Book 1 Chapter 848
848.
In Lumern, busy days begin the day after the opening ceremony, when the semester starts.
Especially if it's the second semester, even more so.
With new department schedules ahead, they are busier than ever.
“So, the point is, you have to eat a hearty breakfast!”
Iliana, having exited the Knight Department dormitory, said energetically.
“But do we really need to rush like this?”
Celia followed behind Iliana, who was walking quickly down the corridor, and asked with a puzzled expression.
Running in the dormitory corridor is forbidden.
Naturally, using magic or summoned beasts is also prohibited.
“Of course! We rarely get out right after curfew ends! So we have to be the first to arrive at the school cafeteria!”
“Is being the first to arrive at the school cafeteria important?”
“Oh ho! That’s not like Celia!”
Iliana shook her head.
“Isn’t Celia Zerdinger always aiming for the best? Eating faster than anyone else! You don’t know this feeling of victory! I’m disappointed!”
Celia looked at Iliana’s back with an expression that said, ‘She’s spouting nonsense again.’
“Besides, why would the distance between all department dormitories and the school cafeteria be the same? It’s meant for fair competition!”
“……Who competes over something like that? The architect probably just built it well for balance. More importantly, when did you check the distance again?”
Celia made a dumbfounded expression.
At that moment, Chen Xia, who was walking with them, tilted her head.
“Why does someone who knows such a feeling of victory always oversleep?”
“Hmph. That’s because!”
“Because?”
“What can I do if I can’t wake up?”
Seeing Iliana shrug, Chen Xia made an expression that said, 'Of course, that's it.'
“Still, I’m going to be different starting from the second semester!”
Iliana clenched her fist tightly.
“I’m going to be reborn as New Iliana! Aiming to be the top honor student in the Knight Department!”
“That’s quite an ambition.”
Celia chuckled.
Leaving Celia behind, Iliana sped up even more.
“In that sense! I’ll be the first to arrive!”
Clack, clack, clack–
Iliana increased her walking speed.
“Instead of pouring your passion into useless things like being first, you should be passionate about studying.”
As Celia, who had slowed down, clicked her tongue, Chen Xia nodded in agreement.
“They’re letting me be first on the very first day! Let them taste the feeling of defeat!”
Chen Xia smiled, looking at Iliana, who was reacting triumphantly with an arrogant face.
“Still, you seem happy.”
“I strangely feel like I’m losing, which is not a good feeling.”
But Celia, perhaps provoked, increased her speed.
Seeing that, Chen Xia burst into laughter.
“Lady Celia really is still like a child, isn’t she?”
When Iliana arrived at the student cafeteria, she plopped down.
“Oh, no……. Worreden was already here…….”
“Why are you struggling to walk here with those short legs?”
“Whose legs are short?! My legs are long! Look! These slender, long legs!”
Iliana’s eyes widened, and then *poke*! She pointed at her own legs.
“They’re short?”
“That’s just because *your* legs are long, Worreden! Compared to Chelsea and Chen Xia, mine are long!”
“Pfft!”
Celia, who had followed Iliana, unknowingly burst into laughter at her exclamation.
“What’s wrong with the length of my legs?”
“What’s so funny, Lady Celia?”
“Gasp?!”
“Ahem ahem!”
At that moment, Chelsea, who appeared from behind, put Iliana in a headlock, and Celia pretended not to notice at Chen Xia’s words.
“Oh! Our fellow students are full of energy this morning! But it’s embarrassing for the juniors to see, so could you perhaps do it somewhere else?”
Kal, who had come with Chelsea, giggled and said.
As Kal said, students were gradually gathering at the dining hall entrance.
“By the way, Worreden. You didn’t come early to be first, did you?”
When Celia asked with a puzzled expression, Worreden said calmly.
“I just walked leisurely?”
“There’s definitely a big height difference.”
“That’s cheating!”
Iliana pouted.
Soon, the cafeteria entrance began to bustle.
“What’s for breakfast today?”
“I hope it’s something delicious.”
It was when the students were chattering about the breakfast menu.
“By the way.”
