Chapter 16
Translator: True Detective
Chapter 16: The Curse of Romance Fantasy Exists (3)
"Eh...?"
At the voice heard suddenly, my and the Saintess's necks turned stiffly like disjointed dolls.
The club room door that had been well closed just a moment ago.
There stood Senior Luciela blankly, who was just about to enter.
The Saintess and I stared at her with vacant eyes.
Was the gaze of the two burdensome?
"S..Sorry...!"
Flustered, Senior Luciela tried to turn around and leave.
Intuitively sensing that the situation would snowball uncontrollably if she left like this, we moved faster than ever before.
Kwang-
"Hik!?"
The Holy Sword thrown by the Saintess embedded itself in the wall, preventing the door from closing.
While Senior Luciela was surprised by the Saintess's sudden attack, I grabbed her hand, pulled her into the club room, and closed the door.
It was perfect coordination.
We seated her on a chair and sat on both sides to prevent her from escaping just in case.
"Junior? Saintess?!"
"The situation you just saw is a misunderstanding."
"Yes, that's right."
"I... I don't know what you're talking about...!?"
"I know the situation just now was a situation worth misunderstanding. But it is entirely a misunderstanding."
"Yes, it's a misunderstanding."
Me looking at Senior Luciela more seriously than ever emphasizing it's a misunderstanding, and the Saintess repeating only the word misunderstanding like a parrot.
Perhaps feeling fear at this appearance, the senior's eyes trembled, so I held her hand meaning for her to calm down.
"Heut...!?"
"Calm down. We'll explain everything."
I explained to her what happened earlier.
Of course, since there was a matter related to the Saintess's privacy, the Saintess's consent was needed, but there was no problem since the person who would want to correct the misunderstanding most here was her.
"...So the Saintess is keeping distance from the friends she hung out with for now, but since making new friends is a bit burdensome, she said she only needs Junior for the time being?"
"That's right!"
"I understood. Hmm.. the situation is complicated."
"I'm glad the misunderstanding is resolved."
Fortunately, unlike her cute reaction, the senior was a rational person.
Since the misunderstanding was resolved, the Saintess and I could be relieved.
Senior Luciela is the closest senior in the Gourmet Exploration Club, but if such a senior misunderstood my relationship with the Saintess?
I might have really become depressed.
"Then Saintess, won't you hang out with me tomorrow?"
"With Senior?"
"Yes, we can go to gourmet restaurants for lunch and dinner, and when there is free time, I'll show you around the Student Council too."
"Sounds good!"
After the misunderstanding was resolved, Senior Luciela felt sorry for the Saintess and began to take care of this and that for her.
It seemed she liked the cute appearance like a Golden Retriever and the fact that they were in the same Knight Department.
There must be many good points to having a same-sex senior.
Although there was a bit of a happening at the first meeting, it was fortunate that it seemed a good connection was formed for the Saintess.
In the meantime, suddenly a question about Senior Luciela arose.
'What role did Senior play in the original work?'
The first meeting with Senior Luciela was quite intense.
The relaxed atmosphere unique to the strong and the charisma that settled the disturbance caused by the mage just by appearing.
Doesn't it feel like a queen of social circles?
If I tried to judge the senior only by the first impression, I might have thought she was a Villainess Noble Girl.
Since the senior and the Saintess are in the same Gourmet Exploration Club, they would have met someday even if it weren't for me, and isn't it easy for conflict to arise?
But now my thoughts changed a bit.
Something I felt while breaking the ice with the senior for about a month was that this senior... had a clumsy side.
It's true that she has an appearance where it wouldn't be strange if she were petting a cat while lying on a luxurious sofa, works well, has a good reputation around her, and has charisma.
But when actually having a conversation, the relaxed atmosphere of an older woman broke too easily.
It probably means she's treating me that comfortably, but even considering this point, Senior Luciela didn't suit a Villainess Noble Girl.
Above all, didn't she tell me from the first meeting?
That she belongs to the Student Council and is also paying attention to the freshmen this time.
It didn't seem likely that a person doing such work would become a Villainess Noble Girl.
Considering she has outstanding skills, is close to the protagonist group, and belongs to the Student Council...
When an incident broke out at the academy, wouldn't she have played the role of a firefighter moving busily to handle the situation?
"Achoo...!"
....She might have just been a gag character too.
Still, since she's cute, wouldn't she have been popular?
