Klaus was someone who didn't want to participate in the academy eliminations, only wanting to join the battle because he thought it was troublesome, so he would give his rank to someone—but it had to be to someone who proved to be stronger. He wouldn't give it to someone like Danyana.
'The only thing he wants is to participate in the battle itself, and since the top five can choose up to four companions a week before the battles start, he can simply wait.'
[Smart boy]
He really was someone intelligent, able to give Kai trouble when they fought in the story. Kai himself only faced him on the day of the academy battle because he still wasn't at the top 5 level.
'But now it's different, Kai might be able to defeat him with the level he's reached'
"I knew you could do it, subordinate. How about we go out today to celebrate?"
"Fine by me"
"If you're going with her, I'm going too"
Valença arrived soon after, and both the boys and girls surrounded him with smiles on their faces wanting to join in. Seeing Serenya's sulky face, Enrico patted her on the shoulder, whispering in her ear.
"We'll go out later"
Serenya blushed and happily started leading the way like a winner. A squeeze on his shoulder made him turn—it was Valença, who wore a smile that seemed gentle.
"I'll also go out with you later"
"...of course I accept"
[She seems to have an absurdly sharp ear just for you]
Seeing her leave with the same smile as Serenya's and walking at his side with a challenging look, both of them started having lightning flashing from their eyes even without having that magic.
"Well let's follow—"
But hands grabbed his shoulder, it was Riana, Aoi, and Yumeha asking the same as the two. With that, he now had five dates, and when he was touched on the shoulder again he started sweating, wondering who it was this time, but relaxed upon hearing Elaris's voice.
"Enrico, I can help a little with your illness"
"What?"
The fire cancer was a problem of his, and he even had to make up that he had met the god Apollo who helped out of pity in the future. So even if he didn't know what this help was, he would accept it. Time passed, and after finishing his time with his friends, he decided to speak with Serenya to convince her to let him be Elaris's subordinate.
"Never, you are my subordinate"
"Wrong, I am your right hand"
"Even so"
"And I'll also be yours in body and soul in the future. Besides, Elaris won't be a leader who can surpass you because you will always be my one and true leader"
With those words Serenya's head seemed to explode, and she easily accepted because that confirmed that at least he had accepted to be hers.
"I-If you insist so much, I'll accept, but only because you insisted"
"That's why you're the best leader in the world"
"That makes me blush… you can go on"
After that conversation Enrico met with Elaris in his room, both sitting on his bed while Yumeha and Rina stood guard outside, sometimes peeking in since besides not trusting Elaris, Enrico still had to explain what happened with his third circle.
"So how can you help me with my fire cancer?"
Both Rina and Yumeha already knew since he had told them. As he had said, he preferred to share some things early with those who might end up living in his room, as Yumeha was starting to do, and soon it was quite possible Rina would discover and do the same to turn him into her Ketsumei.
"It's thanks to my ice magic. As you know, we Elves have our essence very close to nature, able to a certain extent to absorb mana from nature and from spirits themselves."
Besides their large mana, Elves normally managed to recover it through nature, being able to absorb only what their circle allowed.
"What happens is that with the help of a spirit I recently obtained, I can use my magic to cool your fire cancer, and thanks to my affinity with ice mana I can lessen your pain a bit and make you endure longer until we find a cure."
"...you must have worked very hard to reach that conclusion… thank you very much"
"N-No need to thank me, I-I'm just helping for my own reasons"
"I know, but still, thank you"
Elaris looked away nervously at his sincere smile. She never thought he would thank her so much, especially since she had once harmed Serenya and even gone against him.
"Even so, I still haven't forgotten what you did to Serenya, so you can apologize once again to her"
"Y-Yes, I'll do that. Please turn around so I can start the first treatment"
Turning around, Enrico thanked her again. She really seemed to have worked hard, and even if it was out of wanting to use him to reclaim the Elves' kingdom, that didn't mean he couldn't thank sincere effort.
"I also have to thank you"
"For what?"
"For bringing those Elves"
"It wasn't exactly me who rescued them, from what I heard it was a vampire"
"Even so, you must have helped in some way, right? After all, I don't think Angela would have gone there on orders from Lady Virelle"
Elaris had a serious look at Enrico, she definitely wanted to know the truth, but he preferred to leave only those who already knew he had gone in disguise to know.
"Yes, we can say I'm an ally of that vampire who brought them"
"Then thank you very much for saving my kin"
"As you said, I'll say the same, no need to thank me, I did it for my own reasons"
She nodded and focused, closing her eyes. Now that their alliance was formed, Enrico hoped they would go far and that it wouldn't be like in the original story where the Elves were exterminated over time, even those who had sided with the evil gods.
"So how did you convince Serenya to let you be my subordinate?"
"Well, it wasn't that hard since she's a good leader, so…"
The two talked naturally while Elaris was able to concentrate easily thanks to her strong connection with this spirit that Enrico had never seen in the story, and that was good because the characters were getting much stronger and he couldn't afford to fall behind.