Chapter 96: Worrying

Syrah Acacia greeted the morning with a smile.  

The sun was shining, and the wind was pleasantly refreshing.  

But the thought of the academy starting tomorrow stirred an inexplicable feeling within her.

“Heh heh heh.”

Syrah arrived at the Academy humming a tune. She immediately unpacked her luggage in her dormitory before heading off to find Ian.  

The bird had escaped the cage—off to find its place.  

It had only been about a month since then.  

‘What was it that Ian wanted to do?’  

As Syrah looked around for Ian, Stella and her group appeared before her.  

Syrah glanced at Stella’s face and cursed inwardly.  

She didn’t like Stella very much.  

Whether it was her looks, background, or talent, Stella was someone Syrah couldn’t help but compare herself to—and that grated on her.  

Still, she couldn’t show weakness to someone who was obviously competent.  

With a soft smile, Syrah asked, “Hey—it’s been a while! Did I keep you waiting?”

“You… Do you know Ian’s birthday?”

Stella was the first to ask. Syrah closed her eyes and tried to recall the date.  

Nothing came to mind.  

“Birthday? Yeah, I know.” she replied smoothly, lying without hesitation. She didn’t even need to think to know what would come next.  

“When is it?”  

“When?”

She let out a small sigh, pretending to be deep in thought. Then she glanced at the three people’s expressions.  

Dinua and Noah caught her eye—both looked uneasy, but slightly relieved, believing she knew.  

‘Aha…’  

The Acacia family had been raised to understand and manipulate people. As the heir, Syrah excelled at it.  

Analyzing from a psychological perspective, it was clear none of the three knew Ian’s birthday.  

They thought that was a bad thing and had come to ask.  

“I don’t know!,” Syrah said with a wide smile.  

Then she pondered what to say to stir them up. In just a moment, she came up with a brilliantly misleading answer that would leave a strong impression.  

“I’ll ask him the next time we sleep together.”

With those words, Syrah turned and walked away.  

All three of their burning gazes stayed fixed on her back.  

Today was shaping up to be a great day.  

***

“Oh, Ian!”  

“…Senior Aire”  

Ian had been wandering aimlessly around campus to clear his head when he ran into Aire.  

As the daughter of one of the Empire’s four dukes, Aire never went anywhere without her entourage.  

Among them was a blonde, curly-haired cadet glaring at Ian. He recognized her face.  

‘Her…’  

She was one of the cadets who had been eliminated by him during the survival test and the ranking matches.  

Judging by the intensity of her stare, it seemed she still hadn’t let that go.  

“What are you doing here?”  

While Ian silently faced off with her stare, the innocent Aire poked her head out from beside the group and approached him.  

Ian lowered his gaze slightly and met her eyes.  

“Nothing really.”  

“Ahahaha! You too?”  

“You as well, Senior?”  

“Yeah! Sometimes it’s nice to just walk around without thinking, right?”  

Clearing the mind and walking aimlessly.  

Their reasons differed, but their actions aligned.  

“Yeah. It’s nice.”  

“There’s a walking path in the Academy only I know about. Want to come with me?”  

“…Together?”  

At her words, her followers turned their heated gazes toward Ian.  

If he accepted, he knew they would try to make his life difficult. But he was no longer a naive teenager afraid of a few dirty looks.  

“Let’s go.”  

“Yes! Let’s!”  

Aire cheerfully took Ian along.  

Her disgruntled followers whispered among themselves behind her, but Ian didn’t bother listening.  

As if walking really had been her only goal, Aire hummed a tune and completely forgot Ian was even by her side.  

After a while, they arrived at a large lake—so beautiful and hidden that it was hard to believe it existed within the Academy grounds.  

Ian had thought there wasn’t a corner of the Academy he hadn’t seen, but this view was entirely unfamiliar.  

“What do you think? Isn’t it beautiful?”  

Aire beamed as she spoke.  

At first, he’d thought she was self-centered. But seeing her like this, she seemed genuinely altruistic.  

Being part of her faction would definitely bring benefits—perhaps that’s why she had tried to recruit him.  

“Good air, good water.”  

“Wanna dip your feet in?”  

“…Is that okay?”  

“It doesn’t say you can’t, right?”  

Without waiting for an answer, Aire kicked off her shoes and socks and dashed to the water, dipping her feet in without hesitation.  

Her followers hurried to pick up her shoes and socks. They cast sharp glances at Ian and whispered harshly.  

“I’m going to kill you.”  

“Who said you could put your filthy feet in the same water as the lady’s?”  

“Are you really going to soak them?”  

Hearing their words, Ian let out a chuckle, then calmly removed his own shoes and socks.  

To their astonishment, he stepped barefoot onto the grass and sat beside Aire, dipping his feet into the lake.  

The water was so cold it made him shiver.  

Aire grinned, kicked up her feet, and splashed water at him.  

“What are you doing?”  

“Hehe! Why? You do it too!”  

She kept splashing, so Ian—who had endured a few splashes—finally gave in.  

He kicked the water back at her.  

“Hey! You—!”  

Soaked by the spray, Aire shifted position and kicked again, retaliating playfully.  

