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Chapter 44: I’ve never felt that way about you. Not even once.
Chapter 44 – I’ve never felt that way about you. Not even once.
Puzzled eyes were directed at me.
It was understandable. A familiar-faced woman was clinging to my chest, burying her face in it.
This was the second time I had experienced something like this in this world.
The first time was with Yushia, who smelled of cotton, and the second time was now. Trixie, who couldn’t control her body due to drunkenness.
“How can you… ignore me like that? I’m much more interested in you than anyone else!”
I felt annoyed and irritated.
I took a good look at Trixie.
Her tight-fitting uniform outlined her figure, and her deep blue eyes, like a lake, were unfocused as they stared at me.
This kind of woman was always troublesome. Attractive women were annoying enough, but their pathetic followers were even worse.
There was nothing good about having people watch this situation.
“Hey, Flan. What’s going on between you and Trixie…?”
“Yeah. Trixie, calm down first.”
Becky and Louis cautiously opened their mouths.
Yushia blinked her eyes and suddenly said something.
“Trixie dear~ Are you mad because he didn’t give you a glow-in-the-dark puzzle?”
Louis quietly covered Yushia’s mouth.
I started to recall why this situation had happened.
[ ? Then win against Flan first. ] . [ ? She’s just my disciple. ]
And not long after, I remembered a few messages that I had sent to Trixie as a reply.
The reason why I accepted her as my disciple was simple.
I was annoyed by Trixie, who contacted me all day long, and I also wanted to clear the misunderstanding that I was a scout.
But I acknowledged Trixie’s thirst for knowledge.
So I tried to find a way to meet her and teach her in person, and this was the way I chose.
“I can do better! I’ll do better!”
…Much more than I had thought, Trixie seemed to like the teaching auction.
She ran over to me while drunk. Maybe I underestimated her passion for learning.
Humans. Especially women, are incomprehensible creatures, I realized once again.
I looked around.
Louis, Becky, Yushia… All three of them had at least five invisible question marks above their heads.
“Louis. I’ll postpone the advice for later.”
“Huh? Oh, okay. Don’t mind us.”
Louis and the other students entered the tower, and I sorted out my thoughts.
Trixie’s talent was not bad at all. Her potential was also enough.
However, she needed the right weather for her talent to bloom.
Flowers also have seasons to blossom.
“Trixie.”
After finishing my thoughts.
I opened my mouth slowly.
“Is this all you can do?”
?
Trixie only looked at her toes.
She knew that she was acting like this because of the alcohol, that she couldn’t overcome her impulsiveness… She knew all of that.
“…I can’t admit it. No.”
But she couldn’t admit it.
Pritia’s intoxication made Trixie’s feelings surge.
The name of the ‘Fritz’ family, which made other magicians shiver, and herself, the daughter of that family.
The day her mother, who she believed would become a great mage, suddenly died.
Trixie collapsed in the light breeze, and the rain that pressed down on her body was unusually heavy at the funeral. There, Trixie vowed to become a genius.
She lived up to that vow, or so she thought.
Genius. Genius. Genius… That word never left her ears.
That’s why she hated to admit it.
Flan, who seemed to walk the path of a genius more than Trixie, the teaching auctioneer who ignored Trixie like this…
She couldn’t understand any of it, she didn’t want to understand, and she was afraid.
Maybe Trixie wasn’t a genius.
Maybe she had been mistaken all this time.
Maybe, as much as she hated to admit it, there was a genius elsewhere. And that genius was currently shunning Trixie.
“What is it that you can’t admit?”
A cold voice. The alcohol had worn off a bit.
Trixie parted her lips quietly.
The thing she couldn’t admit. There was only one thing.
“I am…”
“You are?”
I clenched my fist and spat out the words, as if squeezing out my lungs.
“You’re a genius. You have to be. But why does Master only answer your calls? Why does he only teach you?”
“Because I’m a genius.”
Flan clicked his tongue, making a loud sound.
“I’ve never felt that from you. Not even once.”
“…”
At that, Trixie lifted his head.
