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Middle District, Irisveil Mansion (Kyle POV)

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Hey there, everyone! It’s me, your friendly neighborhood Kyle. Come join me today as I sit here and eat my dinner in silence because Aria still refuses to talk with me!

The sound of Aria wolfing down her dinner was the only thing I heard as I sat across from her and stared intently while slowly taking bites of my food.

You see, today we met up with Alain and Lillian again, and this time we decided to go see a play together, but although I enjoyed myself, our day out also amplified the issue that’s been sitting in the back of my head for the past few days. Aria’s been avoiding me since last week. Her morning routine for the last couple days could basically be chalked up to waking up, coming downstairs, and taking her lunchbox before immediately leaving for work, and after she gets back from work, she just wolfs down her dinner without a word then makes an excuse before running upstairs to her room for the rest of the night. She’s barely spoken to me at all recently, and even earlier today she was stuck to Lillian like glue while avoiding any contact with me.

A loud sound echoed out as Aria slammed her empty bowl down on the table and I watched her down her entire glass of water in a few seconds before she immediately got up and announced her departure in a shaky voice.

“T-Thanks for the meal. I’ll be in my room if you need me.” (Aria)

She turned towards the living room and started to walk away, but I already made my decision to confront her about her recent behavior today, so I wasn’t going to let her just weasel her way out so easily. I put my utensils down and ran to the entrance to stop her as she let out a surprised yelp.

“Hold it! Where do you think you’re going? You’re not leaving this room until you sit down and tell me exactly why you’ve been avoiding me this entire week.” (Kyle)

I stared at Aria with a slight frown on my face as she made eye contact with me for a moment before looking away with a nervous smile on her face.

“W-What are you talking about, Ky? I haven’t been avoiding you at all.” (Aria)

“Really? Then why are you looking away from me? I’ll believe you when make eye contact and say it!” (Kyle)

A moment of awkward silence passed between us before Aria slowly craned her neck to face me again.

“I h-haven’t…” (Aria)

The glint in my eyes sharpened the moment she started speaking and I stared even more intently at her while she stuttered. Before long, she couldn’t handle it anymore and the blood rushed to her head while she covered her face with her hands.

A few minutes later, Aria was sitting on her chair in front of me with a dazed look on her face. I could hear her muttering to herself and there was a blank look in her eyes as she stared at the floor in front of her. I leaned back against the table with a stern expression before crossing my arms and directly addressing the main issue.

“So why have you been avoiding me this week, Aria?” (Kyle)

“I don’t want to say it, it’s embarrassing!” (Aria)

“No one’s here except me and you, so what’s there to be embarrassed about?” (Kyle)

“You being here is the reason it’s embarrassing in the first place!” (Aria)

“Eh? Well, just tell me anyway. Come on, I won’t hold it against you.” (Kyle)

“Alright, fine. If you really want to know why, the truth is, I can’t look straight at you anymore!” (Aria)

Aria stood up with a red face as she finally told me why she had been avoiding me this past week, and I slouched over with a bitter smile while a few tears leaked out of my eyes before I grabbed my face for a moment.

“... Look, I know I’m not the best looking guy around, but just because I’m ugly, doesn’t mean you have to be so blunt about it… I’m sorry Aria, but my face is just something I can’t fix. I mean, I guess I could start wearing a mask again… Actually, maybe just a paper bag will do. I think I’ve overstayed my welcome with masks already.” (Kyle)

“That’s not what I meant, you idiot! What I meant was that… that every time I look at you now I start to get flustered.” (Aria)

“Eh? Why?” (Kyle)

“What do you mean why? It’s because of you in the first place!” (Aria)

“Wait, is it because I gave you that hair clip?” (Kyle)

“Of course it’s because you gave me this hair clip!” (Aria)

Aha! I knew it! Looks like another victory for Great Detective Kyle! You see, Aria’s been acting strange ever since we went out with Alain and Lillian last week, and after logically eliminating all other possible causes from that day, my hypothesis for the probable cause was down to either the hair clip or Alain and Lillian themselves since those two factors were the only things she’s had extended contact with every day since our outing last week, but seeing she acted, er, mostly normal around Alain and Lillian today, it had to have been the hair clip. Now the question is, why was it the hair clip? I was pretty confident in my choice of gift and I thought I had every angle covered, but I guess I missed one or two.

