If Professor Zimmer were to keep teaching Basic Swordsmanship longer, the period during which I could benefit would also increase.That would make it all the easier to get an A.I agreed to Freya’s proposal.“Good. As long as the current teaching approach continues, it’s not a bad idea. But is there some issue with Professor Verdandi? Why suggest handing her courses to another professor?”It was fine by me, but why bring this up so suddenly?Freya slowly parted her lips.“Professor Verdandi needs more time to rest. She also said she needs time to focus on her own training.”“Not fully recovered yet?”“That’s right. The doctor says there’s no longer any problem with external injuries, but the aftereffects of the internal damage from fighting the enemy seem greater than expected.”Listening to Freya’s explanation, I more or less understood the situation.'The demon who attacked Verdandi last time was the Fighting Dog Toman, one of Gilean’s hounds.'Toman’s appropriate-opponent stats are 80 or higher.In this world’s terms, that’s Master-level.His unique trait [Loss] has the effect of stealing a portion of the experience from the target he wounds.If you’re struck by that trait, you suffer a long debuff equal to the total amount of experience stolen, and it’s a unique debuff that healing magic can’t remove.But since “experience” doesn’t exist in this world, it seems to be implemented as a form of “memory loss.”That’s probably why Verdandi can’t remember the events before and after that battle.“I understand the situation. Handle that matter as you see fit.”“Yes, I’ll consult both professors and bring it up with the headmaster.”'I should tip Zimmer off in advance.'That way he won’t be flustered and can reschedule his return to his home country.That seemed to conclude the public part of my conversation with Freya.She carefully boxed up the cookies and, as she wrapped them, cautiously spoke.“About the prize from the treasure hunt.”“Ah, that.”“Are you really going to use it?”I took the box Freya handed me and shrugged.“If I have the chance, there’s no reason not to. It’s not every day you get to go on a date with a campus celebrity.”Why wouldn’t I use it? It’d be a waste.“……”“And if I don’t use it, people might say you and I colluded.”Rumors like how Loen and Freya coordinated in advance to pretend the first-place prize never existed.“That’s true as well.”Freya gave a small nod.She briefly bit her lip, met my eyes, and asked evenly,“Are you truly… not going to tell me how you found that slip?”She’d asked once before too—persistent.I frowned slightly and answered,“It’s a secret.”Even if I wanted to tell her, I honestly don’t know.When I kept playing dumb, Freya stopped pressing.“I see…… Then you have nothing else to say to me about it?”“Nothing in particular.”Having confiscated the hell cookies, I checked the time and slowly stood.“It’s late. I’ll be going. Get some rest.”Freya stared at me for a moment, then offered a farewell.“Yes, take care on your way.”I left her office with the cookies she’d wrapped.Outside, Theon was waiting.Hopefully he hadn’t eavesdropped. The iron door was thick enough anyway.Theon tilted his head at the bundle in my hand.“Lord Loen, what is that?”I gave a wry smile and said,“Ignorance is bliss.”***The office after Loen left.“Phew.”Freya let out a small sigh and leaned back in her chair.Staring blankly at the door through which he had disappeared, Freya covered her eyes with her wrist and fell into thought.'Loen, what on earth are you thinking….'Freya quietly closed her eyes and recalled that day.The incident on the day of Loen’s inauguration as General Student Council President, still vivid in her memory.The Union’s Main Hall had become a madhouse due to the high-ranking monsters that invaded.Students fled in a panic, and the professors moved quickly to respond to the monsters.And in that chaos, amid the fragments collapsing from a burst of mana, Loen threw his body to shield her.Thanks to his help she was safe, but Loen was injured by falling debris and spent a long time in the infirmary.Once the situation was settled,Freya went to visit Loen, who had been hurt protecting her.She went to the infirmary where he was hospitalized several times, but each time she had to return without seeing him.The reason given was that he needed mental and physical rest.So instead of visiting, Freya wrote him a letter every day while he was hospitalized.She wrote about their childhood, about the days before he changed, and memories of the times their families interacted.She put into those letters the wish to see the pure version of him from long ago once more.Everyone else was busy pointing fingers and cursing Loen, but Freya was a little different.She thought there must be some reason he suddenly started committing misdeeds.Perhaps it was because Uncle Kaizel, the previous head of House de Valis, had passed away—or for some other reason.If Loen sought forgiveness from the victims of his atrocities thus far and truly repented, their relationship could be mended again.At least in a corner of her heart, she believed that.Even though the engagement had been broken and relations between the houses had grown awkward.However.Contrary to her hopes, no reply ever came.Thinking perhaps he hadn’t been able to read them, she waited a few more days after he woke up. But there was no particular response.Even when he attended the meeting of student council presidents, he only designated her as vice president and made no mention of the letters at all.In the end, Freya let go of her last hope, went to see him, bought him a sword, and treated him coldly.She said it would be the last favor she’d extend.But after that, Loen began to change bit by bit.The territory war, the combat class incident, even the Sports Festival.And he even found the slip she had ⊛ Nоvеlιght ⊛ (Read the full story) hidden.As if he had counted all seventeen letters she had sent so far.He found the treasure-hunt slip she had hidden in the No. 17 mailbox in the Main Hall where the inauguration incident had occurred.But Loen wouldn’t tell her how he had found the slip she’d hidden.He spoke as if he knew nothing.