“How should I react to this?”
Looking at the bunch of idiots crowded around, I couldn’t help but lament if these were really the talents of Aios Academy responsible for the future of Frisia Kingdom.
In the meantime, a 4th-year male student, wearing a headband saying ‘Seria Deloa belongs to everyone’ and apparently representing the gathering, stepped forward.
“Daniel McLean! I don’t know how you’ve been playing with Seria, that filthy magical beast! But if you hurt her carelessly, our hammer will come crashing down on you!”
“Women are not your tools!”
“Don’t mess around, ugly!”
“Don’t act high and mighty as a commoner!”
They were just badmouthing me from behind, huh?
I didn’t even feel angry or heated; instead, I felt pity for those male students who got enchanted by a sly girl and ended up like this.
Eve and Tana in the back tried to step up to defend me, but I raised my hand to stop them.
I had no idea what kind of bad labels might stick to those girls if they stepped up here.
“So, what do you want to do?”
As I slowly clenched my fist and took a step forward, the guys immediately tucked their tails between their legs and hurriedly backed off.
The boy who had been the most outspoken earlier shouted in panic.
“No, violence is unacceptable! I hope you will compete with logic and intelligence like the students of the academy!”
“Aren’t you all being more emotional than anyone else right now?”
They were frantically rushing at me, mistaking that the girl they liked was taken by another guy, and talking about logic and intelligence?
“I only see filthy desires in my eyes, though?”
Yet, despite their complete loss of composure, they hesitated to respond when I pointed out their behavior. I needed to drive the nail home here.
“And let’s make this clear. I’m not dating Senior Seria. I don’t like her… Wait, who the hell spread this ridiculous rumor? I want to go and beat them up.”
“…You’re not dating?”
Are they finally listening to me?
“Yeah, I’ve neither confessed nor received a confession. We are nothing, so just back off. I’m really getting mad. Stop sticking curses and letters on my door.”
At this point, the male students began to acknowledge that they had misunderstood something, but someone among the group shouted.
“Then what about Rin coming to your room?”
“Yeah! I’ve seen other girls go to your room a few times!”
The ones saying that didn’t seem to be interested in Seria but in other girls instead.
Interestingly enough, I wasn’t the only one who reacted to that voice.
They started debating among themselves with statements like, “It’s heresy!” and “Do you like other girls instead of Seria!”
Taking this opportunity, I turned my gaze back to my regular guests in my room.
“See? I told you to stop coming to my room!”
“B-but Daniel, you hardly come out except to exercise.”
“Right! I asked other male students to bring you before, but they ignored me!”
“I come through the window.”
“……”
That was valid, so I had no retort. Except for exercising, I usually didn’t do much else, often sleeping or reading books recommended by Eve in my room.
And going in through the window was nothing to boast about.
“Ugh, I don’t know! I don’t know myself, so just scram!”
I still had a bit of strength training left to do, but I couldn’t seem to move in this atmosphere. In the end, I tried to push past the students to escape.
“Oh, here you are.”
Just in time, the 4th-year madonna with emerald hair, Seria Deloa, appeared.
She looked quite well put together, so maybe she was going out or something, and the boys right in front immediately drooled like dogs.
“Wow, you look amazing today.”
“Seriously pretty.”
“I want to marry you.”
Perverted fiends, all of them.
Anyway, thanks to Seria showing up, I tried to nonchalantly slip away from the group, but sadly, this wasn’t a bait; it was a spotlight.
Seria Deloa, stopping right in front of me, greeted me with a wink.
“Hey, Daniel. Long time no see, huh? I heard you suddenly went to Batian, and I was really disappointed.”
Oh?
I don’t think we had even properly talked when we had to self-study together during the school trip, and now she was suddenly coming on like this?
‘Something must be up?’
If that’s the case, then the one spreading this vile rumor would indeed be this woman.
‘How do I deal with this?’
But I couldn’t think of a good response. I hadn’t even done anything but greet her. I only had a suspicion that she was the one who spread the rumor, without any evidence.
In the first place, there was no way to have any evidence against the rumor spreader.
“Se, Seria! Are you dating that guy?”
The 4th-year male student who had been leading the charge in supporting Seria finally found the courage to ask, and Seria Deloa shook her head with a shy expression.
