Book 1 Chapter 71

[71]70.

Deep night.

Creeeak-

Leo carefully opened the window of his accommodation room.

Whoooosh-!

A cold snowstorm raged.

[It's cold! Close the door!]

Kirran, who was wrapped in a handkerchief as if basking in a campfire and shivering in front of a candle, was horrified.

"Don't sleep, stay on standby."

Leo, leaving those words behind, exited the room through the window.

Where Leo went was none other than another luxury hotel where the second-year students were staying.

"As expected, you've made a move."

Meanwhile, Lunia, who was also observing the situation at the Lumen accommodation from the window of her room, wore a meaningful expression.

"My hunch was right."

Lunia opened the window without hesitation and stepped outside.

Then, shortly after Leo and Lunia left their rooms.

Click-!

"Leo-nim and Lunia-yang, together…?"

Another window opened, and Eiran peeked her face out.

Eiran, who had bravely joined Seirun today, was staying here instead of home, following Herdium's advice.

And while she couldn't sleep properly due to nervousness, she accidentally witnessed Leo and Lunia secretly leaving their accommodation.

"What's going on? Why are Leo-nim and Lunia-yang…?"

Eiran pondered over the sight of the representative of the Rumen year, who inexplicably kept drawing her attention, and the representative of the Seirun year, who was scary but an object of admiration, leaving their accommodation late at night.

"N-No way! A secret rendezvous?"

The abundant imagination of a teenage girl who loved heroic tales went wild.

She covered her flushed face with both hands, unsure what to do.

'Such an improper romantic relationship for a student…!'

Eiran, who had successfully misunderstood, hastily put on her clothes and went outside.

Leo, who had arrived at the hotel where the Seirun second-year students were staying, stood on the roof.

Then, concealing his presence, he strengthened his grip and embedded his fingers into the wall.

CRACK-!

The hotel wall caved in.

Using this method, Leo descended to the lower floor and detected movement inside the hotel.

'It seems this place was also rented out entirely by Seirun.'

There was no presence felt from inside.

'Did the students take up the third floor?'

It was already late at night, so the Seirun students were already asleep.

Leo descended to the third floor along the wall and checked inside through the window.

'Nine in total. One is missing.'

After confirming the number of sleeping second-year students, Leo narrowed his eyes.

Then, he opened the window of a room with luggage but empty.

Click-

The window, whose lock was not engaged, opened easily.

Perched on the window, Leo took off his snow-covered shoes to avoid leaving footprints and stepped onto the floor.

He then confirmed the name 'Rauta' written on the school uniform name tag hanging on the wall.

'As expected, he snuck out of the accommodation.'

"Hey! What are you doing here?"

Just then, Lunia, with a greatly flustered expression, stood by the window and spoke to him.

"What are *you* doing here?"

Leo, who knew Lunia was secretly following him, replied calmly.

"Is that important right now! What if you get caught for trespassing into the second-year accommodation! Hurry up and get out before you're discovered…!"

Lunia took off her shoes and approached Leo to pull him out.

Unauthorized departure from accommodation and unauthorized entry.

Moreover, considering they were from different schools, if caught, it wouldn't end with just disciplinary action.

Thump-! Bang-!

"Ouch!"

Too surprised, Lunia, as she approached Leo, accidentally kicked a table leg.

The table fell to the floor with a loud noise.

Lunia, who had hit her toe, felt tears welling up and instinctively clutched her foot.

A moment later, *knock-knock-* an impatient knocking sound was heard.

Lunia, clutching her foot and whimpering, looked towards the door in a panic.

'Gasp? It's not locked!'

If they opened it and came in like this, they'd be caught without a doubt.

Leo also narrowed his brow upon seeing this.

"Hey! Rauta! What's all this commotion in the middle of the night! Do you think you're the only one here! Let me sleep!"

An annoyed male voice was heard.

Leo hastily put his shoes outside, closed the window, and then grabbed Lunia's stiffened wrist.

He pushed her to the back of the bed and then pulled her close, pulling the blanket over himself.

"Hey! What…!"

"Shh!"

Leo placed his finger over Lunia's mouth as she was about to say something with a flushed face.

"Are you ignoring me!"

Slam-!

The door opened irritably.

Lunia felt her heart stop.

The distance between the door and the bed was quite far, so if they lay with their backs turned, it would be difficult to tell that two people were lying there unless they came close.

"Are you ignoring me even after I came in? Fine! The esteemed upperclassman doesn't want to mix words with a mere intermediate-year student, is that it?"

Seeing that they were ignoring him even after he opened the door and not even showing their faces under the covers, the male student, who had made a mistaken assumption, irritably closed the door.

A moment later, Lunia, who had removed the blanket, moved away from Leo quickly, her face red up to her neck.

"You didn't have to pull me so close!"

Leo replied, getting off the bed as he looked at Lunia, who was protesting in a small voice.

"If we weren't pressed close together, it would have looked like one person was lying there."

"That may be true, but!"

'Argh! Why is this guy so calm!'

"I don't know! I don't know! Anyway! If you tell anyone about this, you'll die!"

Leo, who let out a laugh at Lunia, who was threatening him, holding her fists, turned towards the window.

"Really! Why did you come here!"

"To find Rauta."

At Leo's words, Lunia paused.

"This is Senior Rauta's room?"

"Yes. He snuck out of the accommodation. He must have gone to Fairy Forest."

"Why?"

Lunia wore a look of incomprehension.

"We'll know when we get there."