“So I was right, it was the hair clip. Well, I thought it was a pretty nice gift, but I guess it’s caused more problems than it’s solved. After all, last week you were just sitting there staring at it for a couple of hours after I gave it to you, and that’s definitely not normal.” (Kyle)

“W-Wait, you were watching!?” (Aria)

“Ah. Wait, it’s quite unlikely, but there’s another possibility, and if what I’m thinking is true, then this might be a more serious issue than I originally thought. After all, it would explain all your strange behavior recently. I’m sorry Aria, but I think I might have given you a cursed item. Don’t worry though, if there’s anything I’ve learned about cursed items, it’s how to get rid of them. We could try and get it purified at the church, but I think just destroying it completely would be the safer option. We should have a sledgehammer out back somewhere, so we’ll be fine. Oh, and don’t worry about what I saw you doing last week either, it’s ok, I won’t tell anyone.” (Kyle)

I turned to Aria with a smile, but all I saw was her slowly walking over with a dazed look on her face after taking a knife from the kitchen. My smile immediately shifted to a shaky nervous one and cold sweat ran down my back as a scary aura began to protrude from Aria.

“Eh? W-Wait, what are you doing? P-Put down the knife! Did the curse already take over your body!? Wake up, Aria! At least put up a fight!” (Kyle)

I slowly backed up against the wall as she inched closer with the knife in her hand before I saw the life in her eyes return and she stared at me for a moment before she got flustered again and slumped back into her chair.

“A-Aria? Are you ok? Did you regain control of your body from the curse yet?” (Kyle)

I observed her cautiously and took a step closer before she suddenly stood up with an angry look on her face again.

“I’m not cursed, you idiot!” (Aria)

“I don’t know… that’s exactly what a cursed item taking over Aria’s body would say…” (Kyle)

I stared at her with a suspicious look on my face, but Aria just whacked me in the head again as she began to yell at me with a red face.

“Are you really going to make me spell it out for you!? Just how dense are you!?” (Aria)

“Aria! You’re ok! Whew. I was getting scared there for a second that I’d have to bring you to the church to get purified after all. Anyway, I know I might be a bit dull at times, but you’re not giving me enough information to work with. Look, you’ve been acting strange recently and I’m trying to help you, so just tell me what’s wrong.” (Kyle)

I looked at Aria with a concerned face as she stared at me for a second before letting out a sigh as she sat back down and covered her face with her hands again before letting out a muffled voice.

“L-Look, last week we went out together for the whole day, and even though Alain and Lillian joined us as extras for lunch and everything afterward, we still went out for lunch together, then went sightseeing around the city together, and after that we went shopping together, so isn’t that just a d-d-date?” (Aria)

“... Eh?...” (Kyle)

W-Wait... she’s right! We were alone when we went to the smithy, and it’s not like Alain and Lillian did anything to butt in between us, so if you took them out of the picture, i-it really was just a date! And even if you do count them, you could still just say it was a double date!

It was my turn to be embarrassed this time as a light blush began to form on my face while my eyes widened a bit from the realization. My hand rose up immediately to cover the lower half of my face and I looked away from Aria before replying in a shaky voice.

“W-Well, it seems that I missed a few perspectives when it came to the events last weekend. After thinking it over again, I can see why you would interpret it like that, e-especially after I gave you the hair clip as a present, but honestly, I really just gave it to you b-because I thought it would look nice on you. T-There wasn’t any hidden romantic meaning behind it.” (Kyle)

An awkward silence filled the room as we both avoided eye contact and I stood there while thoughts raced rapidly through my mind. A few moments passed as I felt my heart rate increasing before I finally suppressed my embarrassment and thought about what to say next.

Alright, Ky. I know you’re a bit flustered right now, but calm down and think about the situation you’re in. Aria’s self-esteem is on the line. Come on, even if you’re an arch-wizard of unimaginable power, you’ve still been hanging around Eliza for a millennium, at least a bit of her expertise has gotta have rubbed off on you, right? You’ve read tons of romance manga too, so what’s the right thing to do in this situation?... W-Well, usually in shoujo manga, there are only two choices for this kind of situation. I either have to deny it and hide my true feelings or just straight up confess! So, let’s just slowly go over the options. My first option is denying it, but even if she’s been a lot more open and happy since our days in Delhurst, Aria’s still on shaky ground, and saying that I don’t think of her as a woman at all is the conversational equivalent of kicking her off a cliff… so, I guess that leaves option number two, confessing…

But what do I confess to?... I’m an arch-wizard for god’s sake! What do I even say in this situation?...

