Chapter 83

“So, are both of you going to invest?”

“Of course, don’t worry.”

“I’ll help too. However, I’d be happy if Edu keeps the promise made the day before.”

As she said this, Lises smiled.

The promise made the day before was quite obvious.

“Ah, that….”

Dressing as a girl still made me uncomfortable, but with someone being so considerate and offering help, it felt wrong to only think about my feelings.

It’s best I put in the effort here.

“If that’s the case… Yes, I’ll visit you next time.”

“Good, shall we discuss the details later?”

“Yes.”

After wrapping up the conversation, Hapendel gently smiled and placed me back in the chair.

Returning to her spot was the elderly elf.

“Now, let’s get into the details. How can we assist you?”

“Um, could you send as much food that matches what I mentioned earlier to the forward base regularly?”

“Sure, you mentioned food that’s easy to preserve and balanced in calories and nutrients, right?”

“Yes.”

Hapendel stroked her chin, lost in thought.

“Food that’s easy to preserve.”

“Can’t you send something like canned food?”

“That makes sense; we can do that.”

Hapendel nodded after conversing with Lises.

“Then we’ll gather food quickly and send it to you regularly.”

“Thank you.”

“It’s no trouble at all. So, Edu, is that all the discussion?”

“Yes.”

Hapendel nodded at our response.

“Alright, then I’ll be going–”

“Wait a moment, Hapendel. Since you’ve decided to provide support, how about telling Edu about that man?”

“Huh?”

Lises interjected, suggesting this.

Hapendel tilted her head at her words and fell into thought.

After gauging the situation, she cautiously asked Lises.

“About that man?”

“Yes, there’s a man who’s almost solely in charge of food production in the Fangju.”

“Oh.”

There was someone like that?

Intrigued, I listened as Lises continued.

“His name is Hilton Jo. It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that all the food in the Fangju has passed through his hands.”

“He sounds impressive.”

“Yes, and he’s under a lot of government scrutiny.”

“Ah.”

Food is essential for life.

If an individual were to control that, a dystopia we can’t imagine might unfold.

I don’t trust the Fangju government much, but this reason is understandable.

Well, no one knows how dark it really is.

“So what will you do, Hapendel? Considering the future, wouldn’t it be good for Edu to get closer to him?”

“That makes sense. Thinking about the future, it might be good to discuss things with him once. Edu, what do you think?”

Hapendel asked softly.

“I’d like to meet someone like that.”

“Great, then I’ll arrange a meeting. I’ll contact you later, so just come when I call.”

“Yes, thank you, grandfather.”

Bowing my head as I said that, I suddenly heard clapping from beside me.

Looking up, I saw Hapendel clapping her hands joyfully.

Somehow, her eyes seemed slightly misty, but that must be my imagination.

“…Pure children are really nice. Edu, can you do it once more?”

“Grandfather…?”

“Mm-mm.”

Hapendel clapped her hands again, wearing a satisfied smile.

Even though being called grandfather was all it took to make her this happy, I felt even more embarrassed.

But she accepted my proposal, so it’s only right to give her this much service.

“Well then, we will take our leave, grandfather.”

“Alright, see you again. Edu and that other friend….”

Hapendel glanced at Nisia.

Upon receiving her gaze, Nisia straightened up and answered loudly.

“I-I’m Nisia!”

“Okay, Nisia, please come inside.”

“Yes, yes!”

She jumped from her seat and lifted me up.

Clarissa also stood up.

“Then I’ll visit you again later.”

“Alright, learn a lot.”

Our group left the room.

“Phew….”

Nisia sighed.

“Are you okay, Nisia?”

“Uh-huh, I was a bit tense… but I’m alright now.”

No wonder she was quiet.

Turning to look, I noticed Clarissa seemed tense too, placing her hand on her chest to steady her breath.

A brief silence passed.

Hilda, who had been waiting a bit away from the door, approached us and bowed.

“Have you finished your discussion?”

“Yes, we’ll rest a bit before heading back. What will you two do, Edu and Nisia?”

A normal question.

But the way she fidgeted with her fingers showed she wanted to spend some time together.

