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After the morning jog, training with Aisha.

In the morning martial arts class, I scraped by with Isabel.

After lunch, paperwork with Nikita for the student council.

In the afternoon joint class, I ignored Card and concentrated on the lesson.

Before dinner, preps and information gathering for the mock battle.

Sometimes I follow Nikita for additional student council duties.

After dinner, reviewing lessons, assignments, and training.

Nighttime for bed.

This is my recent daily routine.

If it were the old me, I’d be out cold, sleeping the next day after such a hectic day.

But Bickamon’s stamina is beyond imagination.

To me, this body seems like it could stay up for three nights straight and still be fine the next day.

It has an abnormal stamina and remarkable recovery speed.

‘Bickamon should have focused on training his body instead of that useless magic.’

Why did he insist on learning magic?

Of course, I’m not completely ignorant of Bickamon’s story.

The Bickamon family, Niflheim, is originally a family of magicians.

He learned magic out of desperation, overshadowed by his brother’s magical prowess.

But Bickamon had no talent for magic whatsoever.

Let alone his younger sister, who showed off her talent for ‘Legendary Magic.’

Bickamon felt miserable and became increasingly obsessed with magic.

‘He couldn’t cultivate his strengths out of envy and jealousy.’

In the end, what’s unfortunate is unfortunate.

Anyway, at this point, his strength is helping a lot.

Stamina is national power.

I was starting to realize what that meant as my stamina was quickly increasing.

“Senpai, I added a training routine for arms and chest today!”

Maybe that’s why.

Lately, Aisha’s training routines have been getting odder and odder.

Aisha, with her steel stamina, seems very happy to have a training partner.

She set up the training gear with a bright smile on her face, even earlier than me each morning.

It turns out, training alone for so long must have been quite lonely.

“Senpai, today is leg training. Let’s wear this and run together before the jog!”

The tools she brings are getting stranger and stranger, aside from her cheerful face.

But seeing her this happy doesn’t feel bad at all.

More than anything, Aisha’s training has definitely been helpful.

“Training together is fun!”

After finishing the training today, Aisha looked at me lying sprawled out and gave a refreshing, healthy smile like something out of an ion drink commercial.

How is it that Aisha’s stamina never seems to dwindle?

With that much energy, she must be swinging around a great sword just for fun.

In the past, she had a somewhat cold image.

Now, it’s clear what a naive and reckless person she is.

Still, thanks to her, I was able to struggle back onto my feet.

Seeing Aisha, who has more stamina than I, makes me feel competitive.

One day, I’ll have enough stamina to swing around a great sword like that too.

“Senpai, it seems you’re making progress in training. Your body is getting better and better recently!”

“……You could see that with your own eyes?”

“Nope. The muscles are talking.”

What scary words is she saying?

But Aisha’s words are indeed true.

I could definitely feel my body improving beyond the bandages of my cloak, probably thanks to the training.

Seeing my body improving so quickly must mean my innate condition is different.

Bickamon really should have focused on martial arts.

“It’s thanks to you.”

“Ah, hee hee, no, it’s mainly thanks to you working hard.”

Aisha swung her great sword harder to shake off her embarrassment with a shy smile.

I wish she’d stop swinging it already before it flies away.

“By the way, Aisha, I want to do a mock battle before the upcoming mock war.”

I said this before Aisha really sends me flying.

“Can I fight with you?”

“With me?”

Aisha’s eyes widened.

Then she slowly lowered her great sword and soon smiled mischievously.

“I’ll fight without cutting you any slack. Are you okay with that?”

“Of course, that’s what I was hoping for. Just go all out.”

“I’m looking forward to seeing you trembling out of bed the next day!”

“Don’t you think you’ll be the one doing that, Aisha? You’d better not come out of your room crying the next day.”

“Wh-what are you two talking about?”

In that moment, an unexpected voice cut into our conversation.

As Aisha and I turned our heads, a girl with chestnut short hair caught in sunlight appeared before us.

Isabel Luna.

The main heroine of the Flame Butterfly faction, who’s wrestling against my potential suicide route.

Isabel was looking at Aisha and me with a face flushed bright red from ear to ear.

Must be from seeing my face since morning.

“Looks like we’re steadily becoming enemies.”

Satisfying.

“Isabel Luna, what brings you here so early in the morning?”

As I called her full name and questioned her, Isabel took a breath and glared at me venomously.

“……You and I are on duty this morning.”

Ah, I had indeed forgotten about that.

With my training with Aisha ramped up, I’d completely spaced out on it.

“Aisha, let’s talk later.”

“Yes, Senpai. You worked hard today as well.”

Receiving Aisha’s respectful greeting, I walked towards Isabel.

“I need to stop by the dorm looking like this.”

I can’t possibly go like this, all covered in sweat and dirt.

