Chapter 148
Chapter 148
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 148
Chapter Title: An Invitation from Ainsidel
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The moment I said our team had Ainsidel, my friends all plastered themselves against the wall and held their breath.
Meanwhile, I had no idea what they were doing when I could’ve just warped back to my room.
I cracked the door open slightly, and there was that guy I’d seen earlier that day, right in front of me.
“…Haike.”
“So you knew my name.”
“Of course. We’re on the same team.”
Even Cherlingen had said the same thing. Everyone assumed I didn’t know their names by default.
Which was true, actually.
“So, what’s up?”
“Nothing much.”
‘I’ll be the one to judge if it’s nothing.’
I felt bad judging him just by his family name, but knowing his household had Phleroma meant I couldn’t treat him like the other students.
The moment I ramped up my wariness and looked at him, an unexpected remark came.
“Wanna go grab a drink?”
“What?”
No one said a word after that, so a brief silence fell.
This was the first time I was actually talking to this guy.
More importantly, Class 1-A’s Ainsidel didn’t seem particularly eager to drink with me. His face was as expressionless as it had been earlier that day.
“…I’m on a no-drinking streak right now, so no can do. What’s this sudden thing? Are the others inviting me too?”
“Nah. Just the two of us.”
“…….”
What did I do wrong?
Before I could ask why, Class 1-A’s Ainsidel continued quickly.
“Sucks about the no-drinking. How about now, then?”
“Dunno. I was about to head to bed.”
“Hm, it is pretty late. What about after training tomorrow?”
“Out of the blue?”
“Yeah.”
There was no reason given, and Class 1-A’s Ainsidel’s face remained utterly blank.
‘…What’s this about.’
I thought for a moment, then nodded.
“Alright.”
Whatever it was, there was no reason to turn it down.
I needed to figure out why this supposedly unapproachable guy was approaching me first and what he wanted to say.
Class 1-A’s Ainsidel gave a faint smile, said goodbye, and left.
I shut the door quickly and turned to my friends.
They looked just as baffled by the sudden conversation.
Leo asked.
“What was that? You two buddies or something?”
“First time talking to him.”
“You’re having your first conversation ever, and he jumps straight to ‘let’s drink, just us’…?”
“That’s exactly what I want to say.”
Come to think of it, they don’t sell booze on campus. How was he planning to drink?
That’s when Elias muttered.
“…Was he always like that? He’s so quiet, I never knew.”
“Oh, you guys knew each other from the 3rd Academy, right?”
At Narke’s words, Leo shook his head.
“Nah. He didn’t go to the 3rd Academy.”
“No, really?”
“Didn’t even know a guy like that existed until the announcements came out. Turns out he went to some regional magic school and only transferred here for high school.”
‘…Hmm.’
No info on him at all. No wonder they all stuck to the wall the second I mentioned Ainsidel.
Elias was in the same Class 1-A as Haike Ainsidel, but since he didn’t hang around school much, it made sense he wouldn’t know.
Anyway, we’d agreed to meet, so I’d pry some info out of him then.
For now, time to check what was going on with Elias’s team.
I turned to Elias, who had picked up my pie artifact and was fiddling with it.
“So, Eli. What happened today?”
* * *
Elias just clung to my clothes, sobbing incoherently without explaining what was wrong, then went back to his room.
‘Group projects are always a bloodbath, huh.’
Still, I needed to hear what it was to help, but for some reason, he wouldn’t say.
Sunday morning training with our team wrapped up as scheduled.
The second it ended, Haike Ainsidel approached.
“Shall we?”
I nodded and fell into step beside him.
As we circled the school grounds, neither of us spoke first.
I’d sensed it from his impassive expression, but Class 1-A’s Ainsidel was the silent type through and through.
‘This won’t do.’
The moment I thought that, he led me to a campus café.
I glanced at the tea placed in front of us and asked him.
“So, what’d you call me out for?”
“No special reason.”
He gestured asking if I wanted sugar, and I shook my head.
He dropped two lumps into his coffee and continued.
“Just… let’s get along since we’re teammates.”
