Book 1 Chapter 897

897.

In the afternoon, with the dance party three days away.

Carl was enjoying a leisurely lunch for the first time in a while.

“Wow, how long has it been since I had this much free time?”

Sitting in the Rumerun restaurant district, Carl enjoyed the sunshine and smiled refreshingly.

Currently, Leo, as the student council president, was out of Rumerun with the vice president, Elena.

‘He said he was meeting the Rumerun Board, so he won’t be back until at least evening!’

Groaaaan-!

Stretching, Carl massaged his neck.

“Ugh, my body is aching everywhere, probably because I’ve been so tense these past few days.”

Since Leo wasn't around, there was no need to keep others in check today.

‘Well, if the atmosphere is good and it's confirmed that I'm going with senior Elena as a partner this time, it'll be hitting two birds with one stone.’

Imagining the best scenario, Carl recalled the current situation.

‘The plan is proceeding smoothly.’

Lille was being properly kept an eye on by Eliza.

‘Although she looked annoyed every time I passed by.’

Thinking it was because he had pushed annoying tasks onto her, Carl decided to put Eliza's problem aside for now.

‘I’ll deal with it after the dance party. Chelsea isn’t saying anything to Leo, which is going smoothly. Chloe is preoccupied with a new magic theory she’s hooked on. And as for Illiana, Chelsea and Shiah are handling her well, so no worries there.’

Thinking up to that point, Carl recalled Chen Shiah.

‘She’s suspiciously quiet, almost too quiet… but for now, there doesn't seem to be a big problem.’

The situation was very optimistic.

Even he thought the plan was running well.

‘It’s going too well, which actually makes me uneasy?’

Carl felt uneasy for a moment but soon decided to take it easy.

‘Let’s think positively. It would be great if the plan proceeds perfectly like this!’

“Your order has arrived!”

“Oh! I’ll enjoy the meal!”

Carl clapped his hands as he looked at the steak on the table and began his meal.

“Hmm. This restaurant’s meat really is tender, isn’t it?”

Carl, in the midst of his meal, wearing a happy smile.

There were eyes watching Carl.

‘I finally met you, Senior Carl.’

In the bushes of the park next to the Rumerun restaurant district.

Millia, hidden there, watched Carl with sparkling eyes.

Hearing about the dance party, Millia had intended to ask Carl to go with her.

But she hadn't had much of a chance.

It wasn't because of Jueun's interference.

It was literally because Carl was purely and utterly busy.

First of all, Carl and Millia were in different departments.

As such, it was safe to say they had almost no contact points, so Millia had to seek Carl out directly to meet him.

However, Carl had been busy operating covertly, executing the grand strategy for Leo and Elena as a couple over the past few days, so she couldn't even see his face.

But today, she finally got to see his face like this.

‘Senior Carl looks handsome today too.’

Millia's eyes sparkled.

Carl, eating food ravenously as if hungry, was a bit far from looking handsome at the moment.

Anyone who saw it would have definitely pointed out that she had rose-tinted glasses on, but to Millia's eyes, he looked handsome.

Millia's interest in Carl began when she started preparing for admission to Rumerun.

Born as the heir to a wealthy merchant family, Millia had excellent foresight as a merchant from a young age.

But she wasn't born with just the qualities of a wealthy merchant.

Overwhelming Aura talent.

She was born with Aura talent that would make her worthy of being called a genius.

Her family considered it an opportunity to produce an outstanding knight beyond just a merchant and spared no full support.

As a result, Millia achieved the feat of entering Rumerun as the top student.

However, Millia had no intention of being satisfied with simply being the top student.

Being the top student was just one gateway.

Her ultimate goal was to become a key figure at Rumerun as the top honor student, and furthermore, to ascend to the ranks of heroes by having her name recorded in the Hero Records after graduation.

And she was a girl with the ambition to elevate her family to an even more solid foundation than it was now.

As her goal was to make her family a great merchant house that could exert strong influence across the entire continent in her generation.

Millia had no intention of raising her reputation merely as a knight.

In her view, Rumerun was not just a place that would raise her abilities as a knight by several levels, but also a new kind of market that allowed her to aim higher as a merchant.

To seize commercial rights in a place where the best talents gather.

She judged that nothing was as 'profitable' as that.

Therefore, Millia meticulously researched everything about Rumerun even before admission.