Alright. Despite how low it is, I guess you’ll just have to work the old charisma stat again and go for it, Ky. Just pretend you’re a shoujo protagonist’s love interest and say some cheesy lines to make her feel better or something. At the very least it’ll probably save her self esteem, and hey, it might even give her some more confidence in herself. If it ends up screwing you over later on, you’ll just have to burn that bridge when you get there, the number one priority right now is Aria’s mental state.

I took a deep breath as I closed my eyes and calmed down my furiously beating heart before slowly walking over to Aria. Trying my best to ignore the raging blush on my face, I pulled my chair over and sat down in front of her. She peeked out from the gaps between her fingers to see what was happening and a moment passed as we made some light eye contact before I started to talk to her in a gentle voice.

“Look, you can look back at what we did together last week however you want to see it, whether you call it a date or just having fun with our friends, I won’t mind it at all, but please just act normally around me again.” (Kyle)

I slowly moved Aria’s hands away to reveal her furiously blushing face before grasping one of her hands with both of mine while staring straight into her eyes.

“I’ll be honest, ok? It might not seem obvious all the time, but you’re an important person to me, Aria. Otherwise, why would I have stayed by your side for so long? I care about you, and it scares me when I see someone so important to me just suddenly start avoiding me. I’ve already driven away enough of the people I care about, and I don’t want to lose another.” (Kyle)

I saw my reflection in Aria’s crimson red eyes, and it seemed like her face was beet red as she let out a surprised jolt.

“It’s ok if you’re not ready to just start talking to me again like normal, but as long as you’re trying, that’s good enough for me. I told you before, right? I’m your partner. There might not be a single other person in this entire world that cares about you, but just know that I always will, because that what being your partner means. So take as much time as you want, I’ll be waiting for you. I know I haven’t been leading by example very much when I told you to start being more open with your feelings, so let me start by telling you how I really feel. Aria, I lo- urk!” (Kyle)

Whew! That was a close one. Glad I stopped myself just in time there. Looks like I got a little too into character there and almost said something I couldn’t take back so easily.

I finally looked away from Aria after my awkward pause and cleared my throat before continuing in a quiet voice.

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

“Ahem. Aria, I would love it if you would just start acting normally around me again.” (Kyle)

There was complete silence as I stood back up and awkwardly turned around to stare at the wall before the blush on my face got a little redder. A part of me wanted to just run away while another part of me wanted to stay and see if my act worked, but eventually, my curiosity got the better of me and I slowly turned back to see Aria sitting there with tears flowing down her cheeks.

W-Wait, what did I do wrong!? She wasn’t supposed to cry! I did the calculations and everything! W-What do I do now? I didn’t account for this even being a possible result!

I tried my best to hide my nervous confusion as she pulled her hand out from my grasp and wiped the tears from her eyes before getting out of her seat and hugging me.

Eh?

I froze up. Aria was lightly her rubbing her face into my shoulder and I could faintly hear her breathing before her voice rang out with a tender tone.

“...Hey, Ky. Looks like I’ve forgotten about a lot since we moved to the capital, huh?... Maybe it’s been the peace that’s dulled my feelings, or maybe I’ve genuinely just changed, but you know, I think I’ve finally remembered what it was that drove me to wake up every day during our days back in Delhurst. I promise I won’t avoid you anymore... And I’m sorry that I took so long to finally tell you this, Ky. You’re an important person to me too... You’re irreplaceable to me... because you’re my one and only partner.” (Aria)

My breathing turned shallow as mixed emotions filled my heart. It was a tender warmth I hadn't felt in a long time, yet at the same time, there was a faint tinge of a vaguely familiar sadness. I closed my eyes and the melancholy started to overwhelm my thoughts as I stood there.

When I opened my eyes again, in front of me was a hand. It was a cold, blood-stained hand that had taken countless lives. It was a hand eternally chained down by the weight of its sins. It was my hand.

Yet, that hand moved. It slowly wrapped around Aria's back, and when it pulled her closer, I finally realized why.

It was just for a moment... but that hand finally felt warm again. It felt human again.

Then my other hand moved too. It gently held Aria's head before pulling it a little closer as the melancholy faded. After a moment, a soft blush made its way onto my face and I stood there in complete silence with a flustered smile as Aria hugged me.

... Partner, huh?...

It wasn't until a few minutes later that she finally let go, and we sat down to have our first actual, albeit slightly awkward, conversation in a week.