Chen Xia tilted her head.
“Why don’t I smell anything?”
“Now that you mention it……”
Normally, a mouth-watering delicious smell should have filled the area in front of the student cafeteria.
But there was no smell coming from the cafeteria at all.
As everyone looked puzzled.
*Creak—!*
The cafeteria door opened, and a middle-aged woman in a chef's uniform came out.
“Chef. Hello. Did you have a good vacation?”
At Kal’s greeting, the chef of the Lumern dormitory cafeteria gave an embarrassed smile.
“Hello, Kal. I’ve been well. But what should we do?”
“Yes?”
“Someone stole all the ingredients this morning, so we couldn’t prepare breakfast.”
“…….”
“…….”
At the chef’s words, the students had stunned expressions.
***
Eliza stood in front of the mirror, examining herself from various angles.
She looked the same as usual.
After tidying her clothes in front of the mirror for a moment, Eliza opened her desk drawer to retrieve the letter and candy she intended for Kal.
And then she froze.
‘Where did it go?’
The letter envelope and candy that should have been in the desk drawer were gone.
Eliza opened the drawer below.
It wasn't there either.
“Huh?”
With a flustered expression, Eliza began to rummage through the drawers and the desk.
‘It’s not here? Why? What did I do?’
She frantically searched the room, but the letter showed no signs of appearing.
‘What on earth happened?’
Eliza hurriedly recalled the situation from yesterday.
‘I wrote the letter and clearly put it in the drawer……. Then I had dinner with Perena, rested in the dorm lounge, took a shower, returned to my room, and immediately went to sleep.’
She hadn’t touched the letter since putting it in the drawer.
‘Did someone steal it? Intrusion into the dormitory from outside is impossible……. No, wait a minute.’
Eliza’s shoulders trembled slightly.
She realized that the door had been left open last night before she went to dinner.
Eliza took out the first drawer again and flipped it over.
As stationery spilled out, a candy wrapper, as if torn by something, fell.
Eliza picked it up with her finger and focused her spiritual energy on it.
Then, a faint shimmering powder became visible.
‘A fairy……. A fairy took it!’
Eliza, who had identified the culprit, clenched her fist.
If it was a fairy, she had a guess.
‘Leo Plov’s mischievous fairy!’
What if that mischievous fairy saw the letter and gave it to the newspaper club or something similar?
No! Judging by the fact that it came for the candy, it probably just took it by chance.
But what if it ate the candy and threw away the letter, and someone saw it?
‘It’ll be exposed that Kal and I are dating!’
The persistent teasing of her classmates flashed through her mind.
Wasn’t it because of those incredibly malicious classmates that she had asked Kal to keep their relationship a secret for the time being?
Eliza’s face turned pale.
‘I have to find that fairy quickly!’
Thinking so, Eliza hurriedly bolted out of the dormitory door.
“Leo Plov!”
Screaming Leo’s name as if in a shout, Eliza dashed down the dormitory corridor.
Female students from the Summoning Department who were passing by flinched.
“Wow……. Senior Eliza……. She’s full of energy from day one.”
“They said she was aiming to overthrow the student council president……. It’s really true……”
“Let’s steel ourselves too!”
“Yes! Our goal is to win the dormitory competition!”
The junior Summoning Department students strengthened their resolve.
“Sister……. You’re amazing!”
Perena also looked on with an expression of admiration.
***
The food theft incident wasn’t confined to just the dormitory cafeteria.
The dormitory convenience store, as well as restaurants and cafes located around the dormitory, and more.
Damages were reported in rapid succession from various places.
“Ugh! Why do I have to eat these measly bread scraps on the first day, killing all my motivation?!”
Iliana, who had entered her first class, magic class, gnawed on a baguette like meat, furrowing her brow deeply.
“If you don’t want it, don’t eat it. I’ll eat it.”
At Kal’s words, Iliana hurriedly shoved the bread into her mouth.
“Anyway, who on earth did something like this?”
Chelsea, arms crossed, tilted her head.
“Isn’t it obvious?”
Chloe sighed deeply.