Not only the commercial district of Rumeria City but also the professors of Rumerun.

She even grasped all the students.

That's why Millia knew Carl from the moment he entered.

‘At first, I wasn’t particularly interested.’

Carl Thomas was a student who recorded grades close to failing, so it wouldn't have been strange if he had been expelled at any time.

When she saw the information that he was active as a merchant, she was briefly interested, but she thought there was no need to take a deep interest in someone who would soon be expelled.

But her expectation.

No, breaking everyone's expectations, Carl persistently survived at Rumerun.

And by using her family's intelligence network to understand the liquidity of funds within Rumerun, she also found out that Carl had started exerting a strong influence from a certain point.

‘He started almost like a peddler, but I was surprised to hear that in just one year he became a general store used by all Rumerun students.’

This was partly because Carl, with his excellent alchemy talent, made good products.

More than that, Carl's excellent business acumen as a merchant also played a significant role.

When she heard that Carl had almost taken over the Rumerun Merchant's Guild club, she was captivated.

It was because Carl had preempted what Millia had intended to do.

Crucially, the fact that Carl was a commoner also attracted Millia's heart.

In Rumerun, where one is evaluated solely on skill, the difference in status between nobles and commoners held little meaning.

Rather, a fool who has no skill but flaunts their status is what only idiots do at Rumerun.

After one semester of admission, that fact becomes deeply ingrained.

However, outside of Rumerun, the emotional gap between classes was usually deeply entrenched.

The disparity in status was considerable.

Even Millia, who had lived as the heir to a wealthy merchant family, was often disregarded by the noble upper class.

Of course, Millia wasn't foolish enough to harbor deep animosity towards nobles just for that.

Whatever the case, they were customers.

Especially nobles with strong authority were often easy targets.

If they were fools who brought in money, being ignored was nothing.

However, even so, there was a sense of solidarity as commoners who were treated the same way.

And it wasn't difficult for that solidarity to turn into affection.

Millia had no particular intention of growing her family by associating with a good household.

‘It's only valuable if I grow the family with my abilities alone.’

Thus, she developed a deep affection for Carl, and eventually, when Carl ascended to the position of a hero, she came to worship him.

‘In my opinion, Senior Carl is even more amazing than Senior Leo.’

Leo literally seemed to be born to be a hero.

But Carl wasn't.

Carl, who had always been at the bottom of Rumerun, persistently survived.

And he rose to become a new type of hero, blazing a new trail.

Eventually, when she entered Rumerun and saw Carl at the entrance ceremony, she was completely captivated by his appearance.

‘He was handsome.’

Recalling that moment, Millia smiled shyly.

And she took an arrow from her waist.

A letter was tied to the arrow.

If she carelessly approached Carl now, she would surely be intercepted by Jueun, who might be lurking somewhere.

Even if Millia was the top student of the first year in the Knight Department, it would be difficult to get past Jueun, who was determined to stop her, and reach Carl.

‘I’ll convey my feelings, even from afar.’

Thinking so, Millia nocked the arrow on her bowstring.

Creak-!

The bow bent.

Millia, aiming at Carl's desk, released the bowstring.

Whoosh-!

Just as the arrow, flying at tremendous speed, passed the midway point between Carl and Millia.

CRACK-!

Something flew in and destroyed the arrow.

‘Magic Sniping!?, Senior Jueun!’

Millia hurriedly turned her body in the direction the sniping came from.

At that moment, Millia, startled by the killing intent she felt, used Aura Armor and took out a potion bottle from her pocket, scattering its contents into the air.

Clang-!

The potion bottle exploded, creating a screen.

CRASH-!

Something hit the screen, and the sound of breaking glass echoed.

‘Sleep Bomb!’

Millia urgently hid her presence.

***

“Tsk! I missed!”

Jueun gritted her teeth.

“I haven’t even been able to talk to Senior Carl, and a first-year dares to be so presumptuous!”

A wary look rose in Jueun’s eyes.

‘As expected, that girl Millia is dangerous!’

Her eyes when she looks at Carl are not ordinary.

So she was trying to quickly tell Carl to go to the dance party, but even Jueun, who was in the same department, found it hard to meet Carl.

Even though they were in the same department, their different years made it surprisingly difficult to find common ground.

