By Zephyria 
‘I’ve been thinking too deeply until now.’
That’s right.
Whether he had ulterior motives or not, it was strange regardless. From the start, was it even possible to fall in love at first sight? How much does he even know about me?
That it was just nonsense that could be ignored….
I felt refreshed after understanding what I couldn’t understand.
Until now, I had been thinking about the reason why he approached me and the reason why he was talking about love as one, but the two were problems that had to be thought of separately.
Somehow, it felt like a burden that had been bothering me had disappeared, and my heart felt lighter.
Around that time, Ardian finished his conversation and returned, sitting back in the empty seat next to me. The followers who had recently built a friendship with Ardian consciously left the seat next to me empty, perhaps to respect Ardian’s desire to sit with me. For them, the seat next to me seemed to be a foregone conclusion as Ardian’s seat.
Well. It didn’t matter to me anyway.
“Ray.”
I only glanced at Ardian’s voice calling me. He suddenly held out a flower to me. It seemed to be a gift he had received from the second-year student he had spoken to earlier.
‘What does he want me to do?’
I was staring at him to figure out his intentions when suddenly the stem of the flower held in his hand disappeared with a crackling sound. Only the pile of petals remained on his palm. Then, the handful of petals was broken down into Mana, sparkling like light dust and disappearing into the air.
I quietly turned to look at him. Ardian narrowed his eyes like a bow, making his aegyo-sal thicker, and said,
“Pretty, right?”
It was a performance that had no elements to deny.
“So?”
Did he want me to praise him?
“But you’re prettier in my eyes.”
I flinched for a moment at Ardian’s empty words that followed. But it was different from before. Because I had finally gained enlightenment through deep reasoning, I quickly regained my composure.
That’s right.
This guy was spouting nonsense again.
“Okay.”
You can keep talking whenever you want. I’ll ignore you.
Shaking my head, I ignored his words and opened the next class textbook in advance. Ardian looked at my reaction and tilted his head as if sensing something strange.
Around that time, Polargehen was heard saying something to the children camped outside, and not long after, he came into the classroom with a deep sigh.
“Quiet.”
Then, when he closed the entrance door, the noise from outside was blocked and it became quiet. The children in the classroom also quickly found their seats at Polargehen’s appearance, creating an atmosphere of silence at a rapid pace.
Of course, there was still a hint of whispering….
“I heard a Meteor Shower fell last week. But if you don’t really come to your senses now, you’ll see another Meteor Shower in the midterm exam in a few weeks. A scary Meteor Shower that will fall on your test papers.”
For a moment, even the little noise that remained disappeared at Polargehen’s terrifying warning that followed, and the classroom became as quiet as a mouse.
Polargehen seems quite satisfied with the silence that has come. Soon the class continued, and the eyes of the children, who had been lazy until just now, were filled with spirit.
No, it might be more accurate to say that it was the will of those driven to the edge of a cliff to survive, rather than spirit.
And other than me, the only ones who weren’t like that were probably Zeon and… Ardian.
[What did you do over the weekend? :)]
Sure enough.
The note passing started again.
“…….”
I swallowed a small breath inside. Somehow, I don’t think I’ve ever seen this guy properly focus on class.
-He keeps asking about you suspiciously. He even said that he transferred this time because you were here, so I’m curious about what kind of relationship you have.
Suddenly, the words that Polargehen, who had consulted with this guy, had said to me came to mind. After being lost in thought for a moment, I scribbled words at the bottom of the note.
[Why did you transfer if you’re not interested in class?]
I knew that his talk about love was nonsense, but the fact that I still hadn’t figured out what his real intentions were for approaching me remained. It seemed that we had naturally become close, but the psychological warfare between him and me was not over yet.
The answer to my question came quickly.
[I came to meet you.]
He was openly revealing that he had approached me. I had guessed that he didn’t seem to want to hide his blatant and aggressive interest in me, and that was indeed the case.
[Then why did you want to meet me?]
[Because I like you.]
I frowned without realizing it. It was a repeat. Now that I knew it was nonsense, I just felt annoyed. It seemed that he wouldn’t reveal his true intentions until the end.