Isabel sighed deeply and suddenly threw my bag at me.

It was only then I realized it was my bag.

When did she go get it for me?

“……Card gave it to you on his way this morning. He let me know you were here. Your uniform should be in there.”

So that’s why she came over.

But even so, the problem still remains.

I looked at Aisha with a completely blank face.

“I just said I can’t go like this.”

Just because I have my uniform doesn’t mean I can wear it while still dirty from sweat and dust.

“About that, I’ll fix it for you.”

At that moment, another figure came out from the bushes.

With star-shaped tattoos under her eyes and dangling earrings, she looked at me with droopy eyes, half-asleep.

So she came with this girl.

One of Isabel’s close friends.

Sharine Sazarith.

She’s the second-year top student in Magic Arts.

Weak on mornings, she let out a long yawn and pulled out her wand.

With that, droplets of water emerged from my body, absorbing the sweat and dirt and vanishing.

A skilled water mage.

“See? All cleaned up! Bel, let’s go. I want to sleep in class.”

Sharine called Isabel with a nickname and clung to her, and Isabel nodded.

Then she shot me a glare as if she were displeased.

Now that she’s solved the problem, I guess it’s time to follow her.

My rebellious spirit tried to rise up, but I held it back.

I don’t want to be late for my duty and get scored down.

Building a decent image with professors should have its advantages.

So I slung my bag over my shoulder and turned around.

At that moment, Isabel furrowed her brows and grabbed my clothes again.

“Where do you think you’re going? You’re still on duty.”

“I’m just over there to change clothes. What? Are you going to follow me and take a peek? What a lewd hobby.”

“Ah, no, ugh, I’m sorry for grabbing you. Just change and come back.”

Apologizing in this situation?

Even though she’s like an enemy, seeing her properly apologize gives me a glimpse of her true nature.

Leaving the flustered Isabel behind, I headed toward the forest.

From a distance, I could sense Sharine’s gaze on me for some reason.

With those droopy eyes, it’s hard to tell what she’s thinking.

Sharine is a variable for me.

Her character traits are inherently capricious.

She could suddenly decide, “I’m done,” and retire during a fight.

Sharine’s whims are serious enough to be a debuff level.

But her skills and stats are exceptional, so in a pinch, I would often hire her as a mercenary for the sake of prayer meta.

Hopefully, today will not trigger Sharine’s whims.

Now that this game has become a reality, I can’t even grasp how capricious she might be.

‘There’s nothing good in getting caught up in this.’

I fumbled through my clothes and stepped outside.

Then Isabel, as if waiting, swiftly turned around and walked out.

I exchanged nods with Aisha before promptly following behind.

The three of us walking had nearly no conversation.

There was no need to speak between Isabel and me.

Sharine, weak in mornings, kept yawning and swaying as we walked along.

“Sharine, walk straight.”

“Ugh, I’m sleepy.”

Since she’s weak in the mornings, there are often events where Isabel has to forcibly wake her up and take her along.

Lucas would normally be here too.

If Lucas were around, we would have maintained a cheerful atmosphere.

We would have happily shared conversations about class topics or recent gossip around the academy.

‘But due to my duty, I somehow ended up doing this.’

All that was left for us was a bleak atmosphere.

Breaking the awkward silence first was Sharine.

Reaching the entrance to the Magic Arts building, she was the first to part ways.

“Have a good class and don’t fall asleep in the morning!”

“Mom, I want to sleep for another 5 minutes.”

“Sharine, mom isn’t here.”

As she clung onto Isabel, Isabel patted her head to comfort her.

When she was with Sharine, Isabel looked a bit happier.

Yet even Sharine couldn’t fill the void left by Lucas in Isabel’s heart.

This means Isabel’s extreme choice is inevitable without Lucas around.

As I was watching that unfold, Isabel turned her gaze towards me.

Ah, time to pick at her.

“Morning duty is going to be late.”

“……Is that something you should be saying?”

True enough.

But I brazenly spoke out.

Destined to be hated anyway, I might as well be thoroughly hated.

“Your friend, Lucas, probably took it easy just like you.”

Isabel’s face instantly turned icy.

She bit her lip and quickly dropped Sharine’s hand.

“Say that again, and you won’t be saying it for long.”

She glared at me with a look of pure hatred before swiftly turning away and walking off.

Hatred stacks up faithfully.

Let’s keep this up in the future.

I predict a rather cold atmosphere for this morning’s duty.

‘Let’s just get going.’

Having grown accustomed to this, I followed Isabel behind.

Thud!

But that was immediately stopped.

By surprisingly unexpected people.

“……Sharine Sazarith?”

“Hey, hey, about that.”

She tightly grabbed my wrist while stretching her words languidly.

Then her deep-space, starry-hued hair tilted to one side.

“Why are you disguised like that?”

Oh my, what the—?