Five days left until the Hollowing.
Cyril walked down the castle hallway, heading towards the Spell Making lesson. Myra walked by his side, hands behind her head.
"…Did you get a new ring?"
"Yes. A bracelet too." Cyril pulled up the sleeve on his right hand, briefly showing her a simple golden bracelet.
After carefully combing through that box of treasures, he settled on a ring and a bracelet with subdued designs. The rest was left in the box to gather dust in the corner.
They allowed him to properly regenerate mana once more. This solution won't work long-term, but for now it is enough.
"It looks good."
"Thank you."
Suddenly, as the two walked, another student near them stumbled over her own leg, about to fall down.
Without thinking too much about it, Cyril grabbed the hand of the student and lightly yanked on it, placing her back upright.
Tigris would occasionally get on the table during meals, and somehow he would often forget himself and fall from it as he ate. It happened enough times for him to develop a reflex of catching anything that falls nearby.
The student recovered, the panic in her eyes replaced by surprise.
She quickly glanced at the one who prevented her fall with a smile and froze. She obviously didn't expect the infamous Thorne to be the one to save her.
Then, gradually, a reddish blush colored her face. The student nodded, whispered 'thank you,' and ran away, catching up to her friends at the front.
There the group whispered, going further away while sending him sneaky glances that didn't seem too hostile.
"Nice reflexes, Cyril!" Myra gave a thumbs-up, not putting too much thought into the incident.
But Cyril stood in place, going over the situation in his mind. That look on their faces that lacked any fear was just what he wanted.
"A-ha! I knew it. Look, when you do something favorable to them, it gets contrasted with their fear, creating a much greater effect. Soon enough we'll turn infamy into fame~"
Subtly nodding to himself, Cyril continued walking.
On this day of the week, they had fewer lessons than usual, so a lot of students sat in the auditorium wearing bright faces.
The Spell Making proved to be somewhat insightful. Professor Rendel shared his understanding of the barrier spell, benefiting everyone. At least Cyril found it insightful.
Judging by Myra's confused stare, she didn't get anything, nor did she seem to care about that.
Thankfully today her state became much better. She even hummed a jolly tune, though it earned her a confused look from Richard.
And even during Combat Training, she performed better, though Cyril still found her strength somewhat frustrating.
He couldn't get rid of the feeling she was holding back.
But at least she was smiling as she did it now.
After their duel, Myra even had the energy to go pester Rose, who usually kept herself low-key on these lessons, dragging her into another duel.
Rose unfortunately lost.
"I help you, and that's how you repay me...?" she mumbled under her breath with helplessness.
When the bell rang, Myra strolled over to Cyril.
"Any plans today?" she wistfully asked.
"...Yes, you wanted to order those pills," Cyril reminded her with a slightly confused stare.
Myra froze, her smile turning awkward.
"Oh, right. Let's go today then!"
Cyril shook his head, feeling helpless.
"Meet me at the gates in an hour. There's something I need to do first."
Rose lay exhausted on the floor nearby, glancing at them with suspicion.
"What pills?" she mumbled to herself.
...
After making sure to Rose they weren't involved in anything shady, Cyril went into the castle. He asked around some people he met and eventually reached a certain auditorium.
Class IV should be here…
The situation inside appeared somewhat unusual.
In the seating area most of the students sat in an obviously deliberate manner, gathered only in one corner.
On the opposite end, in an empty area, sat the people he wanted to see. Albert leaned in his chair with an absolutely bored expression. Near him sat Monty, excitedly talking about the no doubt interesting facts about various minerals.
From their seating arrangements it was obvious that these two were avoided like a plague by the others. The rest of the students almost pretended these two didn't exist.
Is Monty the one causing this?
Perhaps he too would've wanted to avoid that barrage of trivia.
"Maybe partially. The bigger reason is Albert. The first years blame him for their embarrassment back during the special lesson."
…If anyone, they should blame Margaret or me.
"Yeah, but it's easier to blame Albert. You know how humans are."
Subtly shaking his head, Cyril walked to where Monty was.
"Did you know that obsidian's magic conductivity-"
"Monty," Cyril interrupted the civil discussion.
Monty and Albert flinched, looking at him in surprise.
"Where did you come from?!"
"…I walked."
Cyril calmly replied, staring at the two students who now appeared quite close. Earlier, Monty enthusiastically babbled on without stopping, while Albert listened, nodding occasionally, even if his eyes were numb during that.
They appeared almost like friends.
"Poor Albert. Monty is probably blackmailing him~"
"At least now that he has a friend, he might not join any terrorist groups."
"Monty," Cyril repeated, staring at the rock-loving student, "take me to see that unusual stone you found."
Monty slowly relaxed, frowning as he reached into his bag on the table.
"You too?"
"…Alright. I brought it with me today, since Albert wanted to see it so much."
The student took out a grayish-black rock from the bag, proudly showing it to Cyril as if it were some mind-blowing artifact.
"Here, want to hold it? It's smooth."
"No."
Cyril shook his head, somewhat disappointed. It obviously wasn't Ambrosia.
While he expected that much. A part of him hoped to get lucky.
"Damn it!"
"I'll be going then."
Without awaiting their response, Cyril turned around, walking back towards the door.
On the way he looked over the auditorium one more time. It wasn't an action he put too much thought into. For some reason he was curious about something.
Albert and Anna should be in the same class…
But as he went over the seating area, he found no familiar brown-haired student.
Not here right now?
Under Rhamn's increasingly suspicious red eyes, Cyril turned towards the door and left the auditorium. He did what he wanted.
…
After a short while, Cyril walked towards the academy gates, in his most complete form.
On his right shoulder was perched a beautiful red butterfly, excitedly twitching her antennae. On his left shoulder hung a white tiger with a blue snake coiled around his neck.
As he neared the gates, Myra was seen already standing there, leaning on the wall with an empty stare.
Noticing him, her face immediately brightened. She ran up to him while waving her room.
"I am ready. Let's go!"
"When did you come here?" Cyril asked with some confusion.
He arrived about ten minutes early, and she already seemed to have been waiting for some time.
Myra scratched her auburn hair, awkwardly looking to the side.
"Not too long. We just arrived at a similar time, haha."
Rhamn crossed her arms, staring at the girl with doubt and contempt.
"I bet she came here immediately after the lessons."
Suddenly, she widened her eyes, looking at Cyril in shock.
"Don't think it's endearing! It's not! It's creepy!"
I wasn't.