“Weren’t we already doing fine?”
“Yeah, we were.”
We were doing fine, so why drag me out like this?
No beating around the bush.
“Spit it out, Haike.”
“No, really, there’s no issue. It’s just… weirdly…”
Haike Ainsidel said without so much as blinking.
“…I got this urge to be friends with you.”
“…….”
I smiled silently and stared right at his face.
‘Weirdly got the urge’?
Something you’d hear from someone at -2 favorability?
Of course, I’d leveled up my Charm, so now it was 0.
Haike Ainsidel
Favorability: 0* [Unapproachable]
‘Still unapproachable.’
So, did leveling my trait bump his favorability and make him think that?
‘No way. 0 isn’t enough to spark a ‘let’s be friends’ urge.’
I’d observed it with other students at school.
Negative meant a clear ‘ugh, dislike’ vibe, while 0 was like background air—no thoughts at all.
If there’d been negative feelings messing with team activities, sure, clearing that misunderstanding might build some rapport. But otherwise, why would he try befriending thin air?
‘And normally, if you want to get close, you create natural opportunities instead of blurting it out like this.’
That’s when Ainsidel smiled and said.
“Too sudden? Sorry if I threw you off.”
‘…I was the one trying to figure him out, not the other way around…’
Never thought I’d end up being pursued by an unapproachable target.
Let’s see how this plays out.
“Sure. Being friends sounds good.”
The moment I replied casually, Haike Ainsidel smiled and asked.
“Great. Lucas, wanna do lunch together later?”
* * *
Lunch my ass—I was stuck with him till dinner.
I finally parted ways with Haike Ainsidel after finishing training.
‘At least I got some info.’
Though I didn’t get his real intentions.
Of course, I hadn’t expected to on day one.
He was currently the nephew of the Ainsidel family head and had been adopted into the direct line due to his massive mana reserves.
Meaning he’d be the next Ainsidel family head.
‘Direct line, huh.’
Not blood direct, but the risk level was high regardless.
Of course, anyone at the Imperial Second Academy was mostly direct lineage anyway.
And one more thing I learned.
‘Wants to be friends?’
I spent the whole day with him, but his favorability didn’t budge a single point.
Especially since he’d initiated the ‘let’s be friends’ thing and we hung out—if he was even a little satisfied, it should’ve gone up at least 1.
Philip only gave me 2 for my Persuasion trait, after all.
I returned to my room.
My friends had gathered there without even being invited.
Elias was curled up on my bed in despair again, while Narke and Leo had been watching him warily and now greeted me.
Instead of hellos, I jumped straight to what they’d be curious about.
“You heard it all through the artifact, right? Nothing big. He said he wants to be friends.”
I said that, but it wasn’t nothing.
I just couldn’t tell them he was unapproachable with negative favorability until recently, so they’d think it was no big deal.
That’s when Leo shook his head suspiciously.
“He wants to be friends, so he holds you all day? Sure, you accepted every request to observe, but who sticks with someone from morning to night like that?”
Yeah, he’d caught on that it was a big deal.
He was right.
Maybe because I couldn’t train with Leo today thanks to Haike Ainsidel, but he was sharp.
I opened my mouth to discuss Ainsidel more, when Elias muttered.
“Grip strength is an incredible power.”
“Hm?”
“When I wake up in the morning, my hands feel weak, so grip strength sucks. But I can still chew food normally, so it just proves molars are the only thing you can rely on.”
Leo added flatly to the ongoing molar talk from yesterday.
“Yeah? Mine’s stronger in the morning.”
“How much strength do you waste during the day? Hanging around school politicking must be tanking your stamina.”
‘…?’
Leo and Narke’s eyes met mine at the same time.
Elias wasn’t brushing it off as a joke and responding seriously?
He should’ve said something like ‘Yeah, must be nice’ by now.
From Leo’s expression, he sensed the seriousness too.
Ignoring that, Elias dove back into his own world.
“…When you unluckily pick a jar with a tight lid, you burn your palm trying to open it. Makes you think about smashing the jar and drinking from there, but in that case, you can dent the lid with your teeth. Or if you wanna chug wine fast and there’s no servant or opener nearby, you can pull the cork with your molars in case two.”