After the happening with Senior Luciela, the Saintess following me around alleviated somewhat.
She went around here and there in the academy with Senior Luciela.
It seemed she met diverse people from Gourmet Exploration Club members to Student Council members and Knight Department students, and also went shopping with female students.
Just how close the two became, before I knew it, they became a relationship calling each other Unni and Dongsaeng; recently, having all opportunities to eat with Senior Luciela stolen by the Saintess, I was just becoming a little sad.
Besides me, there were more victims created because of the Saintess.
None other than the Male Lead Candidates.
The Saintess, whose only close friends had been the Male Lead Candidates all this while, is now meeting various people....
They, who haven't yet recovered the distance created due to overprotection, had no choice but to be neglected more.
As a result, the Male Leads began to set out to find solutions individually and...
"Ethan... Help me...!"
Asel reached the point of asking me for help.
".....Why should I?"
Of course, since there was no reason to help, I refused.
The fact that the Saintess is avoiding the Male Lead Candidates right now was entirely their fault.
Monitoring and managing whom she contacts just because she is a precious person, not a possession; how many people wouldn't feel burdened by that?
This was karma they deserved to receive.
"Ethaaan...."
"It's a problem you committed, so solve it yourself."
Really, did anyone threaten them with a knife?
Ah, those guys couldn't even stop the assailant targeting the Saintess.
It became twice as deplorable.
However, apart from my feelings, this state being maintained wasn't entirely a good thing.
A Romance Fantasy without Male Lead Candidates?
In other words, it means the Female Lead must overcome all trials alone.
Where would it be easy to overcome alone the burden that originally would have been distributed and received with Male Lead Candidates?
She is a Saintess whose capability is still lacking a lot without the Holy Sword.
She still needed the Male Lead Candidates.
I thought about ways for them to recover the distance with the Saintess again.
Previously, the Male Lead Candidates had already apologized to the Saintess several times.
No matter how foolish the Male Lead Candidates become when it comes to the Saintess, they weren't lacking in tact.
It was for the same reason that Asel backed off without saying anything even when I ignored his request for help.
However, the unfortunate fact for them is that the Saintess, while hanging out with me or Senior Luciela, realized that her relationship with the Male Lead Candidates had been too close all this while.
The Saintess had spent all her time with them, including lectures, free periods, and meals, excluding sleeping time and personal time out of 24 hours a day.
Depending on each schedule, only the members changed, but the group hanging out together never changed.
Trying to reorganize that relationship, she must have a headache too.
To solve this problem, ultimately, it was important for the Saintess to make time for herself, excluding the Male Lead Candidates.
In that respect, Senior Luciela became a big help.
Because she took good care of the Saintess herself and greatly expanded her human relationships which were too narrow excluding the Male Lead Candidates.
However, since it was exam period soon and Senior Luciela was someone who lived quite busily originally, there was a need to devise a new measure soon.
After the lecture ended the next day, I called Asel.
"Ethan, what's up?"
"I have something to talk about regarding the Saintess."
"About Alicia?!"
Asel biting the bait immediately as soon as the Saintess was mentioned.
Since he couldn't hang out with her recently, he must be very anxious.
I asked him.
"You, are you okay staying in this kind of relationship with the Saintess continuously?"
"There's no way I am!"
At my words, Asel reacted intensely.
Although he did foolish things, his heart thinking of the Saintess was sincere.
If it's this level of reaction, it seemed sufficiently possible.
"You, do a job with me."
"....Job?"
It was a so-called Study Group.
Soon it will be the midterm exam period that freshmen face for the first time after enrollment.
Just going to the lecture room right now, one could see students who were enjoying the spring breeze focusing on studying one by one.
In that sense, forming a study group was a natural thing.
Getting motivated by looking at the person next to you, exchanging with each other if there are lacking points to fill that part, and getting close while studying together; where is the reason not to do it?
I found a method in this point.
Due to its nature, a study group could gather several personnel while having less burden when dealing with people.
Furthermore, were the Male Lead Candidates ordinary students anywhere?
Since they were talents considered the best in their respective fields, they were optimal members when forming a group.
If I create a study group under the pretext of studying and reduce the distance between the Male Lead Candidates and the Saintess just a little, their relationship which became awkward could also be recovered.
For this, starting with Asel, I moved to recruit Male Lead Candidates including Kyle.