“……”At the very least, Freya couldn’t tell what Loen was thinking or how she should treat him from now on.“Haa.”With a deep sigh, she gathered her thoughts.Freya finished thinking and opened her eyes.Still—Loen was changing little by little.He had stopped his former misdeeds and was gradually behaving differently.And thanks to that change, it felt as if the memories she had shared with him long ago were coming back to life.Childhood days when they cheerfully explored forests and castles together.The times they played soldier with the children of their houses, got hurt, laughed, and cried together.The slightly embarrassing memories of exchanging flower rings and linking pinkies.Those hazy days she had vowed never to revisit were surfacing little by little.“……”Looking at the empty cookie plate,Freya thought so.***The next morning.Waking in the sleeping room, I broke out in a cold sweat when I noticed the bundle I’d left on the desk had vanished.'Where did it go. The cookies.'Surely Ciel hadn’t picked up and eaten Freya’s hell cookies.Ciel’s much tougher than I am, so she wouldn’t get sick from eating them, but still.With that uneasy feeling, I finished my morning routine.Mana breathing training and exercise, purification of the mana orb within my body, and even some alchemy leveling—before I knew it, it was 8 a.m.Ciel came to the Student Council Office.When I asked about the cookies’ whereabouts, Ciel answered curtly,“There was something dangerous on your desk, so I dealt with it.”“Did you throw it away?”“I’m keeping it for now just in case, but it’s scheduled for disposal.”“Don’t dispose of it—bring it back to the desk.”“……Are you planning to eat that, by any chance? If you need refreshments, I’ll bring you some. Please don’t pick up strange things and eat them.”Ciel spoke in a tone that asked what kind of person would eat something like that.I slowly shook my head.“No, I won’t eat it. I’ll just keep it separately. The person who made it put in the effort.”Since it was Freya’s commemorative handmade cookie, better to store it in the freezer than throw it away.“……Understood.”Ciel stared at me for a moment, then poured tea and changed the subject.Trickle—.“How are your exams?”The nuance was like asking whether I could secure grades sufficient to maintain the student council presidency.I took the teacup and sat back in my chair.“Smooth. So far.”On the provisional grading, I scored over 90 on the Divine Studies exam, and I also cleared the standard for the swordsmanship course.The other general education classes go without saying.The important exams left are Elementary Spirit Studies Made Easy and Introduction to Intermediate Magic.Since I’ve studied hard for those two, there’s nothing major to worry about.After slogging through stuffy language and math in the real world, these mysterious subjects rekindle interest you didn’t even know you had.Anyway, an A is practically guaranteed.If I get through this semester well, I’ll obtain the legendary item [Sage’s Glasses], and won’t need to worry about grades anymore.If anything comes up, I can ask the Sage’s spirit.“The theory classes won’t be a problem.”If there is a problem, it’ll be the practical evaluation—the competition battles.'Regrettably, my personal combat ability is still more or less at a standstill.'I quietly clenched my fist.Up to now I’ve felled opponents by exploiting their weak points with clever tricks, but that was ultimately luck.There’s no way such flukes will work in competition battles where grades are on the line.Competition battles aren’t single-match affairs; your true ability is evaluated through ongoing matches against students of similar rank.Think of it like ranked games.You might luck out and win a couple, but if you keep playing, you eventually settle where you belong.'At my current standing, to place within the top 10, I’ll need at least 10 consecutive wins.'I might bolster myself with boosts and gear to beat the first three or four, but I can’t keep relying on luck.And the more I fight, the more students will analyze my style and try to exploit its gaps.To enter the academy’s top 10 means overcoming all that adversity, fighting, winning, and seizing victory.In the end, that means I can’t neglect my own training.Finishing that thought, I asked Ciel,“Have the items I ordered arrived?”The goods I requested from the underworld.These days there’s no need to go down to the underground city each time; if I send the list of items I want, Alfredo handles it.Like X-pang’s rocket delivery, they even drop it off at the door.All I have to do is bring what’s left outside the office into the lab.“Yes, I moved them to the lab.”“Good.”I gave a small smile and nodded.Now that I’d resolved most of the problems piled up before me,The time had come to break through the long-postponed boundary in alchemy.

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