Chapter 20: A normal day in the middle of a storm
Eve flooded the office with a dangerous killing intent, giving a terrifying look toward Sylfi, who struggled to catch her breath.
When Sylfi was on the verge of losing consciousness, the oppressive feeling abruptly halted, leaving her staring at Eve with fearful eyes.
Eve then gave another menacing smile and said, "Don't worry, I won't do anything to you. If I did, my master would be angry with me. So, don't be scared little rat."
After hearing this, Sylfi gulped and remained silent, fearing this crazy woman might still try to harm her.
A few minutes later, Clarice returned to the office. The moment she stepped inside, she noticed the tense atmosphere between the two girls. It wasn't her place to ask what had happened, so she simply called Sylfi to guide her to the guest room.
The silver-haired girl quickly stood from the couch, hurrying to get away from Eve, who put on an innocent smile and said, "Clarice, while you show Miss Sylfi the guest room, I'll go stay with the little master."
Clarice only nodded, bowing slightly, and asked Sylfi to follow her.
Eve watched them leave, stretched her arms, and decided to head to Raziel's room, thinking he might need something.
When Eve arrived at Raziel's room, she opened the door gently, noticing him lying on the bed, staring at the ceiling with a tired expression.
He didn't even notice her presence until she lay down beside him on the bed, causing Raziel to turn his head and stare at her with a surprised expression.
"What are you doing here, Eve? You should be with Sylfi, helping her," Raziel said, his eyes lingering on the beautiful face of his bodyguard.
"Don't worry, little master. She's with Clarice in the guest room, and Miss Sylfi said she didn't need my help, so I decided to come here to be with you," Eve said with a gentle smile as she settled on the bed.
"I see..." Raziel said, giving a tired smile before turning back to stare at the ceiling as he tried to figure out a quick solution to resolve the trouble he had caused.
Sadly, no solution came to his mind at the moment, so he closed his eyes slowly, eventually falling asleep. Eve, noticing he had dozed off, gently caressed his hair until she also fell asleep beside him.
The two of them only woke up at night for dinner. After finishing his meal, Raziel quickly returned to his room alone, as Eve mentioned she would be out for the night on some errand.
The next day, Raziel got up early and went to the backyard to train, taking advantage of having the house to himself. He had given some money to Clarice, instructing her to take Sylfi shopping for clothes, as she hadn't brought any with her.
Knowing how much time women usually spend shopping, Raziel started training some earth spells from the transmitter stones he had used to fool Anya days ago. These spells were very strong, with Earth Punishment being the most balanced for engaging in battles against various opponents.
The earth shields and earth spikes from this spell were very easy for Raziel to control. He used his left hand to summon the shields and his right hand to control the spikes. Since he didn't need to recite the process, things went more smoothly than he thought.
Raziel then decided to halt the use of mana and switch to aura instead. Despite not being an aura user and not knowing how to use it properly, he had read a book that taught the basics of how to flow aura through the body safely.
He began by concentrating mana into his body, aiming to flow this energy through his veins and vital points. Initially, it was quite difficult, but over time, his body adapted to the sensation of the burning energy flowing throughout him, eventually concentrating in his heart.
When Raziel felt the aura stabilizing, he decided to test it by running, jumping, and lifting heavy objects. If he had attempted these activities before acquiring aura, he likely would have passed out. However, with his body enhanced by aura, he only broke a sweat.
Things would be really interesting if he managed to train both primary classes, making it possible for him to easily defend himself and the people he cared about in the future.
Even though Raziel considered himself a lazy guy, he had no problem working to maintain his new life. In the past, he had always relied on himself to get what he wanted, so bringing this mentality back to his new world was not a difficult thing.
After all, his motto was: work harder to laze around better.
Repeating these words to himself, Raziel started to focus on developing his aura to control it better. Time flew by, and he only stopped his training when the girls arrived home from their shopping.
Thanks to his aura, he could hear footsteps coming from the front door even though he was in the backyard, a good distance away.
Raziel decided to go to the kitchen to drink some water. As he walked in, he saw them in the living room, chatting happily. He greeted them, wiping sweat from his forehead.
Clarice responded warmly, giving him a cheerful smile, while Sylfi simply nodded her head. After that, he headed to his bedroom to take a bath and then relaxed on his bed, reading some novels.
He really didn't want to do anything more for the day; his mind was just focused on enjoying this peaceful moment. Raziel loved wasting time on things he liked, which is why he used to spend a lot of time playing dating sims, watching anime, reading novels, or learning something interesting.
