"Rachel, I got you a souvenir."
I dangled a keychain in front of the girl, a small smile crossing my face as I watched her reaction. The little sheep plushie twirled slowly in the air.
Rachel, who most would consider a blank slate when it comes to emotions, paused before her lips curled into a small smile.
Something similar to a laugh left her lips before she held it back. She cleared her throat before speaking.
"Thanks, Minori-ssi, it's very… cute." She took the keychain, holding it in her hand for a moment before pocketing it.
'Still using honorifics… such a tough cookie to crack.'
Taking my seat, I brought my notebook out and waited for the class to begin.
Strangely, it felt quieter than usual. It was probably the fact that many of the cadets were still reeling from the events of last term. It is hard to stay cheerful when you are forced to re-enter a place that almost guarantees danger.
'I do feel a little bad for contributing to it. But I can't be faulted for that… Though I probably could have avoided killing that cadet…'
I glanced at the two empty seats at the front of the class. One was pushed into lava, burnt beyond recognition and the other disappeared after the midterms. Both were covered up by Cube.
'Unfortunate… It brought a lot of attention to Cube's faulty security. I mean, four events with numerous cadet passings happening within the span of a single term. Only one went public and the rest were obscured from the media. It was the midterms that brought the situation the most light, yet Cube hasn't faced any 'real' repercussions!'
'It's maddening.'
I glanced to my side when I felt another person sit next to me. Black hair, dull face, sharp eyes. He looks out of breath… is the elevator still broken?
"Good morning Hajin-ssi." The blonde haired princess nodded and Hajin nodded back.
"Morning, you two…" His voice came out like a wisp of smoke.
I couldn't help but let out a chuckle. It felt real but I knew it wasn't.
"Did you not sleep well after coming back from Paris?"
He replied by laying his head down on the desk.
"Heh, you're lucky we'll be having such an easy lesson today."
Yes, we wouldn't learn too much from this lesson. Most of the cadet's probably didn't revise before coming back from the break.
Come to think of it, I never set aside time to revise… just study magic, hunt monsters, take commissions… yeah.
What was the last lesson even about? I feel like I haven't been able to relax for a long time.
It's not like I haven't 'rested', it just feels like I haven't been able to take a breather and 'relax'.
It feels like my head is overflowing with thoughts on the backburner. It's like my attention is spread out all the time, like I can never fully place my mind somewhere.
With all the Djinn stuff to be weary of- all the potential traps littered around- all the- all the pretending I have to do.
Pretend to like someone. Pretend to be someone's ally. Pretend to care.
Twirl—twirl—
I caught something white and fluffy gently turning in the corner of my vision.
My eyes shifted, to take a closer look.
Pale skin, golden locks, ice blue eyes. That's what Rachel looks like.
Yes, nothing out of the ordinary.
The girl shifted and stopped twirling the lamb, a soft shade of pink covering her cheeks.
"What." She narrowed her eyes and dipped her hand into her bag.
"Nothing." I smirked and turned away.
Class will begin soon. I'll quickly skim through last term's notes since I feel the instructor a couple classrooms away.
His conversation with the Wisdom class professor should be done by now.
I felt the threads around Rachel's fingers tighten in her bag as she continued to stare at me while I worked.
…
After my classes I returned to my room, as per usual I quickly skimmed through the Violet Banquet for easy requests to do during the weekends.
'Though, maybe I should stop doing that. Seeing as how the account 'Black Hound Uso' only has 2 missions, where, both of which were well paying and pretty high stakes. Maybe I should only shoot for similar missions.'
The idea wasn't bad, branding yourself is very important on the Violet Banquet, or as a mercenary in general. If people are going to hire you, they should know what they're dealing with.
It was honestly a miracle that my very first missions were from someone like Vatz.
Such good luck is actually quite off putting. Especially when my stat block says I have "Null" luck.
Even so, I'm not a wasteful person. When I see an opening I can't help but take advantage of it. Plus it's not like I'm some sort of celebrity or politician- I may be a Cube cadet, but my clients shouldn't know that.
So unless they know I'm 'me' and are out for me (for some reason), I really don't have anything to fear.
'Still, I'll always keep an eye on them.'
"Just to be safe." I mumbled to myself as I shut my watch off and sat down at my desk.
On the iron slab of a desktop was an assortment of paper, jars and implements. Many of which were tools sent to me by that mage from the midterms.
They wanted me to join them, so I asked for free things. They'll probably want a progress report in the middle of the semester so I spent some of the holiday preparing fake research.
But now?
'Now it's time to actually inspect what I wanted to.'
I fished into my breast pocket and pulled out a gold coin, ordinary runes chiseled one of its faces.
Just understanding a single rune was enough to pull me ahead of my peers by a sizable amount. So why the hell wouldn't I allocate some resources to researching it a little better.
"Maybe I'll finally be able to see the rest of the sentence." A sinister grin cracked my face.
–Knock, Knock
Out of habit I raised my hand to cover it and recompose myself.
"In a minute." I called out as I placed the coin back into my pocket.
I walked to the door and placed my hand on the door knob.
