious.

‘It looks like she might fall… I knew it!!’

As the saying goes, words can become reality. Just as he feared, the ladder wobbled as Tisha stretched a bit further.

As a result, Tisha, who was at the top, also wobbled, and with the shift in weight, it was inevitable that she would fall.

If she fell like this, she could get seriously injured.

If she landed wrong, she could hurt her muscles or bones.

The floor was made of marble, so if she hit her head, it could be disastrous.

Fortunately, Kyle was quicker than he thought.

“Ah!”

Crash!-

Thud thud!!-

The sound of the ladder falling and books hitting the ground echoed together.

Blinking her eyes, Tisha tried to comprehend what had just happened to her.

“What are you doing?”

“K-Kyle?”

She realized she was snugly held in Kyle’s arms.

As she stayed there in a daze, a somewhat stern look and voice reached her.

“You’re not even in comfortable clothes, and you’re wearing high heels. Climbing a ladder like that, are you out of your mind?”

Only then did Tisha understand that the ladder had fallen and she had been about to fall.

At that moment, Kyle had quickly caught her.

“That was really close.”

Clicking his tongue once, Kyle reached out to the side.

He shook the black high heels that Tisha had been wearing just moments ago.

The heels were quite high, not something she usually wore.

“Don’t ever climb a ladder wearing these again.”

“Yes, yes. I’m sorry, Kyle.”

“And your clothes too. Wearing such long, flowing clothes… ha. You could have gotten seriously hurt.”

The clothes Tisha was wearing were not her usual attire but a black dress.

It wasn’t just any dress; it was made of luxurious fabric and designed to accentuate a woman’s charm.

It revealed so much skin that many male students looked at her with admiring glances.

“You’re not hurt anywhere, right?”

“No. Thanks to you. What about you, Kyle?”

“I’m fine. Just a bit startled, that’s all.”

Kyle subtly poked her side, indicating that she should move aside now.

Startled, Tisha quickly stepped aside, not even wearing her shoes.

“Th-Thank you, Kyle.”

“It’s nothing.”

Kyle’s voice was a bit cold as he replied.

As someone from Jonathan who valued their body, it was an inevitable reaction.

However, from Tisha’s perspective, not knowing this, she was at a loss.

With a timid gesture, she picked up the fallen books.

She set the ladder upright and inwardly whimpered, ‘Hng!’

“Your dress is pretty.”

Did he realize that his voice had been a bit cold earlier?

Kyle’s passing remark made Tisha turn her head.

“What…?”

“I said, your dress is pretty.”

“Oh, ah….”

“Did something happen today?”

At Kyle’s question, Tisha shook her head and replied.

“With the sudden increase in interest in sorcery, more people have been looking at me. I was worried that if I dressed and acted as I usually do, they might mock me for being a commoner….”

In other words, she was concerned that the increased attention and interest might lead to more ridicule.

So, she had started paying attention to her attire, which she had previously ignored.

Hearing Tisha’s words, Kyle understood why she was wearing such a fancy dress and high heels.

“…But this is a bit too much. First of all, the dress is too revealing and too elaborate. Just dress as you usually do. You’re still plenty pretty, Tisha.”

“Oh, yes. Yes. I will.”

Tisha nodded her head frantically at Kyle’s words.

In fact, there was one more reason for her attire.

The second reason, which she was too embarrassed to tell Kyle, was that she had been jolted awake by a recent meeting with the ladies.

‘A closest friend. That’s fine. But if we remain just friends until the end….’

That would be a little, no, quite sad. And it would be very difficult.

She realized that some change was necessary to avoid that outcome.

So, she observed the attire of noble students attending parties and read various books.

She wondered what appearance could captivate a man’s heart, no, Kyle’s heart!

‘He said I’m plenty pretty as I am.’

From Kyle’s perspective, it was a remark meant to discourage her from climbing ladders in such attire.

However, given the situation and the many unspoken parts of his words, it was open to misunderstanding.

Most importantly, Kyle himself didn’t have no feelings for Tisha.

Unconsciously, a bit of sincerity slipped into his words.

“…Kyle.”

Following that flow, Tisha decided to muster a bit of courage.

“By any chance, I mean, really. Just in case. I’m asking just in case.”

“Yes, Tisha. That ‘just in case,’ what is it?”

“…So. Um….”

Squeezing the book she was holding, Tisha tightly shut her eyes.

Then she spoke the words she had resolved to say first, no matter what.

“Do you… have any thoughts about having a girlfriend?”