Sadly, this world didn't have video games or manga, but he could transform training into a fun hobby. Becoming an overpowered archmage who could use aura too would be very cool.
While enjoying the peaceful moment, his door swung open with Eve entering the room, greeting him, and laying on the bed beside him. Raziel just smiled and gave her a book to read.
Surprisingly, most of the novels in his room were not from the original Raziel. They actually belonged to Eve.
The original Raziel didn't read them much because he usually liked to fool around the city, wasting money or trying to impress Sylfi with expensive presents.
So, this woman beside him was a cultured fellow with very good taste, which surprised the current Raziel. He had never thought that she would enjoy such things, which earned her positive points in his book.
'If she had appeared in the game, she could easily be considered a heroine too. Sadly, she was only mentioned once by Clarice, who said she died in a Zone Break,' he thought to himself, glancing at Eve, who was focused on an eastern novel of cultivation.
"I surely won't let you die," Raziel muttered to himself.
"Did you say something, little master?" Eve asked, thinking he had spoken to her.
"No, no, I'm just talking to myself."
"Hm," Eve nodded her head and continued to read happily, while Raziel sighed, deciding to focus on his own book.
***
It was early on Monday, and Raziel was preparing himself to attend his morning classes. Arriving in the kitchen to have breakfast, he saw Sylfi lost in thought, sitting at the dining table.
She was dressed in a white and blue casual dress, which gave her an elegant appearance. Her smooth silver hair, which fell a little past her shoulders, was a bit messy, but it only made Raziel feel that it somehow complemented her.
The unexpected look, different from the images he had seen of her in the game, made it even better.
Before taking a seat, Raziel greeted Clarice, who was still cooking something in the oven. He then sat down in front of Sylfi, who hadn't noticed his presence yet, as her gaze was fixed on the table.
She only noticed his presence when Eve arrived, greeting them formally, picking up two plates of food, and sitting happily beside Raziel while giving him a plate.
Clarice smiled briefly again while placing some other dishes on the table.
After noticing Raziel's presence, Sylfi greeted him. He simply nodded in response while eating bacon with scrambled eggs.
When he finished his meal, he cleaned his mouth with a napkin and asked, "Hey Sylfi, do you intend to attend classes today?"
Sylfi, who had finished eating as well, was a little surprised by his sudden question but replied, "No, I will be absent from the academy for a few days."
"I see... Here, take this Pattern Card to open the door if you decide to go out and there's no one in the house to open it for you."
She gave him a thoughtful look and said, "...Okay, thank you."
Raziel then excused himself, getting up from his seat to avoid being late for his first classes. Sylfi was a little surprised to see him heading to the academy early, as his reputation for being late or not showing up to classes was well known.
Eve watched him leave home with a slightly sad expression, as she couldn't follow him inside the academy due to the prohibition against anyone who was not a student, teacher, or VIP guest invited by the headmaster entering the premises. So, she decided to visit Tiyara later to work on some contracts together.
Clarice focused on picking up the dirty plates to wash them. Sylfi offered to help, but her offer was rejected, so she decided to go to her room to see if she could come up with a solution to her problem.
While the girls were in the house doing their own things, Raziel was walking through the streets, receiving glares from people who were gossiping about the scandal involving him and his fiancée.
Raziel already knew this would happen, but he didn't care about what others were saying. After all, it was all nonsense to him.
Entering through the academy's magic dome, he was greeted by Castyel, who approached him with a bitter smile.
Trying to comfort him from the bad news, Castyel even offered some new novels he had bought yesterday. This gesture made Raziel a little emotional, as he had never had a friend to comfort him in his previous life. However, he quickly reassured Castyel, explaining that the rumors were just fake.
"Wait, so she didn't cheat on you? Are you sure about that?" Castyel asked, still doubtful about what Raziel had told him.
"Yes, she didn't. The guy is just an acquaintance of hers, so there's no need to worry."
"Oh... I understand now. Well, if you say so. But still, be careful, bro, because women these days aren't always trustworthy," Castyel said with confidence.
"The ones from my original world are worse, believe me," Raziel retorted, recalling how girls looked at him badly in school just because he was an otaku.
"Huh?"
"Nothing, I'm just remembering how awful the new volume of Sun Emperor was. The protagonist is just wasting time staying in that Cloud Sect just to simp for that stupid heroine," Raziel quickly changed the subject, talking about something else.
"Yeah, yeah. I'm almost quitting this one. If he doesn't leave that place in the next volume, I'll be very mad."
The two soon started talking about their hobbies, not caring about the other students who were surprised to see the second king of the academy chatting happily with someone who was now at the center of a big scandal.