My vision darkened as the stars revealed themselves. With [Starlight Seer] now active I swung the door open and found a surprised Rachel.
In her arms was a box, simple in design yet clearly sturdy. Standing behind her was a man in a suit, most likely a bodyguard, or a caretaker.
"Oh, it's just her." I muttered to myself before blinking the stars away.
Perspective returned to my eyes as I stared straight at the wooden door of my room.
I flicked my wrist and cast a spell that I had set up on the mug that I left in my room.
Voice box, a remote spell that allows you to turn any object into a "voice box". It's essentially an instant speaker.
—Coming.
I heard my own voice resonate from down the hallway and waited a few beats before turning the door knob and opening the door casually.
I widened my eyes to feign surprise and then blinked it away into a welcoming smile.
There Rachel stood her golden locks, curled to perfection swaying gently in the wind. She was still in her cadet uniform, only now she had it unzipped, revealing a white dress shirt beneath it. She had her ever stoic expression plastered on her face.
Her blue eyes lit up as I smiled.
"Oh, good afternoon Rachel, you surprised me." I gave a casual greeting as usual while watching the bodyguard from my peripheral vision.
Grayed out hair, combed back with a matching gray goatee. He was well built for a senior citizen that's for sure.
'Mana quantity, low rank. Mana quality, Medium… he's definitely not a mage, or a tank. He doesn't seem to carry any weapons with him though. Is he a precision type?'
I ruled out the possibility of them being a normal individual the moment I saw them with Rachel.
It would be true idiocy to assign some nobody to care for the princess of your country.
"Good afternoon to you too, Minori-ssi." Rachels smooth voice knocked me out of my speculation.
I pushed my thoughts away from colonel Sanders and listened to Rachel's words with a smile.
"If you remember, I said I would compensate you for all the help you've been giving me. During lectures, and even when I ask you some unreasonable questions."
'Hmm? You've never… oh, I see.'
"Hah, no, it's really fine. I'm always happy to help."
Rachel's lips curled up.
"And so you've said. But with how you helped me out during that incident I believe it would no longer be right to ignore this."
Rachel gently held out the box she had been holding close to her chest.
"So here. Proper compensation for all the help you've given me." Her voice was formal and so was her posture.
'I'd never say no to free stuff~ Plus it'd be wrong to stand on ceremony.'
I took the box into my own hands and bowed my upper body.
"I'm honoured to receive this gift. Thank you."
I glanced at the bodyguard, who had previously been looking at me without a word.
He simply smiled and nodded.
'...I can't get a good read on him. Let's hope for the best.'
After I accepted the gift Rachel chuckled and then, as though something crossed her mind she opened her mouth to speak.
"Ahem– Mister Minori, as your hard work in supporting our princess has been acknowledged we must get going now. We wouldn't want the young lady to miss her meeting now would we?" He spoke in a posh English that radiated warmth, clearly practiced.
Though, I could sense some real emotion in his tone.
"O-Oh, that's right! Minori, I must get going, I uhh, bid you farewell. See you tomorrow!" Rachel flinched as urgency etched into her expression.
"No, it's fine. I'll see you tomorrow Rachel." I waved the two goodbye and turned away as the duo rushed into an elevator and disappeared.
Click–
"She can really be so silly sometimes." I muttered to myself fondly.
My legs automatically took me back to my desk. I took a sigh of relief before sinking into my comfortable chair.
I took in my hands and placed it onto my desk.
Sleek and filled with lustre, the box sat there. On it was an iron clasp and the symbol of the royal family.
Two layers of tightly wound threads tied itself snuggly around the prism.
'They sure put a lot of effort into a simple thank you gift. I guess I did save her from that fire but… didn't I cause that?'
If memory serves correctly, the bat Djinn didn't really use fire magic… it was me, and only me. Still, if she interprets it as that, and happens to like me more for it, I won't say no.
So, snipping the guilt that had formed in my stomach, I clicked the box open and removed the lid.
Inside was… a hat?
The hat was a classic tricorn hat, crafted from high-quality black leather, giving it a rugged and authentic look. It was smooth yet undeniably tough.
'Monster skin?' I couldn't help but marvel at its quality.
Then was the hat's most notable feature, pinned to it was a silver brooch holding down three black feathers. The feathers were thick, tracing my finger along the edge allowed me to realise how sharp the-
"Ow-!"
A trickle of blood dripped slowly from my finger.
-they were. Yes they were really sharp.
Even so, my eyes made their way to the brooch, chiseled into its ornate surface as a symbol, one that made my instincts flare.
Following that feeling, I fished out my coin and held it close, side by side with the brooch.
The brooch which had come to me right as I had renewed my investigation into the runes of my coin had an identical shape to the fourth rune on my coin.
Meaning if I could find the manufacturers of this brooch, I'd also find my way to someone who knows about runes!
"That is just way too perfect~"
In my reverie I didn't realise how sinister my expression was beginning to look.
"I really can't thank you enough for this, Rachel. You're becoming more and more valuable to me." I laughed.
I was unable to calm my racing heart as excitement piled up.
'Finally, a lead! I don't have to totally start from scratch!'