Flan seemed utterly unreasonable.
He had become like that thanks to Master, but he acted as if he was above Trixie. He couldn’t stand it.
“You… you shouldn’t say things like that.”
He bit his lower lip, and continued.
“If it weren’t for Master… you would be nothing. If he had looked at me, I could have been the representative.”
“Trixie.”
Flan’s voice was cold.
“Are you even a mage?”
It was an unexpected question.
The answer struck Trixie like thunder.
Their eyes met in the air.
In his red eyes, the opposite color of Trixie’s, there was contempt.
“A mage’s basic quality is to walk alone.”
That hurt him to the core.
“Also, you shouldn’t let your feelings become your attitude.”
Every word was sharp.
“Aim to be a mage, not a genius. If not…”
He had never heard such a thing from anyone.
“You’re just a fool pretending to be a genius.”
And he was just a student, like Trixie.
But none of his words were wrong.
“What’s left of your actions for show? Is that what you think a genius is?”
He felt dizzy. It wasn’t just the alcohol.
“I heard the story. He was quite interested in you.”
“…!”
Master was interested in him. Trixie’s eyes widened at that.
A shiver ran down his spine. He stared at Flan with a blank look.
Flan was still looking down at him.
“But, what do you think he’ll think when he sees your drunkenness?”
But then, he realized that there was more than contempt in his red eyes.
Trixie felt it.
Flan also hoped that Trixie could meet Master.
“There’s only one peak, but there are many geniuses. And not all geniuses grow without failure.”
Trixie breathed in and out.
The suffocating breath.
It finally started to ease.
“Are you going to face him with such a pathetic attitude?”
Tricksy shook her head quietly.
She had been dull and foolish. Her actions were nothing but a tantrum fueled by drunkenness.
He was right.
If she was a first-class mage, a genius, she would never act like this.
“…Fire.”
Finally, Tricksy parted her lips.
Once she uttered it, it was not hard to continue.
“Let’s have a duel with fire elements.”
“Fire, huh? Is the criterion power?”
Tricksy nodded.
“Yes. I’ll beat you and become his disciple.”
“That’s a good idea, Tricksy. Let’s do it after the tournament.”
Plan also nodded. He then straightened his clothes.
As he passed by Tricksy, he muttered softly.
“I won’t tell him about today’s incident.”
Tricksy was left alone, standing still and recalling the recent conversation.
The pain and fear, the impatience, the jealousy, the anger, and the like were gone.
“…A fool pretending to be a genius.”
Tricksy just repeated that phrase over and over.
She would never give up, even if she died.
But no longer, she would not try to be a fool either.
A cold dawn. The alcohol was already gone.
?
Two days before the tournament, the editorial department of Merhen Daily.
There was no time to rest in the editorial department at this point, when the tournament was just around the corner.
In the already heavy atmosphere of the office, Sephia sighed deeply, holding her forehead with her hand.
“What are you doing right now?”
The reporter who was criticized by Sephia scratched his head awkwardly.
“I just wanted to make my work easier…”
“If you can be comfortable by yourself, is it okay to handle your work like this?”
Sephia tapped the articles on the table nervously.
[ Ivan, how perfect do you want to be… ] [ Ivan’s perfect victory. The greatness of ‘Knight-errant’ ]
“The tournament hasn’t even started yet, what are you doing? Only send out articles based on verified facts. That’s the rule of Merhen Daily.”
“Chief.”
The reporter opened his mouth cautiously.
“Honestly, you know this will happen, chief. We have so much to cover, we have to write something like this in advance.”
“Hey. I can’t work with you like this!”
But then it happened.
Sephia’s trivia flashed blue. She opened it anxiously.
She narrowed her eyes and looked at it for one second, two seconds, three seconds…
Soon her expression softened.
[ * Violet ] [ ? The representative for the first-year combat event has been decided. ] [ ? Plan will be the one to go. ] [ ? He just finished registering as the representative. ]
She closed the trivia, and Sephia murmured with a slight smile.
“Maybe, I can work after all?”