I’m Not Doing This With A Friend

I stared at Fjord with a pretty shocked expression on my face

I was so surprised that it was difficult to stop my mouth from opening due to the shock.

Fjord's eyes grew round when he saw my shocked face. Then he let go of the sack he was holding and hurriedly shook both his hands.

"Oh! This, it's a misunderstanding!"

"Then what do you mean by throwing it away?"

"Oh, no, it's right to throw this away. I mean, it's like…"

"Caon, was Fjord always such a scumbag?"

"Yes!"

Fjord cried out at Carsion's neat and clear answer.

"Hey, why are you pretending that you're not doing this now? You're also throwing away even the good ones right?"

"I won't accept it unless it's from Leen."

"You weren't much different from me before you screwed up.'

I was able to draw a conclusion after listening to their conversation.

"Then, both of you threw away the cookies you receive every year?"

Carsion and Fjord shut their mouths.

"Oh my gosh."

Leen's face became stiff.

After they saw Leen's stiff face, the two of them became embarrassed and started making excuses.

"But they might have put something weird in the cookie. I couldn't help it, Leen."

"And even if I take the risks, how could I finish them all before they go bad? I couldn't give it to anyone else."

Now that I hear the reason behind it, it wasn't wrong.

There was no guarantee that none of those cookies were mixed with a strange ingredient.

As Professor Walter said, it was necessary to be careful.

However, even though the misunderstanding was resolved, my eyes became cloudy because something felt uncomfortable for some reason.

Even if it wasn't for that reason, it felt like they would have thrown it away without any guilt.

Looking at them both like that, I suddenly remembered another cookie in my bag.

I gave Carsion the cookie, so I'll have to return the cookie Fjord gave me.

I took out the pretty wrapped gift box that Fjord had given me from my bag and handed it to Fjord.

"Now, this…"

"Huh? Why would you do this to me?"

The voice of Fjord, who was handed the gift box, was trembling.

His pupils shook hard.

Instead of giving it to Carsion, he was wondering why she was giving it to him.

Carcion, urgently, took turns looking at the small bag of cookies in my hand and the gift box in Fjord's hand

Whoever looked at it, the gift box looked expensive.

I handed it over without thinking, but looking at the two of them, I suddenly felt the desire to play a joke on them.

I tilted my head as if I didn't know anything.

"Why? Today is Cookie Day."

After throwing the bomb in a plain tone, I left their dumb faces behind and stepped out of the room.

It was a very irresponsible attitude.

Then I grabbed the door handle that wasn't closed yet and smiled lightly at the two.

"The two of you could eat the cookies together. I'll go to the bathroom."

Thud.

The door closed and as I took a step away from the room.

I was going to take a walk while something interesting happened in the club room.

But even though I didn't take a few steps, I heard a huge explosion.

BOOM!

…huh?

What happened? Why was there an explosion?

A cold sweat started to flow from my back.

Come to think of it, it was said that wizards cause magical explosions when they can't control their emotions.

I stared at the tightly closed club room door. I couldn't even open the door and check what happened inside.

"Haha, I don't know."

After a short walk, I ran down the corridor to the dorm.

* * *

I was majoring in Herbology at the Arena Academy.

(N: The study of herbs and their medical properties, especially when combined.)

Herbs were like a double-edged sword that could make medicine or poison, depending on how and what they were combined with.

How attractive it was to be able to save or kill someone.

Thanks to my mother, who was an excellent herbalist, I have grown up close to medicinal herbs since I was a child.

My interest in medicinal herbs peaked when my parents had an unknown disease.

I wanted to live somehow, so I dug into medicinal herbs.

However, the person who I wanted to save did not exist in this world.

I don't know who I want to kill.

The things that I desperately wanted to achieve through medicinal herbs didn't come true. But I still love herbs.

The fact that I was able to pass the admission exam of the notorious Arena Academy was due to my knowledge about herbs.

Unlike the entrance exam, the transfer exam reflected 70% of the major subjects and 30% of the remaining subjects.

I don't know any other subjects, but my knowledge of herbs was second to none.

That doesn't mean I haven't studied.

On the contrary, I'm doing well thanks to my aunt's passion for education.

It's just that it's not enough to take the top spot.

For reference, Carsion majored in magic, and Fjord majored in swordsmanship.

Jane was also in the costume design department, so I didn't have the same major among people I was close to.

What does that mean?

This meant that I had to take a major class alone, which accounts for half of all classes.