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Royal Academy, Room 207 (Kyle POV)

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I flipped to the next page in my book as I leaned a little farther back in my chair. The sunlight from outside shone in and illuminated the page in front of me as the subtle background noise was interrupted by the sound of a familiar voice.

“Hey, Ky. Come on. It’s lunchtime already.” (Zane)

“Eh? Sure, I’ll be right over.” (Kyle)

I lowered the book in front of my face to see Zane beckoning me to come over and eat lunch with him, Halbert, and Regnis, but for some reason, there were a few new additions to our little group today. Sitting next to the trio were Reina and Sophie. A quick glance around the room showed no signs of Mari being back from her meeting yet, so I grabbed my lunch box from my bag and walked over to join them all as I brought my chair over to the table with me.

Regnis and Zane were already eating some homemade sandwiches while Reina and Sophie each had their own lunch boxes. Halbert, however, was sitting there with his sandwich still untouched as he continued to focus on the book he had been reading since this morning whenever he was free. After a moment, it seemed Halbert finally noticed me and lowered the book in his hand a little to smile at me as I stared at them all with a puzzled look on my face before taking a seat at the table.

“So, what’s with the gathering today?” (Kyle)

“Oh, well, we had some stuff to talk about with Reina, so I thought it would be nice to talk over lunch.” (Halbert)

“Eh? Really?” (Kyle)

I turned to Reina with a curious look on my face as she replied in a timid voice.

“Y-Yeah.” (Reina)

“So what about you then, Sophie?” (Kyle)

“Well, it’s no fun eating alone, so I joined everyone else.” (Sophie)

Sophie took a bite out of her lunch before turning away with a slightly embarrassed look on her face. I chuckled a bit at her small plight before turning to Halbert who had bandages on his hands and face for some reason and I opened up my lunchbox before asking Halbert about his wounds.

“By the way, Halbert, I’ve been meaning to ask you this since this morning, what’s with the bandages, did you get hurt?” (Kyle)

“Don’t worry, Ky. He just got a little scratched up while training a few days ago.” (Zane)

“Training? How did he get so roughed up from training? Did he go to the wild and fight monsters all day or something?” (Kyle)

“Haha… Well, about that, I actually got beat up pretty bad by my swordsmanship instructor when we were sparring.” (Halbert)

“Swordsmanship? Wait, if you’re interested in swordsmanship, then why are you in my ancient alchemy class?… Shouldn’t you be in the weapons department instead?” (Kyle)

“Uh, well, actually, it’s my dream to become a knight, and somehow I managed to be taken in as a student by a really strong swordswoman a few months ago, so I decided that instead of trying to learn swordsmanship from two masters at once, it would probably be better to try and focus on learning swordsmanship from one while going to school to learn something else that might help in a fight, like ancient alchemy.” (Halbert)

Halbert scratched his head with a sheepish smile on his face as he let out a light chuckle and I took another bite of my lunch as I stared at him a bit.

“Hoh? Well, I can see the reasoning behind your actions, but since you caught the eye of a strong master, that means they saw enough potential in you to pass on their sword techniques. Which means you probably at least have some talent for the sword along with decent mana control, right? So even if you didn’t want to learn swordsmanship from two masters at once, wouldn’t enrolling in the magic department and using your talent at controlling mana to learn magic from one of the professors in that department be better then? Trust me, Mari had a huge campaign this semester to hire the best of the best, and her reputation as the Grand Mage of Wind attracted a lot of powerful mages in particular, so most of the professors in the magic department are at the top of their field. Look, I’ll be honest with you, I’m not exactly the best teacher, and if your main focus is swordsmanship, then magic as a secondary focus is probably a better option than ancient alchemy since it’s more versatile and you don’t need to prepare anything beforehand to use it in a fight.” (Kyle)

The glint in my eyes grew a little sharper as I explained my revised reasoning to him, and I saw him get a little nervous as he panicked a little before giving his reply.

