The Rebirth of Evelyn Knox

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Evelyn chuckled before shaking off that thought. Although it would be amusing, it was probably better to just use Craig's corpse as an alchemical ingredient or something to get rid of it cleanly. At the very least, she could never expose it until she was strong enough to handle the threat from Terrazyme as a whole.

Aurora may be on her side, but she would rather not bring more trouble at her teacher's door than she could handle. That fight with Mantis had been proof enough that although the platinum blonde was strong, she was far from infallible.

Evelyn clapped her hands after cleaning up Aurora's room. "Look, teacher, it's all neat and tidy again."

Aurora stared blankly at her student's 'praise me, I did a good job' expression. "One of my anklets is missing."

Evelyn blinked. "Oh, I must have mixed it up when putting away so many accessories! Just give me a moment, uh, let's see, is it this silver one—?"

The platinum blonde shook her head with a wry smile. "Since you took it… just keep it. It wasn't very useful for me anyway."

Although it may have been a genuine mistake, this greedy little brat would probably feel regretful after handing it back, wouldn't she?

"Really?!" The pink-haired girl jumped in joy, giving her teacher a delighted smile. 'A gift from Aurora, ah! It's sure to be a good thing!'

She had no idea that her ecstatic reaction only confirmed Aurora's earlier thoughts.

Rushing over to give her teacher a hug, Evelyn grinned at Aurora's awkward and embarrassed look. "Teacher is too good to me, I'll become spoiled, you know~?"

Aurora felt a chill run up her spine at that thought. 'Impossible. How can she get any worse?'

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Evelyn knew Aurora was quite busy, so she didn't bother her too much after getting all her curiosity sated. She'd gotten more than she was looking for, anyway, including the ancient academy's defensive formation as well as that anklet.

Speaking of which, she still hadn't taken a look at its stats, but it was fine to do so later in her room anyway.

Of course, Evelyn still had to fetch some goodies before going back. Vivian may be fooled by the good old candies in her inventory, but Amara probably knew which ones she did and did not have. Since she'd made an excuse, might as well make it true. 

Thankfully, when it came to consumables, there was no need to go all the way to one of the forbidden cities.

The academy had a 'restaurant' of its own, though it or more or less resembled a cafeteria with a rather extensive menu. Evelyn had long since known of its existence, though she never had the time to take a look.

Since she had a considerable sum saved up now — thanks to the Terran prince's generosity — there was no harm in stocking up on some decent consumables. Plus, it would also serve as a good excuse for going out so abruptly.

The pink-haired girl paused as she came face to face with the so-called restaurant. "So this is the 'Arohma', huh?"

Evelyn vaguely recalled Cecilia mentioning that this was the only place within the academy that was owned by an 'outsider', and the honor belonged to the Aquan royalty. Of course, this wasn't really a surprise considering that the Aquan Empire was the most business-oriented superpower on the continent.

She had no idea what kind of a deal they managed to strike, though. 'Maybe I should ask Eula to give me a discount coupon or something before I make a bulk purchase. Considering she's a close friend of their princess, she should have something like that, right? I'll just take a few samples this time, then.'

Strangely enough, most of the people going in and out of 'Arohma' did so in pairs, and the remaining few did so in larger groups. 'I-Is there a hidden rule that one can't go in alone? No, Cecilia would tell me if that was so, wouldn't she?'

Shaking her head, Evelyn decided to just go in and see for herself.

Compared to other places in the academy, she felt that 'Arohma' actually didn't 'fit in' very well. 

Although each of the academy's buildings seemed to have a different theme, they more or less had a common ancient feel to them. But the swiveling glass door at the front and tall transparent walls gave 'Arohma' a more 'modern' look.

"Welcome!"

Evelyn blinked as she was greeted by a 'maid' as soon as she stepped into the 'cafeteria'. Moments later, she realized the woman seemed quite familiar. "You're… the lady from the carriage?"

The maid smiled, looking delighted that she had been recognized. Although the fat sheep that made the payment last time wasn't here, she must have handed enough pocket money over to her sugar baby, right? "Yes, I recognized you coming in. Would you like to take a seat, or are you here for a takeaway?"

Of course, the walls of the 'Arohma' were mostly see-through, and there were no privacy screens anywhere. Now that she took a closer look… even the tables and chairs seemed to be made of glass.

"I'll order a takeaway, could you please give me a menu?" Evelyn felt that it wouldn't be very comfortable to eat here even if she had such plans, which she didn't in the first place. 

The maid smiled as reached into her apron pocket and took one out as if she had already expected as much. "Here you go. Please take a look."

Evelyn had already considered it a possibility after seeing this maid here, but as expected… this menu didn't have any prices marked either, just like the one in the carriage.

Well, she had enough money now that she didn't need to care for little expenses like this, but Evelyn assumed the regular students must have a private menu of their own to keep track of all the prices, though Cecilia hadn't mentioned it to her.

As she was looking through it, though, Evelyn was stunned. "Wait a minute, what excuse did I make again? Cake? Or was it candy? No… milk?"

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