The Academy’s Crude Pink-Haired Martial Artist

Yesterday morning. I woke up to find a stack of papers neatly arranged on my desk.

And on top of those papers was a note with a brief sentence. The note said it was up to me how to use this.

However, the moment Stella read that note, it burned to ashes with a black flame, leaving no trace.

With that flame, I felt magic.

Quickly dispersing the faint residual magic left in the room, Stella read the information beneath the note.

In that section, there was… a very urgent situation laid out, but the conclusion was simple.

If I told Eliaernes about this now, she would definitely not be able to make a sound judgment.

So I had to organize it as neatly as possible, omitting unbelievable parts and adding the most plausible speculations to explain it.

And that’s exactly what I did.

Staying up all night to organize the content and piece together the puzzle, I finally had a somewhat complete picture.

Now I had to tell Eliaernes about it.

Thinking so, she called for me.

And just before she could mention it, she got caught off guard by me.

That was the explanation of Stella’s situation.

Following that, Stella presented her reasoning and four or five solutions on how to resolve the situation.

Listening to those solutions stemming from her reasoning, I realized that the source of the information she had was the same as that of Ophelia’s.

And… I understood that Stella was innocent.

Though her reasoning and solutions seemed quite foolish, childish, and somewhat lacking, the seriousness on her face was unlike anything I’d seen before.

It was an explanation lasting more than 6 hours.

I didn’t know if she was really doing it for me, but she had clearly put in a lot of effort.

So, I… started with an apology.

“… I’m sorry for misunderstanding.”

Stella’s eyes widened at my apology.

“… What? Seriously, what’s going on? Why are you like this?”

“Why is it annoying that I’m apologizing?”

“It’s not the time to apologize! If it were you, you’d be interrogating me rudely, pestering me, and harping on! That would be normal, right? What’s going on…?”

“Are you doing this on purpose today?”

“Seriously, you aren’t feeling well…”

I was about to go on, but I just shut my mouth and buried myself in the chair.

Stella was right; I wasn’t in great shape.

Sara, Yurasia, and Mother… none of them were as severe as I was.

I was exceptionally bad.

And the… amount coming out was considerable.

While my mother, Sara, and Yurasia seemed to change every 3 or 4 hours, I had to change every 2 hours… on the second day when the amount peaked, every hour.

That said, it wasn’t painful.

No, it hurt a bit. But I wasn’t in agony or anything.

Just annoyingly painful.

However, the problem lay elsewhere.

Maybe it was the mood? The emotions? Something like that, but my psychological state felt needlessly soft.

Because of that, my body became pliable, and my senses dulled. Ugh, I don’t know. Just overall, I felt weaker.

Thus, I found myself in a very… feeble state.

When feeling like this, my mother or Sara would always stroke my belly.

… Not that I miss it.

It just crossed my mind.

Really. I’m way past the age to be missing my parents after coming to another world, right?

“Damn it.”

“Why are you cursing when I’m worrying about you?!”

“I’m not cursing at you.”

I popped a lemon candy I bought for Stella into my mouth and sank deeper into the soft chair.

Does Stella always sit in this chair?

Sitting still, Stella’s scent wafted gently around me.

“So… what are you thinking of doing?”

“What?”

“What do you mean ‘what?’ Shivria knows about this fact, right?”

“Yeah.”

“What… shouldn’t we take some action?”

I watched Stella, who spoke as if genuinely worried.

“Wh-what…! Why are you looking at me like that? Did you meddle in family matters? Huh… that’s not it! I just… I’m just… worried you might get in trouble!”

“Why do you care if I get into trouble? Is it going to hurt you in some way?”

“Hur-hurt? What do you mean ‘hurt’? Of course, it’ll hurt! I… I won’t be able to eat macarons!”

Her absurd excuse made me chuckle.

“Why? Are you worried I might die?”

“Of course not! Why would I worry about you? Huh, I’m just worried about the macarons!”