“Eh? W-Well, I, uh, thought about enrolling in the magic department too, but I decided that ancient alchemy would be better since I don’t need to chant to use it like I do for magic. Of course, I know that if you train enough, you can cast spells chantlessly, but I heard that takes a lot of time and practice, and I don’t exactly have that much time to put into learning magic since my main focus is swordsmanship. So even if I have to prepare materials and draw a magic circle beforehand, something like ancient alchemy that doesn’t require a chant from the start would be better and easier to use in a fight, I think... After all, I only have a few years left before I have to... pass the knight cadet exam.” (Halbert)

“Eh… Well, I guess both magic and ancient alchemy have their own advantages and disadvantages, so I can’t say which is better for sure, but you are right about the chanting part.” (Kyle)

I continued to eat my lunch as I compared the usefulness of alchemy and magic, but while I didn’t care all that much about which was objectively better, it seemed that my lackluster support for my own field of expertise ticked Sophie off. She put down her food with a loud slam as I saw passionate flames light up in her eyes.

“Well, since Professor Kyle doesn’t have any pride as an alchemist, I guess it’s up to me to tell you the truth, Halbert.” (Sophie)

Sophie immediately stood up with gusto as she raised her hand up and pointed to the sky.

“Alchemy is definitely, without a doubt, completely superior to magic! What kind of idiot doesn’t prepare for a fight beforehand anyway? And if you’re always prepared, then in every situation, alchemy is ten times better than magic!” (Sophie)

The tension in the air from Sophie’s passion was almost tangible as she finished lecturing Halbert before turning and pointing to me.

“And who said that magic was more versatile than alchemy? Alchemy can be just as versatile than magic, if not more! Magic is just letting mana fill a predetermined natural form by having an image in your head, it’s all up to nature after that, but alchemy goes beyond nature! Alchemy is taking one of those predetermined natural forms and changing it to be stronger, or faster, or even function entirely differently! For every spell circle, there’s a countless amount of alchemical variations that can all do the same or different things! I know that you might think that having the choice of what spell to cast when using magic is what makes it more versatile in a fight, but I believe that having to make the choice of what the optimal spell is to use in that situation, then picturing the spell before chanting for a while if it’s a spell you didn’t practice, is much less versatile than just having one reliable alchemy stone that you know how to use instantly and chantlessly, without having to think about it in most situations! Hmph.” (Sophie)

After she finished her outburst towards me, Sophie crossed her arms and finally sat down. We all stared at her with awkward speechless smiles as she went right back to eating her lunch like nothing ever happened.

“T-Thanks for the insight, Sophie. A-Anyway, moving on. Don’t worry too much about the knight cadet exam, Halbert. I have a few… connections, so if you don’t make it, I can probably still get you in. So just relax and eat your lunch. I like reading too, but I think eating is more important, isn’t it?” (Kyle)

Halbert gave me a dry laugh in response and closed the book in his hands before starting to eat his sandwich.

“By the way, what book are you reading? I don’t really mind what you do in my class, but I’ve seen you reading it since this morning, so now I’m kind of curious what book had you so hooked.” (Kyle)

“Oh, this? It’s actually a book about an old myth.” (Halbert)

“Myths? I didn’t know you were into that kind of stuff.” (Kyle)

“Y-Yeah. I got into them recently...” (Halbert)

Myths, huh? Well, I always kind of found them a little boring to read, but despite how formulaic they are, I can definitely see why a young boy would find myths interesting. I mean it’s usually just a generic story of a hero rising up and overcoming all odds to defeat the demon lord or something along those lines, but aren’t heroes and demon lords what a young boy’s romance is all about? Anyway, I might not know much about the newer ones, but if it’s a myth about someone from around my time, I should be able to tell him a few details, right? After all, it’s a teacher’s job to ignite his student’s curiosity, isn’t it?

“Well, I’m glad you’ve found a hobby. Which myth is it anyway? I’ve read a couple of myths too, so maybe this is one I’ve read before.” (Kyle)

“W-Wait, Halbert. I-Is this the one about…” (Reina)

“...Yeah.” (Halbert)

Halbert had a bitter smile on his face as he closed the book and stared at the cover for a second while I took another bite of my lunch.

“The Tyrant of Eternal Calamity.” (Halbert)

As soon as that name left Halbert’s mouth, I immediately froze up with a nervous smile on my face while resisting the urge to violently cough my lunch out.

Ah. I see. So this is what it feels like to be an adult finally looking back on his edgelord teenage years. I never thought I’d ever hear that name again, especially from one of my students, yet here I am. Life really finds a way, huh? But with that being said. Ahem. Argh! Halbert! Please don’t say that name again! Otherwise, I’m going to have to go outside and find a hole to crawl into!

A moment passed as I sat there in complete silence while my face twitched a bit before Sophie’s voice broke me out of my blank daze.