Jueun had also seen Carl's face for the first time in days and was about to speak to him when she spotted Millia and immediately checked her.

‘I need to tell Senior Carl to go to the dance party quickly… Surely he hasn’t already decided to go with Senior Eliza, right?’

Jueun felt uneasy.

Carl and Eliza.

Rumerun students regarded the two as a unique friendship.

To Jueun, too, they seemed to be friends, with little possibility of developing into lovers.

That was because, although they were close, their personalities were polar opposites, so they didn't seem to match.

Even so, Jueun was uneasy about the relationship between Carl and Eliza.

Even after the mentor-mentee period ended, Jueun often stuck around Carl.

As a result, she naturally had more opportunities to meet Eliza.

And Jueun, though very rarely, had seen it.

The cold gaze of Eliza sometimes showed a warm light when she looked at Carl.

Shaking off her uneasiness with effort, Jueun kept an eye on Millia.

‘Right now, keeping Millia in check is the priority!’

At that moment, Millia was seen rapidly approaching Jueun.

‘She seems to have figured out my position. Not bad.’

Magic sniper and archer.

Fundamentally, as they deal with distant enemies, their combat methods are almost identical.

However, as a mage and a knight, their compatibility relationship is also the same.

A magic sniper loses if they allow an archer to approach.

Of course, Jueun had no intention of meekly allowing her to approach.

Even if she allowed approach, she intended to defeat Millia.

Jueun had combat experience that Millia, being a first-year student, could not possibly catch up to.

The moment Jueun was about to unleash her magic to subdue Millia.

“You couldn't possibly not know that using magic and aura outside of the training grounds and parade grounds is a violation of school rules, could you?”

“Huh?! Senior Illiana?”

Jueun, startled, turned around.

Millia, who was approaching Jueun, also spotted Illiana and, trying to flee, made eye contact.

As Illiana beckoned with a 'nod-nod' gesture, Millia hesitantly approached.

A moment later.

Illiana looked at the two people kneeling before her and spoke.

“Do you two know what happens if Professor Hallind finds out you recklessly used magic and aura within school grounds?”

“Uh, we’d get scolded terribly.”

“No, you’re wrong. You’ll die.”

Illiana said seriously.

At her words, the two felt an inexplicable fear.

“What on earth made our juniors fight, even violating school rules? Was it because of that idiot?”

“Senior Carl isn’t an idiot.”

Millia bristled slightly.

Illiana looked at Millia with a pitying gaze.

“You need to get your eyes checked.”

Having said that, Illiana crossed her arms.

Jueun and Millia tensed up, looking at Illiana.

Even if she had a lighthearted demeanor, Illiana was a senior with top-tier skills among the third-years.

She was someone difficult to dare defy.

Even more so when caught violating school rules, like now.

As the two cowered, Illiana spoke.

“Alright. I’ll let this one slide. But if you’re fighting over Carl, let’s set some rules.”

“What rules?”

“For example, the one who hits Carl first gets to ask him to be their dance party partner, something like that.”

At Illiana’s words, Jueun spoke.

“Even if it’s a non-lethal projectile, it hurts when you get hit, so how can we hit him?”

“Exactly. How dare we hit Senior Carl, we can’t do that.”

Illiana, looking at her two juniors shaking their heads, pointed a finger at Carl.

“Even like that, don’t you want to hit him?”

At those words, Jueun and Millia looked at Carl.

There, female students who had gathered were fawning over Carl.

“Senior Carl~ Let’s go to the dance party together~”

“No! Come with me!”

“Wow. This is an honor, isn’t it? Who should I choose?”

As Carl laughed "uhahahah-" and enjoyed it, Jueun’s face gradually turned cold.

Millia shook her head.

“Even so, I can’t hit Senior Carl…”

“I’ll do it.”

“…?”

Millia looked at Jueun.

“If you’re scared, just give up.”

“Yeah. That’s right. If you’re scared, give up.”

Illiana also smiled broadly and supported Jueun.

At those words, Millia, who had been pondering, smiled shyly.

“Alright.”

“…?”

“Actually… I kinda want to hear Senior Carl scream.”

Watching Millia's lips twitch, Illiana thought.

‘This kid is a bit dangerous.’

Of course, Illiana felt no pang of conscience.

Illiana, who had succeeded in making Carl the prey of her two juniors, looked at Carl with malicious eyes.