“Is that so? So you considered me just a source of money? I thought I was quite sincere toward you.”

“… Huh? Se-seriously? Uh-oh?”

Stella made a silly face.

Then, she started to chew on her lips, looking as if she was searching for something to say.

Naturally, I didn’t give her that time.

“I still packed food for you and brought you plenty of things to eat, but you just see me as a money tree. What can I do? This is my fate.”

“Ah, no… that’s not it…”

“Enough. You’re going to make excuses anyway.”

Stella looked at me, her face flushed.

“No! That’s really not it! I-I’m just joking! Why am I not getting your jokes today? I… I’m sorry. It’s just… I went too far with the jokes…”

Glancing at Stella briefly, I then lowered my gaze, letting out an exasperated sigh.

Then, Stella trembled visibly.

“… Eliaernes?”

I didn’t respond, only cast her a sidelong glance.

Tears welled up in her eyes, and her body shook pathetically.

What should I do? Did I go too far? She’s feeling unwell, and I might have said something too harsh! What was I thinking?

She fidgeted with her fingers, looking as if she was fretting over something.

After spending the whole day talking with Silina, her fresh and crisp reactions thrilled me.

Indeed, Stella is the best for a mood lift.

“I-it’s really a joke. I just… Yeah. I was worried about you. You know, without you, the academy would be so boring… no, lonely! So! So I’m worried! It’s not about the macarons being important!”

Just a moment more, and it seemed like she’d be on her knees begging.

Holding back the laughter bubbling up, I nodded.

“I guess it makes sense since you wouldn’t have any friends without me.”

In that instant, Stella flared up! But she bit her lips and clenched her hands tightly.

“If you’re going to say strange things, just answer my question. So, what are you going to do? Just leave it be?”

I had already made a plan.

How it would unfold, I wasn’t certain, but since Silina was confident, it probably wouldn’t go disastrously wrong.

However, I hesitated to tell Stella about it.

“Hey.”

“What?”

Should I ask or not?

Maybe it’d be better to wait until my mind feels a bit more stable.

Would she even answer if I asked now?

I didn’t know.

I didn’t even know why I was having such an unfitting dilemma.

“Let me ask one thing.”

Originally, I wanted to wait for Stella to speak of her own volition.

I thought that way, I could build a slightly stronger trust.

Yet, now I felt an urge to ask.

Is it because I don’t have Yurasia by my side, and I want to find someone trustworthy? Am I lonely?

I’m not someone who feels lonely easily.

I wasn’t like that in my past life, and I’m not like that now.

“Did you have a grudge against Eustetia?”

But my mouth wouldn’t stop.

This is why I hate feeling unwell. Damn it.

“… What? What do you mean all of a sudden?”

“I don’t know you. I was cooped up at home until I entered the academy. Yet you acted like you knew me. Your glare during the entrance exam was the proof. It felt like you held a grudge against me, or rather, against Eustetia.”

Stella opened her mouth wide in surprise.

She seemed to be rolling her eyes, searching for words.

It seemed my point hit home.

“And just now listening to your explanation, you know quite a lot about Eustetia. You know things that aren’t public knowledge. Of course, I don’t want to imply you were using that to gauge me, but it’s something I need to acknowledge.”

As I said, Stella knew more about Eustetia than one might think.

The incident when our father massacred part of the side branch and the council, the differences between the knight order and Muyeong, the infamous and famous reputation of Muyeong.

And it seemed she had a shallow yet reasonable grasp of the current situation in the Eustetia Duchy.

“Did something happen between you and Eustetia?”

I had suspected something happened, but now it was confirmed.

Stella had some history with Eustetia.

And considering the depth of her investigation, it wouldn’t be a trivial matter.

Then that would involve our father or perhaps the side branch? Muyeong? The knight order?

I had no way of knowing that. So I had to understand that I needed to find out.

“You see how I’m in a bizarre state right now. I’m feeling… quite weak. So if you’re going to speak, now is the right time.”