“It’s Leo, isn’t it?”
At her words, the surrounding students looked at Chloe.
“Leo is good at creating unexpected situations that trouble students.”
Chloe said, closing her book.
“Since it’s the first day of the semester, isn’t he trying to push students into a new competitive dynamic?”
“For example?”
At Kal’s question, Chloe said calmly.
“It might be a plan to create a sense of scarcity among students.”
“Scarcity?”
“Yes. For instance, a food scramble.”
It was a plausible deduction.
Indeed, the sudden disappearance of food items was strange.
Someone must have created the incident, and Leo was more than capable of doing something like that.
At Chloe’s words, Iliana’s eyes widened.
“So, the class president’s ulterior motive is to cause a food shortage crisis and make the departments fight over food?!”
“Your voice is too loud. Leo’s intentions haven’t been clearly revealed yet, have they?”
Chloe reprimanded.
But Iliana’s shout had already echoed throughout the entire classroom long ago.
“A food war between departments?”
“Leo would definitely be capable of something like that.”
“Shouldn’t we secure food in advance?”
As the magic department students murmured.
“This is no time for that!”
Iliana jumped up.
“Where are you going?”
“I need to tell the Knight Department kids! To secure food!”
Although she was in the magic class as a dual class student, Iliana was a proper member of the Knight Department.
Not only Iliana, but also magic swordsmen and magic summoners began to hastily rise from their seats.
Seeing this, the magic department students reacted quickly.
“Hey! Catch those guys!”
“Information shouldn’t be leaked carelessly.”
“Block the entrance!”
The classroom instantly descended into chaos.
“Ah! The entrance is blocked!”
“Iliana! What do we do?!”
Knight Department students aspiring to be magic swordsmen, besides Iliana, looked at Iliana, who was the de facto leader of the magic swordsmen.
“Since it’s come to this……”
Iliana made an expression of determination and then charged straight for the window.
“Block her with magic!”
Someone hastily cast barrier magic, but Iliana used her aura to break through the barrier magic.
*Smash!*
The classroom window shattered into pieces.
“Guys! I’ll go tell the department kids to secure food!”
“Iliana! We’re counting on you!”
A magic swordsman student cheered Iliana on with a resolute expression.
Just then.
*Creak—!*
“What’s all this commotion?”
The classroom door opened, and Len entered.
Len’s eyes twitched as he looked at the broken window.
“Why is the window in that state again?”
“Iliana broke it and left.”
“Running away on the first day. Quite audacious. Associate Professor Anna, give her a demerit.”
“Yes.”
Len reacted coldly to Kal’s diligent report.
The magically broken window was instantly fixed.
“Everyone! Welcome back! Did you have a good summer vacation?”
Len’s lecture began.
Listening to the lecture, Chelsea mumbled.
“It’s not even confirmed yet, but the kids are reacting so sensitively.”
“Because Leo would definitely be capable of something like that.”
“Indeed, Big Brother Leo is as notorious as the professors when it comes to troubling students. By the way, why didn’t Big Brother Leo come to class?”
“Hmm……. Maybe he really does intend to cause a food crisis or something?”
“……Perhaps.”
While Chelsea and Chloe were talking.
Thanks to Iliana, Lumern students began to create a food supply crisis from the start of the semester.
***
Leo picked his ear.
“Is someone talking trash about me?”
Melina tilted her head, watching Leo narrow his brows.
“Would anyone really speak ill of you, Sir Leo?”
“Many. There are those Tartaros guys, too.”
Saying that, Leo separated Kirian and Fiona who were fighting.
“By the way, I wonder if it’s okay for you to be absent from the start of the semester, Sir Leo.”
At her words, Leo chuckled.
“Elena is there, so they’ll manage just fine on their own.”
“Right?”
“Yeah. And if I’m not here, they’ll probably be happy, won’t they? Saying there’s no one causing trouble.”
“Indeed. Sir Leo, your mere existence throws students into confusion.”
“Are you saying I’m like a menace to students?”
“Ehehehehe.”
“Funny.”
Leo reached out and gently pinched Melina’s cheek.