Carriage Ride to the Northern Demon Border
Cain’s instructions had been simple and direct. The Northern Demon Border was, in plain terms, the demons’ primary stronghold—a frozen wasteland where every single day was war. Upon reaching the Helen family estate, which stood in direct confrontation with that hellish front line, I would encounter anywhere from dozens to thousands of heroes. Whether I forged friendships with them or learned what I could was entirely up to me. That was where his advice ended.
Maybe I should catch some sleep.
I glanced around the carriage. The interior was filled with cheerful voices.
“Tina, how about this one?”
“It looks good.”
“What if we do it this way?”
“…Yeah.”
Somehow Christina, Siris, Shane, and Vanya had grown close enough to chat freely like this. The order to take a five-person carriage had somehow resulted in exactly these five people riding together.
I still can’t figure out how they became so friendly. They were even using nicknames. It wasn’t impossible, of course. They were all in Class S, three of them came from prestigious families, and Vanya’s personality would let her fit in anywhere. Still, it was fascinating to watch.
I turned my gaze to the window. The scenery outside shifted in real time, and I fell into thought.
The Northern Demon Border, huh.
I hadn’t expected to head there so soon. I’d assumed it would take at least another month or two—time for the students to grow stronger. Wasn’t the original plan to depart two weeks from now?
Why was the schedule moved up?
There hadn’t been any major incident at the academy. It was simply one of those things that could happen, and it had. There was no urgent reason to rush into the Northern Demon Border.
Maybe this was the original schedule all along?
Perhaps the goal was to bring students here early so they could develop a healthy wariness of demons. Either way, my role remained the same: train hard, grow stronger, and do what I needed to do.
I stared blankly out the window a while longer, then closed my eyes.
The moment Adel drifted off, Vanya glanced at him with a faint smile.
“Mr. Adel is asleep.”
At her words, the other three turned their eyes toward him.
“……”
“Looks like it.”
“Is he really sleeping?”
Siris simply nodded. Christina and Shane answered with small, gentle smiles.
“Adel, are you asleep?” Shane asked. She was sitting right beside him.
When no reply came, it seemed safe to assume he was out cold.
“Hehe.”
Shane let out a meaningful little laugh.
“Vanya, how long do you plan to keep hiding your true self?”
The four of them were close for more than just spending every day together. As Adel had guessed, the fact that they were all children of prestigious families played a large part. They had known one another, at least partially, for quite some time.
Vanya was no exception. Though one might wonder about her, she too possessed noble blood.
“That’s right, Vanya. You can take them off now.”
“…Yeah.”
With Christina and Siris agreeing as well, Vanya gave a helpless little laugh.
“Shall I, then?”
She removed the crescent-moon earring from her ear. A soft hum of mana rippled outward, and Vanya’s appearance changed. It wasn’t a drastic transformation, yet in a way, it was.
“That look is beautiful too, you know,” Shane said.
Her ears had lengthened—classic elven ears.
“Why did you bother hiding your identity when you enrolled?” Christina asked, as if she saw no need for such secrecy.
“If you’re from the Crescent family, there shouldn’t be any reason to hide, right?”
The Crescent family was considered the foremost house within the entire Elf Kingdom—Vanya’s own family. Vanya Crescent was her full name, and that shared noble background was why the four of them had become so close. Their refined manners had all stemmed from the same roots.
“Hmm…”
Vanya pondered for a moment, then answered as if it were nothing special.
“Just because?”
She flashed a playful grin and glanced at the sleeping Adel.
“It’s also fun. Mr. Adel is one of the few who still doesn’t know who I really am.”
Far more people were unaware of Vanya’s identity than those who knew. It had been intentional, and it was the outcome she had wanted. Even so, she had never expected that secrecy to become a source of amusement.
“How should I put it… there’s a thrill in deceiving Mr. Adel because he doesn’t know my true self. So please, don’t tell him, all right?”
Christina stared at her as if she were looking at a mischievous imp. Siris simply looked dazed. Shane smiled as if she understood perfectly, then changed the subject.
“Siris, how’s your body feeling?”
“That’s right. Are you all right now?”
