Chapter 19 – Struggles of The Weak (4)
Proofreader: Future Me
“Hello~ Stuuuudeennntttsss!” Mary had greeted everyone.
Her voice was my sign to tap out.
With each passing lesson, it was becoming obvious that there was too much happening in this first week. Even in the game, there wasn’t this level of chaos…
Well, that was because I didn’t bother attempting ‘Hell’s Paradise.’
There were many things to digest in the past day, Serina’s outlashes, Charles’ confrontation, Ancient History’s Class, as well as the many routes that would force itself into the main storyline.
With the advent of the Spirit Queen, I planned to talk it out with Erin later. She was a great tutor in the game, and hopefully, she would be one for me too. On the flip side, when the dungeon and hero’s bout is completed I’ll also be able to train under this school’s most qualified swordsman.
Was that about it today? Oh wait…
Abel’s promise, If he keeps his word It’ll be possible to receive something even greater than Fjleora’s blessing.
Hopefully, for the next couple of days, things will chill out while I train for my duel.
This situation has only made me even more envious of the isekai system cheat novels.
“If only…” I mumbled half dead.
“When taakiingg intoo account graaaviiittttyyy, the formula of trajectory muuusttt be implemented into the magic circle~” Mary’s calming voice further urged me to sleep.
In the end, my eyes gave up on being open.
-x-
“Goodbyeeeee!~ See you next tiiiimmmmeeeee.”
I got up half dead, exiting with the hope of peace.
“Yo! Let’s get food together,” Fen came up to me along with Uriel and Erin. “I bet you’re starving, especially after what happened with Professor Floreis.”
The peace was not granted, but he made a good point.
“Yeah, you’re right,” I agreed with his perspective.
Fen smirked, “Great, we were heading there anyway so it’ll be all four of us.”
We were walking to the cafeteria when we noticed a rapidly approaching girl.
Uriel had quietly noted, “Isn’t that Julia?”
The brown pigtails marked their appearance, confirming her suspicions. A grim expression loomed across her face, worrying the three of us.
“Are you okay?” I asked first. “You don’t… look the best.”
She swiftly grabbed me by the arm and brought me forward. “P- please, let’s talk. Just the two of us.”
I looked over toward the others looking for an opinion, and they simply all nodded.
“It's fine,” Fen mouthed to me from afar.
I turned to Julia accepting her request, “Alright, I’ll hear you out.”
I was subtly surprised, but I wondered what could’ve happened for her to look so ragged. As of now, we sat at a table far away from the attention-grabbing centre of the cafeteria.
“Commoner, do you know about the Rosemary family?” It was a direct question from Julia, leaving me no room to think.
I decided to mix in a lie with truth, “I am aware of them, but only to the extent that they are Serina’s family.”
The reality was that her family weren’t the best people, putting it lightly. They are nefarious for their actions in the underworld, and creating experiments that interfere with the growth of other magicians around them.
“Re- Really?” Her panic subsided slightly.
“I mean I am ‘friends’ with Serina now, but she hasn’t told me anything about her background.”
Her eyebrows furrowed at what I had told her. “Friends? H- how could that happen?” Julia had pushed for an answer.
“Well… I- uh…” I stammered thinking of a way to explain it without making her seem like a villain or stalker.
She had become overly aggressive with her questions, “Were you honest with me before?”
“Yes I was, but-“ I struggled to explain myself.
“But what?” She eyed me down like an eagle searching for prey.
I was blanking badly, “It’s just that…”
“She- she uhh... saved me this morning!” I yielded pathetically.
A confused noise escaped her lips, “Excuse me? ‘Saved’?”
I don’t think revealing this would be a good idea. Eh- it’ll be fine. It’s Julia after all.
I grasped her hands on the table to express my seriousness, “Julia, promise me you won’t tell anyone what I’m about to say.”
“Eh? Wait- I’m not prepared!” Her face glowed a bright red. “We can’t- can’t. Not yet!”
“Not what?” Question marks floated atop my head.
It seemed she got the wrong memo.
“I’m talking about this morning.” I brought her back to the main topic at hand, “I got into a bit of trouble with some kind of spirit in the academy, and she got me out of it.”
“You found a spirit?”
I managed a short lie, “Well- I got lost.”
Her face flashed an instant understanding of the situation. “Hmph! I guess there was no issue at all then.”
It hurt that she believed it without a shadow of a doubt.
“So, what was the problem?” I asked curiously.
I couldn’t recall if there was conflict between the De Gracias’ and the Rosemary’s. Not having bothered with Julia’s route limited my knowledge of this to only the first week.