"Wait. You're going to Fairy Forest at this hour?"

"Yes. You go back to the accommodation first."

"……"

Lunia crossed her arms and pondered.

"You think Senior Rauta is involved in this incident, don't you?"

"Yes."

"You're wrong. That's absurd."

Even if he was an annoying senior, Rauta was a student of Seirun.

From Lunia's perspective, it was unpleasant for a student from another school to associate a Seirun student with Tartarus.

However, it was certainly strange that he had secretly gone to Fairy Forest at this hour.

"Therefore, I will go with you to confirm. As the first-year representative of Seirun, I must clear the suspicion on a fellow student."

"Do as you please."

Leo, who had put on his shoes, climbed onto the roof.

Lunia followed him up.

"Alright, then let's go."

The two left the city and arrived at the entrance of Fairy Forest.

Upon arriving at the entrance, Leo stopped and sighed softly.

"Are you going to keep following me?"

"Huh?"

Lunia was taken aback by the sudden remark.

Rustle-

With the sound of leaves being pushed aside, Eiran revealed herself.

"Eiran? When did you follow us?"

"I've been following you the whole time."

"What?"

Leo had sensed Eiran's presence from the moment he realized Lunia was following him.

'Eiran isn't the type to tell on people.'

Eiran would rather suffer alone than report someone if she witnessed them sneaking out.

So he had left her alone, but she kept following, so he couldn't help but ask why.

Lunia approached Eiran.

"Eiran. Why did you come all this way? Hurry back to the accommodation…"

"Ah…!"

"Huh? What did you say?"

"N-No! Improper romantic relationships between students are not allowed!"

"……"

Lunia stared blankly at Eiran, who was urgently shouting with a bright red face.

"What are you talking about?"

"I saw it! Leo-nim and Lunia-yang sneaking out of the accommodation and secretly entering another hotel room!"

"Eiran! Wait! Listen to me. That's…"

"O-Of course, Lunia-yang is beautiful! A-And Leo-nim is very cool! I think you two suit each other! But you're still first-years! To be in such a shameless physical relationship…!"

"Ah! Really! It's not like that?! Hey! Leo! You explain too!"

Lunia, unable to stand listening to their rampant delusion, shouted and looked towards Leo.

Seeing Leo holding his stomach and laughing, veins popped on Lunia's forehead.

"You're laughing! You think this is funny?!"

With a loud "Waaak! Waaak!" Lunia grabbed Leo's collar, and Leo, who stopped laughing, released Lunia's hands and said to Eiran.

"Eiran, you misunderstood. Lunia and I are not in that kind of relationship."

"R-Really?"

"Yes. That was the accommodation for Seirun's second-year students. We went in briefly because we had something to investigate. We left soon after."

"Ah…"

Eiran exclaimed.

A moment later, she covered her face and crouched on the floor.

"I'm so embarrassed."

"Ugh. Really. I'm feeling awkward too."

Lunia, fanning herself with her hand, smiled at Eiran.

"By the way, did you come to stop me because you thought I was in an improper romantic relationship?"

"I-I'm sorry. Were you offended?"

"No. I was just surprised. It's not like I'd be unable to concentrate on my studies because of romance, but if that were to happen, wouldn't it be good for you?"

In Seirun, where the rivalry between students was much more intense than in Rumen, it was a good thing for one's opponent to be unable to concentrate on their studies.

"No. That's not true at all. Lunia-yang is the best student, so I always want you to be the best."

Lunia was slightly surprised by those words.

'She thought that?'

Lunia, from the most prestigious family, was always full of confidence.

At the same time, she also found it boring.

There was no student among Seirun's first-years who could be her match.

So, when Eiran, who was in the intermediate year, quickly caught up to her, she was delighted to have a rival.

When other students gossiped about Eiran, she only scoffed.

She didn't believe her rival would be swayed by the words of such losers.

'Thinking about it, Eiran was always alone.'

Lunia felt ashamed of herself, who had called Eiran a friend but paid her no attention.

"Eiran."

"Yes?"

"Why haven't you been coming to school? You lied about being sick, didn't you?"

At Lunia's question, Eiran lowered her head.

"I didn't seriously aim to be a hero like the others. I just attended school with a light heart. I wanted to observe people like heroes up close."

She admired heroes, but she never pictured herself becoming one. She just enjoyed watching them.

"I thought it might be disrespectful to those who genuinely dream of being heroes for me to attend school…"

"Disrespectful? That's absurd. Such thoughts are disrespectful to your efforts."

Becoming second in the entire school from the intermediate year was by no means easy.

In fact, Eiran was the center of attention.

However, the introverted and timid Eiran was afraid of that attention.

In addition, she was burdened by the envy and jealousy of her classmates that began to pour in.

Feeling left alone, she fled back to her family home.

Hearing Eiran's words, Lunia sighed deeply and said.

"I want you to keep attending school."

"Wh-Why?"

"Because you're my friend."

Eiran looked surprised.

"W-Were you and I friends?"

"Huh?"

"Weren't you disliking me?"

"Pfft."

Lunia shot Leo a glare as a burst of laughter was heard from behind.

It turned out that what Eiran had said earlier about not considering Lunia a friend was true.

"We are friends! So don't pay attention to what other people say and go to school! I need you!"

"Me?"

"Yes. That's right. As a friend and a rival, I want you to keep competing with me."

Eiran's face, which had worn a bewildered expression at those words, lit up.

Seeing that smile, Leo let out a small chuckle.

"Kids grow up fast."

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