The conversation flowed naturally into the next topic as all eyes turned to Siris. Her lips parted ever so slightly.
“…Not bad.”
Her gaze flicked toward Adel for the briefest instant. Noticing it, Shane pressed further.
“Adel? Did something happen with Adel?”
At Shane’s question, both Christina and Vanya fell silent. Their stares seemed determined to wait for an answer, so Siris reluctantly spoke.
“…The curse… he helped… a little.”
It was exactly as Adel had suspected—related to the curse. Siris’s cheeks flushed faintly. Shane, instead of questioning her further, turned to Christina.
“Tina, are you feeling better?”
They had been friends for years, so using nicknames was only natural, and asking after Siris’s health was a frequent occurrence.
“Yeah. From yesterday onward, I’ve been feeling surprisingly well. I want to know too—what exactly happened with Adel?”
Christina couldn’t hold back any longer and asked Siris directly.
“……”
Siris didn’t answer. Instead, she looked at the sleeping Adel. The reason was their promise: only embrace when no one else was around. That was the same as saying she didn’t want to be found out. Remembering that, Siris kept her lips sealed.
“Well, if you don’t want to answer, you don’t have to. I’m not going to force it out of you.”
Christina raised the white flag. Then, gathering everyone’s attention once more, she asked another question.
“By the way, how did all of you become close with Adel?”
The five of them had ended up together with no objections, after all. Knowing that, Christina had grown curious about how each of them had grown friendly with him.
“He just looked like he’d be fun to be around,” Shane said. Those who knew her fondness for fights nodded in understanding.
“I became closer with him after we met in Krente outside of Class S activities.”
“In Krente? How did that happen?”
“Pure coincidence.”
Vanya’s elegant smile as she spoke left no room for doubt, so no one questioned her further.
“…It hurts.”
Under the weight of their collective gaze, Siris used her curse as an excuse to dodge the question.
“Tina, what about you?”
Vanya, feeling it unfair that only they had spoken, turned the question back on Christina.
“……”
Christina turned her head away, uncomfortable with all the eyes suddenly on her.
“Don’t look away. Come on, tell us…”
“Umm…”
Just as Vanya was about to press more insistently, Adel shifted in his sleep. As she hurriedly tried to put her earring back on, his body tilted—
Tap.
His leaning form came to rest against Shane’s shoulder.
“Hmm?”
Shane, who had been waiting for Christina’s answer, let out a startled sound. She desperately tried to suppress the smile tugging at the corners of her lips. She didn’t want her close friends to notice how pleased she was.
Siris puffed out her cheeks where no one could see. A tiny crack appeared in Vanya’s elegant smile. Christina’s face had gone completely stiff.
Why am I reacting like this?
There was no reason for her expression to harden in this situation. Yet strangely, she couldn’t manage a smile.
…This is weird.
Christina found her own heart utterly confusing.
“Hehe, good thing he didn’t wake up.”
Vanya’s words carried a double meaning—relief that her identity hadn’t been exposed, and delight that she could continue enjoying the current situation.
“Indeed. That’s fortunate.”
Vanya had returned to her usual graceful smile, yet she still cast a quick glance at Christina.
Why is she acting like that?
Christina’s smile had crumpled in the same way. Even Vanya couldn’t quite understand why.
Siris, her puffed cheeks now returned to normal, nodded blankly. Only one thought occupied her mind.
Adel’s body…
To the pure-hearted girl, the words carried no strange implications at all.
Shane looked at the other girls and felt neither superiority nor satisfaction. She couldn’t read their thoughts, and besides, she had other things on her mind.
If he had been awake, I might have already seduced him.
Confident in her figure, Shane felt a touch of regret over the missed opportunity.
“So how have you all been lately?” Christina asked with a smile, having calmed her emotions. Since the person they were talking about couldn’t hear them, they began sharing whatever they wanted.
“I’ve been…”
“My mana has been…”
“There’s this new café that opened recently…”
They talked about everything—from important matters to trivial ones—without distinction. Because they hadn’t seen much of one another lately, there was a lot to catch up on.
The girls maintained that same warm atmosphere all the way until they reached the North. Until then, Adel never once woke up.