LIGHTNOVELONLINE Chapter 23 - Sephir is joining. (1)
“Am I alive?”
My consciousness cut off after being laid next to Sephir while gasping for breath.
As my senses returned and I turned my head to grasp the situation, I saw Sephir sleeping with an expression that seemed to be looking at me while lying on her side.
‘… She’s pretty.’
Giving off only small snoring breaths and shining faintly in the moonlight, she gave the impression of being so beautiful that she couldn’t even be compared to the gems that craftsmen spent countless hours working on.
“…Hmnya.”
Sephir slept talk cutely while shaking her ears.
Maybe it was because the tension of her being a villainess had died down a lot due to the actions she had already shown.
She was just closing her eyes and giving off small breaths, but it felt like nothing I had seen would shine as much as Sephir right now.
‘……’
What do I do now?
I understand that Sephir was very close with the me from the future, but I don’t know anything right now.
I’m grateful that she’s approaching me, but her actions, which I’m seeing for almost the first time, also feel a bit burdensome.
And I knew.
Sephir’s brightly smiling expression was the same smile as the old me who was hiding something.
She’s hiding important things that she can’t tell me.
‘Still, I should trust her.’
I’ll try trusting her.
I don’t mean that I’ll completely trust her.
I’m not sure if it’s right to say this after only meeting her for a day, but let’s try believing in her as a friend.
I couldn’t deny what she has done so far.
“I guess I’ll get up for now.”
My body condition feels more refreshed than I thought, and the moon looks like it’s sinking. I think the sun will rise soon.
My mind is too clear to fall back asleep now.
I slowly started to get up from a position where half my body was sticking out as if hanging from the bed next to Sephir-
-Flinch
The tail that had been holding me so tightly that I couldn’t breathe was loose, but this time, her hand was grabbing me.
She wasn’t hugging me with both arms or grabbing me tightly with force, either.
She was weakly holding the edge of my shirt as if it were nothing special.
When I lifted my arm, her arm moved along with it.
No matter how much I shook my arm to naturally let go, it didn’t seem like she would let go at all, as if her earnest desire was in that small hand.
“Sigh…”
Her hand wasn’t gripping tightly, so it looked like it would fall off if I roughly shook it off.
Clearly, I could have easily removed that hand.
But…I couldn’t do that.
I turned my body back, which had been getting up, and sat with my feet hanging off.
“Hehe…”
As I approached her again, she was slightly pulling my clothes while even drooling.
She must be having a fun dream…
“Sheesh…”
I’ll probably have to stay like this until the sun rises.
—–
“Goo…d morning?”
“Really?”
The moonlight turned to sunlight, the owl became a sparrow, and Sephir finally woke up.
“Is this how I’ll be treated in my own room?”
“…Sorry.”
Sephir, who knocked me out in my room, laid on my bed, pushing the fainted owner to the edge of the bed, and even grabbed me when I tried to get up, making me sit for hours.
She slept so deeply that one side of her cheek was damp from drool, and when she woke up and saw her hand grabbing my clothes, she greeted me like that.
“My back is stiff.”
“……”
Is it because I sat for hours in a place like a bed that sinks in without a backrest?
My back hurts.
She seemed to have roughly figured out the situation after seeing me, so I guess she does feel sorry.
Her ears and tail were drooping.
“So, Sephir.”
“…Yeah.”
“When are you going to leave my room?”
I need to change clothes now.
Get out.
“… Can’t I just watch?”
“Do you think you can?”
Even though I went along with most of her jokes, that’s not it.
I spoke firmly.
“Let me say it again, I don’t know what kind of relationship my future self had with you, and even if I did, that’s not me. It might sound cold-hearted, but I can’t fully trust you yet.”
It can’t be helped.
No matter what stories I hear or experience, it’s too much for me to trust a woman I’ve only seen for two days and talked to for less than a day.
“…Okay.”
She seemed to understand too, as she hesitated momentarily, then nodded.
“Then, please leave.”
It’s time to go to class now.
Let me change clothes.
“……”
“Sephir?”
Why is she suddenly like this?
She’s not moving from her spot with her head down.
“Sephir.”
-Twitch
Look at that.
Her ears are moving well when I call her name.
“Aaron.”
“Yeah.”
“If I change clothes when Aaron changes clothes, then it will be a fair tr…”
“Get out.”
—–
“Oh! Good morning. Aaron.”
Aslan approaches with the brightest smile as soon as I enter the classroom.
“Good morning to you too.”
I smiled back at the approaching Aslan.
“You went in quite early last night. I was worried because I couldn’t see you at the gathering where most new students meet! I was going to introduce you to the seniors.”
Ah.