“I’ll rest a bit before heading back.”

“I will too.”

When I answered quickly, a smile spread across Clarissa’s face.

Her long ears flapped like wings.

“Well, then shall we go together? I’ll guide you to my home.”

Clarissa, unaware that her cheeks flushed, said this and walked ahead.

Since there was no immediate urgency, should we take a look around the Chronos Mansion?

….

The next day.

Warm sunlight shone over the academy after the morning lessons.

If the Fangju were an environment like South Korea, full of stray cats, many cats would probably be gathering to bask in the sun and purring.

With such idle thoughts, I slurped down a shake placed on the table.

“You’ve worked hard, Nisia.”

After finishing the last of my shake, I expressed my gratitude to Nisia, who was munching on some food.

“Huh? Ah, no. I haven’t done much….”

Nisia waved her hands dismissively, biting into a well-fried pork cutlet.

In the meantime, Hands picked up a napkin from the table and wiped my mouth.

“No, you quickly learned how to control the ship and helped out a lot, didn’t you? You should be a bit more confident.”

“Uh-huh, thanks.”

When I comforted her, she nodded shyly, her cheeks turning red.

As I looked at her, a memory from the past suddenly floated to my mind.

“By the way, we have afternoon classes starting now.”

“Yeah.”

“That’s about Irina-sensei saying that she’s going to conduct more practical training. That’s next week, right?”

Once most of the class could handle mana well, Irina announced to everyone.

“Starting next week, we’ll do more practical training, so everyone, be prepared to come!”

The content didn’t seem particularly special.

However, the combination of Irina and the word practical reminded me of old memories.

That was just recently during the so-called recreation.

Perhaps because I had seen her somewhat clumsy side at that time, I felt a bit worried.

“Yeah, that’s right.”

“…She won’t hit us like last time, right?”

My question was half-joking, half-serious.

“She probably won’t do that… I hope.”

Nisia, seeming to have similar thoughts, gave a vague answer, sounding unsure.

In any case, I couldn’t skip class for growth purposes…

Wait, growth? Now that I think about it—

“Ah, right, Nisia. Did you gain anything from hanging out together this time?”

“Gain?”

“Yeah, I thought since your level increased a lot, maybe you got a new ability or something.”

When we hijacked the enemy light cruisers and battleships, the local battles offered little experience.

But last time, we liberated a colony city, and this time we blew away the third fleet with the Earth Eater.

I received quite a bit of experience, so surely Nisia must have made significant growth as well.

Moreover, since she is the protagonist, she might have gained something remarkable.

“Ah, um….”

Nisia trailed off, glancing around nervously.

Was she still anxious about other people’s gazes? She only approached me after confirming that no one was paying attention to her.

“…Actually, I have one ability I gained.”

In a small voice.

I leaned closer to hear.

“Really? What is it?”

“Well, it’s a bit difficult to say here. How about I tell you on the way to the training ground?”

“Sure! Bungbungi!”

[Beep. /(˶•▿•˶)]

Using Hands, I transferred from the chair to Bungbungi.

Nisia moved her shake cup to her plastic tray and stood up.

Once she loaded that onto the collection cart designated for dishes in the corner of the dining area, we left the cafeteria.

“Shall we go then?”

“Yeah, Bungbungi. Can you take us to the Awakener Training Ground?”

[Beep. /⸜(｡˃ ᵕ ˂ )⸝]

Passing by the people, we stepped out of the academy.

Now that there were no people around, just as we were about to chat, a disagreeable voice caught our attention.

“Hey, commoner.”

“What?”

Looking back with irritation, I saw three ruffians approaching us.

“Hmph.”

A stout figure with a large frame, the mass.

“Grr-grr.”

The bony one characterized by a peculiar laugh, the sly one.

“Hmm…”

A fool who looks fine on the outside but is consumed by his concept, the foolish one.

The notorious three miscreants.

Though they were a familiar stupid group to me, this time there was something slightly different.

“Huh?”

Right behind them stood a man, slender with a snake-like appearance.