“No- Nothing at all!” Steam burst outside of her head, accompanied by a blush. “It’s of no concern to a commoner such as yourself!”
“Okay…?”
I guess If she was satisfied through a quick round of answers, I could disregard it for now.
“I have places I must be! Goodbye!” She excused herself disappearing into the hallways of the academy.
I stood motionless, unable to process her cute actions… until I saw the crowded students eating happily.
“Yup, food!” I reminded my brain why I was here.
I once again headed toward the cafeteria, sighing once I saw the others.
Fen, Erin and Uriel were dead set in the middle of the cafeteria. They loved the VIP seats a little too much. Considering the other Platinum Generation guys don’t come near here, it was a little embarrassing being singled out amongst the dozens of students.
“Luke! Look what we got you!” Uriel had a proud look on her face.
The tray had hamburger and rice, with thinly sliced vegetables on the side.
The first question on my mind was, “How did you know what I wanted?”
“We heard everything in your sleep,” Erin had explained.
…
I didn’t recall having that problem before coming to this world. Was that a trait of Luke, the body I currently possessed?
“Ye- yeah!” Uriel supported Erin’s answer, “We heard about all kinds of dishes I’ve never heard of before.”
Yeah.
I wanted to disappear.
I understand the things I do can be cringe, over the top, or just rude, but something like this…
Fen looked up with food covering his mouth. “Luke, your face is red, do you need to go to the infirmary?”
I didn’t want to hear it from him.
Just let me eat in peace and live ignorantly.
-x-
We had a new class pop up, Alchemy. It was an extremely useful class for players at the beginning, learning how to create potions, cures for status effects…
And seducing Luna.
That princess was reeaaalllyyy easy to impress in the following weeks regardless of the protagonist, due to a cluster of troublesome events.
Alchemy was a filler class of sorts, with hardly any events nor a professor that had any relevance. However, this world might prove it otherwise eventually. I listened to every third word, dozing off like I did in Mary’s class.
“That was boring,” Fen complained.
“Yup, I really could go for a break,” My voice trailed off, “especially since the swordsmanship class killed me… literally.”
I had already gotten my ass handed to me earlier… and the wounds haven’t healed either.
“Luke!” Uriel called out to me as Fen and I walked out. “As an apology for this morning, please, let me relieve you of such injuries.”
“Of course,” I granted her permission without hesitation. “No way I wouldn’t receive the help of a saint.”
“I- I’m still a candidate!” She stammered with a deep red face.
“I doubt you’ll be for too long,” Fen assured her, “You’re pretty well received among the populace in our empire compared to the others.”
“R- really?” An embarrassed smile floated atop her face.
I also commented, “Honestly, I can see why.”
“Look, even Luke understands it,” Fen agreed easily.
Uriel fidgeted with her hands, unfamiliar with that level of praise. “I- I’ll heal your wounds now.”
A warm light descended from the ceiling, wrapping me in its embrace. Uriel made a prayer unintelligible to my ears and knelt down.
“-Heal this young lamb with your grace.”
The moment her prayer finished, my body was filled with rejuvenation.
I praised her work, “Woah, it feels like nothing happened at all.”
“That’s great!” Uriel let out a happy voice seeing my renewed energy.
Tap, tap.
Something disturbed my moment with Uriel.
I let out a startled voice, “Who?"
“Luke, come with me.” It was Erin, who had an extremely stern expression.
“Ah, sorry guys-“ I quickly bid my farewells.
“Goodbye…?” Uriel was unsure of how to react to my kidnapping.
“Have fun!” Whereas Fen dismissed such a fact.
Erin quickly dragged me over to the gym, lecturing me. “In Professor Floreis’ class, your defence was almost impenetrable. However, your offence was non-existent.”
“You watched me?” I felt almost violated.
“Did you expect me to waste my precious time teaching you everything from the ground up?” She rhetorically asked.
I kinda did, since Erin hyped it up with her own ‘sword style’ or something along those lines. Also, wasn’t she getting more loose with her words around me?
“Take it,” She brought over a sword. “From now until you are worthy enough, I’ll whip you into shape.”
It seemed another hell awaited me as I pointed the sword toward the dummy.
“No.” Erin disapprovingly spoke, “Point it at me.”
I have to fight her…? I don’t think she knew the meaning of holding back. The Enigmatic Chance was completely useless against Floreis, and I doubt it would be for Erin either. What’s the point of seeing the weaknesses, but being unable to land a hit?
Stammering, I got ready to fight, “I- I’ll try my best then.”
Time to send my prayers to the world tree…
Because I’m done for.