“The Tyrant of Eternal Calamity? Who’s that?” (Sophie)

“Eh? Well, it seems like it’s a bit of a forgotten legend around here because I looked through the entire library when I went there yesterday, and this was the only book I could find about The Tyrant of Eternal Calamity, so I’d be surprised if you knew. The only reason I even knew about it was because a… friend told me this myth a while ago. Do you know about it, Professor Kyle?” (Halbert)

Know about it? Well, I guess you could say that considering the fact that I am it!

I screamed internally to myself as I let out a light cough while cold sweat ran down my back before barely gaining enough control of myself to reply to Halbert’s question in a nervous voice.

“N-No, not at all. Never even heard of it.” (Kyle)

“Well, then if you or Sophie would like to know about it, I guess it wouldn’t hurt to tell you.” (Halbert)

No! Halbert! Please! I’m begging you! At this rate, I’ll never be able to show myself in this classroom again!

“I’m alright. Doesn’t really sound that interesting, and The Tyrant of Eternal Calamity is kind of a lame name too.” (Sophie)

Well, thank you for helping me avoid that bullet Sophie, but you seem to have shot me with another one after pushing me out of the way… I mean, even if I didn’t make it up myself, I still think it’s kind of cool…

“Well, I don’t think the name is that lame. It has that kind of mysterious and dark feel to it, doesn’t it?” (Regnis)

I knew you were always my favorite of the trio, Regnis! Looks like only a fellow edgelord can understand the complicated internal mechanisms of my taste in names. Actually, you know what, I think I’ll even buy you a souvenir the next time I’m out shopping.

“Eh, I mean it’s alright, but it’s a little too over the top, isn’t it? I mean if I were a villain, I’d probably name myself something that rolled off the tongue easier.” (Zane)

“Well, actually, according to the myth, The Tyrant of Eternal Calamity’s name was based on a declaration to the gods that he made. He didn’t actually name himself that.” (Halbert)

“E-Eh? A-A declaration to the gods? W-What was the declaration?” (Reina)

“Umm, it was about stealing back his happiness or something like that. Wait, give me a second. I’ll pull up the page.” (Halbert)

Wait, my declaration to the gods? Which one was it? There were several of them. My memory’s a little shot after so long, but I mean if it’s just a random line I said, there were plenty of cringy one-liners. All I remember about my name was that all the gods started calling me that one day. I mean, back then I did refer to myself as ‘a tyrant’ in the third person because I thought it was cool and intimidating, so I know where they got the ‘The Tyrant’ part of the name from, but I didn’t even know the ‘Eternal Calamity’ part was based on something I said.

Halbert opened the book and began to flip through the pages for a moment before stopping on one.

“Ah, here it is. The declaration went like this, ‘This world has taken away the happiness that this tyrant held dear. It has torn asunder everything in this tyrant grasp but the throne of death upon which this tyrant sits. And so, this tyrant will bring eternal calamity to this world until this tyrant seizes back what he has lost.’” (Halbert)

Ah. Now I remember. It was right after I killed the demon lord, wasn’t it? Kazuki was there too if I recall. Boy, I was real mad that time, wasn’t I? Well, mad enough that I randomly screamed at the sky like a lunatic while holding up the demon lord’s decapitated head... But I guess on the bright side I wasn’t completely crazy if the gods really did hear me... unless it was Kazuki who told them... haha… Wait! I’m not supposed to be calm about this! Halbert, stop! You’re going to give me a heart attack! The Tyrant of Eternal Calamity himself is about to be finished off unknowingly by his own student!

“Eh? Professor Kyle, are you ok?” (Halbert)

Halbert put the book down and turned towards my direction with a concerned face as I was hiding behind the table by sitting on the floor and hugging my knees while muttering quietly to myself with a blank look in my eyes.

“E-Eh?” (Reina)

“Oi, Ky what’s wrong?” (Zane)

“Do you need to go see the school nurse?” (Sophie)

“I can take you there right now if you need me to.” (Regnis)

Everyone turned to stare at me and after a moment of awkward silence I got up and faced them with a dazed smile.

“It’s alright, everyone. Professor Kyle is fine. He just remembered he had something important to do. In fact, he’ll be right back. haha...” (Kyle)

Reina started to panic while everyone else stared at me in confusion as I gave a dry mechanical laugh to them before marching stiffly out the door.

There should be a shovel or two in the warehouse, right?

About two hours after that, Mari came back from her meeting and found me outside crying in a hole with a shovel on the ground nearby, but that’s a story for another time.