“No, not yet.”
Not yet?
The other male students glared at me with their eyes aflame, ready to tear me apart. My head started to throb again.
Whatever I said here was bound to be misinterpreted by those guys.
If I said I had no intention of dating, they would think I was disregarding Seria Deloa.
If I said I wanted to date, I would be seen as the scumbag who snatched Seria Deloa away.
‘The former feels better, I guess.’
The latter was something I didn’t like, plus it would leave room for them to gossip about me.
Anyway, the choice was simple. I was about to decline outright when Seria Deloa made the first move and smiled slightly.
“Right, not yet, huh? So there’s still a chance in the future?”
But amusingly, it seems like she was certain that I would definitely date her?
“No, I mean, let’s decide a turn by playing rock-paper-scissors? I want to try using Daniel-style fatal knockout on the girl side too.”
“I learned a technique in the Chokugen Faction. It’s a technique to keep you in bed for about a week. If I go first, there won’t be a turn for Eve, so you better go first.”
“Wow, really? Thank you!”
“Um… Can we take it a bit easy? A lot of people are watching.”
Behind me, Eve and Sen were having a horrid conversation, and Hayun was barely mediating. Tana shot me a look, warning that if we didn’t wrap up our conversation quickly, the kids would mess up.
“Sorry, but the senior…”
“Absolutely not.”
I tried to deny it, but her familiar yet long-lost woman’s voice finished my words for me.
All the students turned their heads toward the voice coming from the academy entrance, and their gazes were fixed.
Adriana was there, and there was a Beastman who was hard to find even with a dwarf, but frankly, that wasn’t important to the male students.
To them, the reality of seeing their number one choice of partner from their fantasies standing there was everything.
A blonde, curvaceous elf.
“E-Eris? What are you doing here?”
The beautiful Eris, one of the top elves, approached me, her hair sparkling like gems, and clasped her arms around mine.
“Daniel is already pledged to me.”
Seria Deloa’s mouth dropped open. The other female students didn’t look bad either; they were all beauties, but…
She was an elf.
A race that you would hardly ever see in daily life, extremely rare and almost like something from a fairy tale.
Wouldn’t it seem like they were shining with a halo in the students’ eyes?
“Ah…”
“Insane.”
“Damn…”
Even the members of her fan club completely ignored Seria, who had dressed up impressively. No matter how much she tried, she couldn’t compete with Eris, who had just returned from her trip.
Soon after, the eyes of male students filled with certainty.
There was no way a man named Daniel McLean would be interested in Seria Deloa; this was an undeniable truth forming inside them.
Because an uncomparable elf woman was confidently occupying my side.
“Sorry for the misunderstanding… but I’m not sorry.”
“Damn you, may you lose all your hair!”
“Die young, please don’t grow old and die.”
The male students exchanged sweet words as they left. To them, Seria Deloa was merely a solitary flower growing on a back mountain.
If they just gathered a little courage, if only they were a bit quicker, there would be a chance to pluck it.
What about Eris?
She would likely be seen as a flower from the Forest of the Demon Realm, wouldn’t she?
The gap in quality was so severe that Seria Deloa’s shocked, foolish expression quickly turned bright red with humiliation and anger.
In the end, she shot me a glare and turned to walk back to the dormitory.
“What should I do? There’s no elf edition in Daniel’s fatal knockout techniques?”
“More than that, I feel like hitting Daniel. That expression is really annoying.”
“Guys, let’s head back.”
“Daniel! Have a good time!”
While Eve and Sen changed targets, Hayun and Tana intentionally took the kids away to give Eris and me some time alone.
Adriana, the witch, along with the dwarves and beastmen behind Eris, also kept a distance to give us a moment of reunion.
“Long time…”
“Did you perhaps shake a bit?”
I was about to greet her again when Eris tightly gripped my wrist and asked.
“Of course not! I’m steadfast!”
I replied excitedly, just in case, and Eris quietly smiled and whispered back.
“You’re such a good boy.”
“……”
Yeah, maybe there’s quite an age gap, so she might call me that.
But it felt a bit strange.
However, imagining the kind of reaction I would get if I said that made me keep my mouth tightly shut.