Her navy blue eyes quivered.

“If you tell me the secret you’re hiding, I will trust you. I’ll stop measuring or testing you from now on. I promise.”

“… What if I don’t tell you?”

“Then we’ll continue as we always have. Just because you don’t speak doesn’t mean I’ll distance myself from you. Honestly, we shouldn’t grow apart. You owe me, remember?”

“Owe? You tried to get that money for real?”

“Don’t underestimate me. You think I’d forget about the life you owe me?”

I did say that back then.

If you can’t repay me in cash, then repay me with your body.

Since then, I have bought her meals daily, provided desserts, given out macarons, artifacts, outfits, and spare academy uniforms, so even just counting the simple amounts, it would have added up significantly.

So…

“You can’t run from me. If you think about escaping even a little, I’ll break your arms and legs. Got it?”

“Yo-you’re insane! You… I never asked for money!!”

“You’ve been munching on what I’ve given you, and now you say you never asked for anything? It’s too late. Even if it’s not money, you owe me your life. Understand?”

“B-but…!”

Her face turned bright red as she stuttered over her words, letting out a weak sigh.

“… Are you curious about what happened between me and Eustetia?”

“Yeah.”

“Why?”

“I don’t know.”

“… What do you mean?”

“I genuinely don’t know what I think. I’m just going in odd directions, and I can’t keep up with that accident.”

Stella furrowed her brows and shot me a glare.

Then, she exhaled heavily and in an incredibly cautious voice asked,

“Then… if I say this… will you erase my debt?”

“What does that have to do with this?”

“… You’re a sly one.”

“If you tell me the content and I like it, I might consider reducing some of it.”

“I’m not saying this because of the debt.”

“If you hadn’t said that, I wouldn’t have thought that way.”

“I’m serious!”

Clang! Stella slammed her fist on the table, staring straight at me.

“Eliaernes.”

“What?”

“Will you… believe me?”

What was she asking with that?

Many thoughts raced through my mind.

How should I handle this?

I had already given my answer to that question.

Thus, my actions would not change.

“If you reveal all your secrets, I’ll trust you. That was the promise I made to you.”

“… For real?”

“Yeah.”

“What if I end up using you?”

“No. The you I know is not clever enough to lie like that.”

“… I really dislike you.”

“I dislike you too.”

Stella, twisting her hair with her fingers, finally gripped the end tightly and spoke.

“… It’s about my mom.”

Mom, that word clicked the puzzle pieces together in my mind.

Eustetia.

Stella Behrhaigen’s mother.

A problem that arose in between.

This… sounds like a headache.

Just as I pondered that, ding ding my device chimed.

[Pina]

“What’s up?”

“Hey, why did your device suddenly—”

“Wait a minute. Let me check.”

There wasn’t much content.

Actually, there was nothing at all.

What came through was just a single photo.

It was a familiar picture.

Not just familiar to me, but also to all the students at the academy.

A wall made of glowing blue minerals.

Patterns on the wall that are impossible to decipher.

And at the center of such a wall stood a massive door.

The main gate of the academy.

A picture of the main gate taken from inside the academy.

But even that was captured in a way that made it seem wildly distorted and tilted.

Did I get the wrong picture?

As I thought that, I was about to put my device down when I noticed something at the edge of the photo.

Light. Faint light.

At first glance, one could mistake it for sunlight.

The light of a Flora.

I spotted the light of Flora captured in the photo.

Flora said she wouldn’t be able to come out for a while, right?

I pressed Pina’s profile.

The green light was on.

I tried to call.

30 seconds. 1 minute. 1 minute 30 seconds.

No answer. I called again.

Still no answer.

“Hey, what are you doing suddenly?”

Stella pouted, complaining.

Outside, I could hear the peaceful chatter of students. The sunset was gentle, and the spring breeze was cool.

It was a comfortable, peaceful scene.

However, from that scene, I sensed a foul odor.

The stench of a reptile.

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