"…so, it could be dangerous to do it alone, so I'll make it as a group project."

As I was looking out of the window, I was immersed in thoughts, and then I glanced at Professor George, amazed at the words of the ‘group project' assignment.

Group project? Why did something come up all of a sudden?

"For grouping, gather in groups of four in the order of attendance number. It's perfect for 16 people."

Professor George was the only herbal major because there weren't many students. We had to take classes with other grades.

Such an herbalist major, Professor George, has an impression that even empty words couldn't be neglected.

Raised eyes. Unkempt, disheveled hair and always has a look of displeasure on his face.

His personality was also famous for being eccentric. But I liked Professor George.

It was true that he was angry, but he was surprisingly passionate about education.

He had no hesitation in sharing the information he found.

Even though he had a lot of valuable information that was difficult to buy even with money

Unfortunately, the other students seemed to be unaware of that fact.

However, just because I like Professor George didn't mean I was happy with the group project he gave.

Actually, I've never done a group project.

Still, it wasn't difficult to predict the future of escaping from this world due to high blood pressure.

With a deep sigh, I looked at the members of the same group.

Unfortunately, not all three of my group mates were my classmates.

This time, Professor George's assignment was to collect ten kinds of medicinal herbs around the academy.

The word he said ‘around the academy' meant climbing a mountain behind the academy.

And the final task was to create a mini-dictionary by writing down the appearance, efficacy, and usage of the herbs we collected.

No one in our group opened their mouths first.

A long time passed, and I, who couldn't overcome the silence, opened my mouth carefully.

"Leader… who wants to be the leader?"

From then on, there was a breathtaking exchange of glances between the four of us.

They looked at each other quietly and urgently, hoping that the other person would volunteer for something they didn't want to do.

Victims… No volunteers, when no one would take the lead, we finally decided to decide our fate by climbing the ladder.

While two members of the group diligently drew the ladder, one of the female students tapped me on my shoulder. It was a small whispering voice as if to say something secretly.

"I wanted to ask you something, this has nothing to do with the group project."

"…?"

"Was the rumor true that Carsion liked you?"

As soon as I heard it, I frowned.

Meeting Carsion was mostly limited to our club time. There was no reason to be rumored that he likes me.

But where the hell did she hear it? such rumors seemed to be spreading.

"No, there's no reason for him to like me."

In response to her obvious question, she skimmed me up and down. It was a gaze that seemed to evaluate me.

I stayed silent as much as I could to know what she was talking about.

After a while, she muttered, ‘It's pretty,' but I couldn't hear it well. Then, she laughed a little and said what she was thinking.

"Pfft… Well, that's true."

Words with blatant ridicule.

I wasn't hurt by those words. As if evaluating a person, skimming up and down was certainly like judging someone behind their back.

But I thought it was only natural in a way that such a conclusion would come out by comparing me with Carsion.

Well, if they have to compare us.

It was true that Carsion was superior in comparison to appearance, talent, and family.

Even his real personality was kind and pure, wasn't he? Unlike me, who has been worn out somewhere.

I don't think that my self-esteem was low…

No, I never had low confidence. I'm just being realistic.

To be honest, Carsion would have won overwhelmingly no matter who he was compared with, even if it wasn't me.

He was that perfect.

"It's all done! Everyone, go pick a number one by one!"

When someone said that the ladder was complete, I casually turned my gaze away from her.

Oh, of course, I turned my gaze away, not that I just put up with her.

Because I wasn't good enough to endure someone evaluating me up and down.

"These days, magical spells have been developed, so I could see a potato talking…"

"What? What did you say, now! My face doesn't look like a potato!"

‘Oh no. I'm not talking about your face, I'm talking about your dry brain that's not working properly.'

I chose the first ladder, ignoring her screaming in anger.

"I like this one."

"Okay, then you go first."

Then, a boy named Hans, who took the initiative in drawing the ladder, started drawing the ladder I had picked.

Humming an unknown song.

"Follow me, follow, follow↘Follow me↗Follow me, follow, follow↘Follow me↗"

"Hey, can't you hear me?!"

There was a potato that was shouting next to me, but no one was more interested in the familiar scene than I thought.

I don't think talking potatoes are common. Was this really what a truly modern man was like?

…huh?

I thought about this and that, and then I stiffened when I saw the writing on the place where Hans' finger arrived.

<Winner of the group ♡>

Ah! My life.