Ian responded in kind.  

Then she summoned her summon and aimed it at the water to splash him back.

In the end, this match ended in defeat for Ian. 

Aire was unreasonably strong in the cold, like an aristocrat who had grown up in the northern regions. Ian, who was from the warm central region, couldn’t match her.

“Whoa, whoa…”

“Hahaha—”

As his entire body trembled from being soaked in cold water, Aire smiled and looked at him.

“Is the problem resolved?”

“…Huh?”

“I used to worry a lot—but not anymore.”

At her words, Ian stopped trembling and looked at Aire. Her soaked blue hair clung to her skin and shimmered alluringly.

Where did that usual, aloof air of hers go—the one that made her seem like a witch or sage who knew all the secrets of the world? Ian gulped unconsciously.

“I don’t know what kind of worries you’re dealing with.”

She wasn’t a god—Aire muttered those words and gently placed her hand on Ian’s.

Even though she had been submerged in the cold lake, her hand remained warm as it passed her warmth to him.

“But you should know one thing.”

Though her body was wet and her own body heat was fading, she foolishly chose to share her warmth with someone else. But she understood one thing.

Ian Clark’s worries were not that serious.

“No matter what you’re worried about, it’s small compared to the goal you’re going to achieve.”

Wasn’t he the one aiming to defeat the Demon King? To accomplish feats worthy of a hero…

Whatever he was struggling with—it couldn’t be that important.

She didn’t believe there was anything that could stop him from defeating the Demon King. The Ian Clark she knew was a man confident in his ability to overcome any obstacle.

So, his worries were nothing more than trivial.

That was Aire’s belief.

Hearing her words, Ian snorted softly and looked up at her.

“I wasn’t worried about something like that.”

“Yeah? Really? So I was wrong?”

“It was just… a little bit of lamenting.”

It was more like the anxiety felt when something in the world didn’t follow the expected game mechanics—like when only your own summon didn’t level up while everyone else’s did.

The reason Ian believed he could defeat the Demon King was rooted in the logic of the game system. If that system turned out to be flawed, then Ian’s confidence would be nothing more than a fragile illusion.

“Still, that was… a little comforting.”

“Well then! Oh! Want some cookies?”

“You brought them?”

“Yes! Guys!”

Aire stood up from the lake and waved at the followers who had come with her.

They had been waiting in the distance, holding her shoes and socks. Upon seeing her signal, they rushed over with a basket of refreshments.

The followers gasped when they saw Aire, drenched like a soaked mouse.

“Se-senior…!”

“What?”

“Do you plan to stay like that the whole time…?!”

“Yup!”

“You pervert b*stard!”

One of the followers kicked Ian, who was still sitting in the lake, knocking him over.

He fell backward into the water, swallowed a mouthful, and then struggled to his feet by bracing against the lakebed.

“Puhah! …What?”

Still standing in the lake, Ian tilted his head as he watched the followers wrap Aire in towels.

The cadet with curly blonde hair glared at Ian, only her hair sticking out as she shouted furiously.

“Don’t look over here!”

“No, what…?”

“You pervert! Soaking our senior and trying to p9ek at her underwear…!”

At her accusation, Ian finally realized that Aire’s uniform was a pure white academy outfit.

And white clothing, when wet, became see-through.

‘Oh, so that wasn’t her hair…’

He recalled the patch of blue he’d glimpsed and assumed it was her hair beneath the fabric… but now, he realized it wasn’t.

“Sigh… Just come out already.”

“No, let me stay in a little longer.”

“…?”

After that, Ian didn’t come out of the lake—for a very long time.

***

‘Academy Opening Day.

All the cadets gathered in the auditorium.

After being apart for about a month, the cadets greeted their close friends and caught up with one another.

Even the instructors anticipated this liveliness and didn’t stop them. Since it was already the second semester, all the necessary formalities had long been settled.

—Ah, focus.

At the sound of the principal’s voice, even the rowdiest students fell silent. Once the principal confirmed the hall had quieted down, he finally spoke.

—How was your vacation?

No one answered. The vacation had ended, and more importantly, there wasn’t anyone enthusiastic enough to respond cheerfully.

The principal, unsurprised by the silence, continued with the ceremony.

—During the break, a remarkable incident occurred.

Some cadets perked up. At the Academy, very few things were ever described as “remarkable.”

Curiosity began to stir.

—Ian Clark, Noah Mellie. Please come to the stage.

“…Noah?”

“Isn’t she a commoner?”

“What’s going on…?”

The two who were called made their way up to the podium. The emblems of their respective families were emblazoned on their uniforms.

The cadets grew agitated. How could a commoner and a baron wear crests that even a duke’s daughter wouldn’t dare use without permission?

The principal addressed the crowd again.

—During the vacation, it was discovered that these two made significant contributions to humanity. For this, they were granted titles directly by His Majesty the Emperor.

Once again, silence fell over the auditorium—but this time, it was a different kind of silence.

Before the astonished crowd could react, the principal added,

—Marquis Ian Clark and Countess Noah Mellie.

In the next instant, the auditorium exploded with gasps and screams of shock.