I didn’t like it.
Tapping the desk with my fingers, I grabbed the pen again.
It was also a kind of ‘attack’ that I had been deliberately pretending not to know in order to dig into his subtle intentions.
[You. How did you accumulate that much achievement at that age?]
When Ardian saw that, he didn’t answer the note right away for the first time. He just stared at it motionlessly for a long time as if he was frozen.
Was it because he didn’t intend to answer?
Or….
I glanced at Ardian’s profile.
I couldn’t tell exactly what kind of expression he was making because it was hidden by his flowing hair. I could only see his eyelashes, which were faintly visible through the strands of hair that fell like silk, blinking once.
Suddenly, Ardian moved his hand, which had been stopped.
[I’m sorry. I can’t tell you that.]
Can’t tell me. Can’t tell me, huh….
Somehow, my mouth felt bitter.
As I was looking at that phrase, my hand moved on its own.
[Then are you my enemy?]
In fact, I didn’t intend to ask his intentions so blatantly. I didn’t know how this guy would react if I revealed hostility.
But why?
Right now, the impatience to know his thoughts was stronger than the wariness of such danger. As if he knew my heart, or as if to make an excuse quickly, Ardian’s answer came back quickly.
[I swear. I have no intention of harming you at all. I really didn’t approach you with that intention. If you want, you can put me under Brainwashing Magic and interrogate me to see if I’m lying.]
And after a moment of silence, he added.
[Of course, if I could have you, I’d do anything, but.]
I glared at Ardian and turned to look at him.
Our eyes met as he was turning to look at me.
He was smiling brightly with a face like a smooth porcelain doll, which I couldn’t tell what he was thinking.
“…….”
Should I dismiss the words that he would do anything if he could have me as nonsense as well?
…Yeah. Maybe that’s how I should think.
Anyway, the important thing is that he himself stated that he was not my enemy. Whether it was a trustworthy statement or not, I needed to reconsider it a little more.
I no longer responded to Ardian’s note passing.
It was obvious that it would be a repeat like before, no matter how much I dragged it out now.
Ardian also stopped playing with notes, judging that it was impossible to continue a trivial conversation now that a sensitive issue had come to the surface, and turned to look at the blackboard.
After that, I thought the atmosphere might become a little awkward….
After class, Ardian showed no different appearance from usual, as if he had never had a sensitive conversation.
I didn’t know if he was good at wearing a mask or if he really didn’t have any thoughts.
That day, I went to the Longcrew Library alone after briefly stopping by the dormitory after all the classes scheduled for the afternoon were over, leaving Herman to study. After all, I remembered all the parts I didn’t know during class, and I knew everything else, so I didn’t have anything to study separately, so I was going to use this time to do research instead.
‘I should start looking for a way to withstand Black Mana soon.’
Considering the current speed at which I’m smoothly storing Mana, I’ll reach 5-star in the blink of an eye.
It would be too late to start looking for a way then.
I had to diligently look for a way from now on.
‘Hmm?’
Suddenly, while strolling through the library and scanning between the bookshelves, I took out a book that aroused my curiosity.
It was a book with a faded blue cover titled ‘Research on the Characteristics of Spirits and Elemental Summoning Magic.’
Fortunately, this book seemed to be a public book that could be read even without a class certificate.
I turned the cover and scanned the front page, and it seemed to be a book that bundled all the academic data related to Spirits.
‘Spirit….’
Spirits were one of the creatures called the ancient race, and were the oldest race in the world along with the Dragonkin, Elves, Dwarves, and Giants, and were shrouded in mystery except for the fact that they were born from Mana and made of Mana.
Reading the contents roughly, it seemed that they were still shrouded in mystery even now.
Anyway, a Magic Circle that summons Spirits. Is it possible to summon Spirits? Just as I was having such doubts, someone’s voice was heard from behind.
“Do you also have an interest in Spirit Magic, Gongdo?”
A voice with an elegant tone.
When I turned around, there was a human with golden hair braided on one side like a sheaf of rice and deep blue eyes. It was Ibelia.