Given his purple uniform, he seemed to be a teacher at the academy, but since I don’t recall him, he was likely one of those characters not described in AOE like Diana.

Having been quiet for a while, were they now planning to use the teacher to provoke us?

As I contemplated this, the villainous trio opened their mouths again, now closer to us.

“Hmph, short responses, huh?”

“Grr-grr, that attitude isn’t good, you know?”

“Hah-hah. Yes, don’t you see the person behind us?”

One of the ruffians said as he adjusted his glasses slightly.

I could see the corner of the snake-like man’s mouth curve upwards, but I’d rather not react and just convey my thoughts.

“Hey, I’m sorry, but I don’t have time to waste talking like you guys. Can you just tell me what you want?”

“You bitch!!”

The large one stepped forward and raised his fist.

[Beeep?! / ٩(๑º ﾛ º๑)۶]

Bungbungi also got startled, emitting mechanical sounds as Nisia quickly stepped in front of me to block him.

“What are you doing!”

“Don’t touch my friend.”

“What? You’re telling me what to do, commoner?”

The atmosphere turned grim.

At that moment, the snake-like man took a step forward.

He walked up and stood between Nisia and the large one.

“Gentlemen, what are you doing?”

Initially, I thought he might be mediating the situation, but his gaze was solely focused on Nisia and me.

“Not only are you picking a fight with a classmate who is just standing quietly, but you are also spewing profanities!”

“…Are we?”

Nisia seemed to ask back incredulously.

“Yes, witnesses are around. Do you plan to lie?”

With that, he spread his arms around, and like a pre-arranged signal, a few students nearby began to approach us.

“Yeah, we saw it too.”

“You shouldn’t speak that way to someone of the same age.”

Though it was obvious they were all part of the same group, they admonished us as they came closer.

Looking at the badges visible on their chests, which had the same colors of bronze and silver, they appeared to be second and third-year students from Sunrise Street.

“…Haah.”

I sighed deeply.

So that’s what was happening; it’s that event.

Experiencing the ruckus of the Invaders that would rise later after pulling out Nightmare.

Having been busy trying to rescue Freya and fighting against Megabase caused me to act contrary to the standard AOE story.

Though I realized it a bit late, I knew this was clearly related to that event.

The first major incident at the academy, and an event where the protagonist stands out, kicking off the main story.

A friendly match.

Before that, the notorious three would cause a stir and set up a confrontational structure as part of a minor event.

However, there wasn’t a snake-like man in AOE; it seems the event’s details have slightly changed.

In any case, knowing what was going on, I couldn’t see any need to play along with this foolish clowning.

They seemed to think that being a teacher was all that mattered; however, unlike my past self, I am different now.

“Nisia, can you pull out what’s in my inner pocket and attach it to my clothes?”

“Huh? That?”

“Yeah, it’s better to show it once rather than say it a hundred times to these fools.”

“Ah, okay.”

Nisia approached my side.

“So, I’ll just borrow this for a moment….”

She carefully slipped her hand into my clothes.

As Nisia rummaged around, she grasped what I intended and let out a small sigh, understanding my purpose.

She attached what she took from my inner pocket to my clothes.

“…? What are you trying to do? The conversation isn’t over yet?”

The snake-like man raised his voice, observing our actions.

His tone was nonchalant.

However, as Nisia stepped back and he saw what was now attached to my clothes, his expression changed drastically.

His eyes widened in shock, repeatedly blinking in disbelief.

“Uh? Th-that’s….”

He raised his finger, pointing at my chest.

At the tip of his finger was a fist-shaped insignia shining brightly in the same color as the uniform.

“Yes, it’s my rank insignia. I’m a major.”

“What?!”

The snake-like man visibly panicked.

And rightly so.

According to AOE settings, teachers at the academy are granted ranks equivalent to regular officers, meaning a status somewhere between second lieutenant and captain.

The same applies to students who receive ranks suitable for their respective grades.

In that case—

It means that man has a lower rank than I do.

“Uh, uhhh…?”

His voice was alarmed.

But I wasn’t planning on letting him off easily.

“What are you doing? Why aren’t you saluting?”