It seems there was an evening gathering last night where new students and seniors meet.
‘That’s a relief.’
Let me express my gratitude to Sephir later.
I almost became someone introduced by a ducal heir at a place where most of the Academy’s power players gather.
The gazes of thousands of people would have been too hard for me to endure.
“What a pity.”
Oh no, this isn’t the time to be talking about this!
I made a small request in Aslan’s ear.
“Could you come out with me for a moment? There’s something I need your help with, Aslan…”
Hearing my words, Aslan hesitated momentarily, then nodded as if making a firm resolve.
Aslan and I moved to a corner of the Academy’s corridor like that.
“I didn’t expect you to need help so soon.”
Aslan with a sharpened gaze.
“What do you need?”
To him like that, I bowed my waist.
“Aslan! Please teach me some aura!”
“…?”
Aslan tilts his head and looks at me like I’m a fool.
“Are you…an idiot?”
“Uh…”
By this world’s standards, I lack common sense, so I can’t say no.
“Um… Aaron, aura is something only people without mana can learn.”
He starts speaking with the feeling of telling a child, ‘This is what common sense is.’
“A mana user like you can’t learn aura no matter what you do.”
“I know.”
“You know…but you’re asking for it?”
Aslan’s expression gradually crumpled.
It was the expression of someone wracking their brain to understand rather than anger.
“There’s one thing you’re misunderstanding, Aslan.”
“And what is that?”
“I haven’t adapted to mana in my body yet.”
“Oh my…”
A reaction that could be a sigh or surprise.
“You know that…to put it in a bad way, it means you have some talent, right?”
He said he’d put it badly, but saying it so euphemistically makes me feel really grateful as the listener.
‘He raised my body, which could be described as garbage, to the level of lacking talent, even though he said he’d put it badly.’
“If your body really hasn’t adapted to mana, there’s a high possibility you won’t even be able to feel aura. Even if you feel aura, trying to use aura with a body that can’t even properly use mana honestly seems like suicide to me.”
Aslan with a look of genuine concern, as if to say he’s not joking or speaking metaphorically.
“It’s not like that.”
I quickly denied it.
“Just do it for a few days for now. Isn’t once or twice enough times to bet on possibility?”
I continued before a strange misunderstanding arose.
“Hmm…certainly. Talent and challenge are separate domains.”
He nods his head, affirming my words.
“Alright. I’ll try teaching you aura once.”
“Thank you!”
I expressed my gratitude to Aslan, who said he would help me now, especially since it is an important period for starting relationships for nobles.
“I apologize for ruining an important time with such a nonsensical request.”
Bowing my head sincerely.
“It’s fine. In the first place, other people seek me out, not the other way around.”
‘Ah, certainly.’
He’s someone other nobles have to come greet, not someone who goes to greet others.
“And, as a ducal heir, I couldn’t refuse from the start since I said I would help.”
“Ah…”
“Well then, class seems to be starting soon, so I’ll go first. If all your classes end today, come behind the dormitory. Let’s meet there.”
“Understood.”
As expected of a ducal heir. His work processing is so fast and precise that it feels refreshing.
‘I wanted a boss like that.’
Comparing him to the trashy bosses at black companies, I felt sorry for my old self.
—–
And so, after all the classes ended…
“I’m coming too.”
“Why?”
Sephir, who had been listening from who knows when and already knew where I was meeting Aslan, greeted me on my way out of the classroom.
“Sephir. You don’t know aura.”
Sephir is a mana user.
She’ll know less about aura than me.
“That’s not why I’m going.”
“Then why?”
“Bodyguard.”
“?”
Who would come out at the Academy when Aslan’s fireworks show would turn them to charcoal powder, and why would Sephir, who is at least on par with Aslan, need to come along…is there a reason?
“I’m quite strong too.”
She takes a confident pose, her hand on her chest, as if asking if I don’t believe in her.
“No, I know you’re strong.”
There’s a reason she’s the Holy Maiden’s rival.
“……”
I quietly stared at Sephir without a word.
“……”
The longer my gaze continued, the more she slightly turned her head.
‘I knew there was something.’
“Sigh…”
With Sephir’s personality, even if I say no here, she’ll secretly follow along.
If that’s the case, I should keep her where I can see.
“Okay. Let’s go together.”
“Yay!”
-Swish swish
Tail, you’re really wagging in a way that makes me want to caress you.
—–
“So, for that reason, she ended up coming along.”
“…The Empress of the Underworld?”
“Yes.”
“As a friend?”
“Yes.”
“In less than three days of meeting?”
“Uh…yes.”
“Aaron. I think you might be getting played, my friend.”
“… That’s possible.”
Yup, it’s possible.