“Write a thesis on it.”
“You’re saying molars can open that?”
No way? What kind of mouth does he have?
His molars must be indestructible.
If he hates waiting that much, can’t he just use magic to open it?
I sat next to him and asked calmly.
“So, Eli. Why the molar obsession?”
“I wanna bite everything! Arrrgh!”
“…….”
“Oh, that’s why so far~”
Narke clapped like he’d added one more data point on Elias.
Leo finally got the picture and looked disgusted.
“Jeez… It’s your teammates, right? What the hell did they do? Are they all pissed at you?”
“Nah.”
“Keep pissing you off? Like, you talk and they ignore you?”
At that point, Elias would’ve grabbed them by the collar for answers.
“No….”
Elias groaned, then snapped his head up with blazing eyes.
“If even one Class 1-A shows up in Team 1, see what happens. Team 1 needs to be filled with six Class 1-B members.”
“I’d love Team 1 to be all six from Class 1-B too~”
Narke chimed in.
Makes sense—he was closer to the Class 1-B kids.
Elias ground his teeth.
“No, correction. Team 2, Team 3—all of them should be Class 1-B. No Class 1-A allowed anywhere.”
“Sounds rough.”
Out of 18 people, zero Class 1-A? Unrealistic.
What did those guys do to Elias that he couldn’t fight back and just cursed them?
That’s when Elias slammed his head into my back.
“…Can I even pass…?”
I couldn’t respond to that.
Narke and Leo fell silent too.
If Elias thought he’d fail himself, what level were things at?
At this point, weren’t the Class 1-A kids basically suicidal?
Leo spoke up.
“Tomorrow’s joint training, and your team’s the only one that didn’t submit a participation form.”
“Knew it.”
Elias let out a weak laugh.
“Couldn’t. I don’t get their mindset either. What the hell are they planning….”
Elias staggered to his feet and slipped on his shoes by the door. In a listless voice, he said.
“I’m heading back to sleep.”
“…….”
Narke watched worriedly as Elias disappeared.
Leo looked surprisingly upset. He said firmly.
“I’ll make sure their team joins tomorrow.”
“They didn’t submit the form—possible?”
“Student council has the training logs. And this training’s heavily encouraged by the school. Plenty of room to push all eight teams. So…”
Leo’s voice turned icy.
“…we’ll watch and see. Gotta check what Team 8’s doing to make Elias like this.”
“Just watch?”
At my amused question, Leo turned to me.
He caught on and smiled quickly.
* * *
Joint training has two phases.
Phase one: Make inter-team training public.
Phase two: Swap team members around.
It was purely for checking other teams’ skills.
The next day, Elias with Team 8 looked surprisingly fine.
He only whined in front of us.
Then, the Class 1-A acting as Team 8’s leader drew lots for order and sighed. Now I saw it—that leader was one of the Class 1-A kids from the potion contest.
“Ugh, we’re up first.”
He glanced at his teammates and whispered.
“Guys, this time, please just follow instructions….”
Even whispering, the quiet venue made it carry.
Everyone was too busy eyeing other teams to chatter.
“Yeah.”
“…….”
Only Elias responded calmly; the rest ignored him.
“…Hm~”
Narke let out a hollow chuckle, sensing the weird vibe.
Already some friction showing.
The leader couldn’t control his team.
Team 8 entered the exam hall, and soon the Mimesis start sound rang out.
[3, 2, 1. Begin.]
This time, like a real exam, another team assigned the field and set a time limit.
The field given to Team 8 by their proctor team: forest.
[…Disturbance reported at coordinates 98:121:452. Citizens, please maintain order and evacuate swiftly to open areas free of black smoke or designated shelters.]
The guidance voice linked to Team 8’s leader’s artifact broadcast externally.
‘It’s just the start now… Gotta wait a bit for the Class 1-A guys to cause trouble.’
I crossed my arms, sat back comfortably, and watched the relay screen—when confused questions burst out everywhere.
“Why are they doing that?”