Chapter 35 - Entrance Ceremony (4)

The entrance ceremony of Luminus Academy took place in the form of a banquet. It was different from typical entrance ceremonies where beautiful flowers flew through the air, grand music played, and families of new students came to congratulate them. Rather, it was more quiet and focused solely on current and new students.

So on the day of the entrance ceremony, there were hardly any outsiders on the academy grounds. Occasionally there were cases of overzealous parents or family members waiting until the end of the ceremony, but even those were very few. Compared to the day of the entrance exam when people were swarming even at dawn, it was a drop in the bucket.

It's nice that it's quiet.

Grace exhaled deeply as she walked through the academy grounds in the early dawn. The streets were dark as if life had not yet stirred. Although spring had come, it was still cold when the sun wasn't up. Her breath frosted in the air and her bones ached from the cold.

For an ordinary noble lady, the dawn scenery would be unpleasant enough to show clear displeasure. It was eerily quiet as if something might appear, and the occasional sounds of birds and insects created an eerie atmosphere. But there was no change in Grace's expression. She habitually tapped the sword at her waist and took out a memo from her chest.

[Sewers under Dupeide Blacksmith. Terrorism timed with entrance ceremony.]

A memo written as soon as she realized she had regressed.

Grace stuffed the paper into her pocket and changed her hair color to blue using an artifact. She subtly distorted her face and gave the illusion that the aura emanating from her body felt like that of a mage. After briefly checking her reflection in a mirror, she moved her steps towards the entrance leading down to the sewers.

Too much has already changed from the previous iteration.

Grace thought as she tapped her scabbard.

There were many discrepancies between the "past" she had experienced and the present.

Acel, known as a mage-hater and mage hunter, becoming a mage; the berserk state of magic beasts appearing now when it should have appeared much later; devil worshippers who should still be building their power running rampant; labyrinths that should have been conquered long ago still standing strong, and so on.

The list of differences was endless. Of course, there were a few things that were the same. Grace had delved into those and secured a few useful items in advance. But the problem was that there were more differences than similarities. Things that should be in certain places weren't there, and things that shouldn't be there were present.

It seemed too much to be just a butterfly effect, as Grace hadn't done anything significant yet. Clearing out a few criminal organizations in advance and showing talent at a young age couldn't have caused such large ripples.

Surely... surely there must be something she didn't know about.

Thinking this, she arrived at the entrance leading down to the sewers while walking.

There were no guards at the entrance. Since entering the sewers itself wasn't particularly prohibited, this was natural if anything.

Grace briefly checked the map drawn on the back of the memo, then opened the door while chewing a piece of dried fruit. Soon she began descending the damp stairs.

There was no stench. As the academy managed it thoroughly, the sewers here were in much better condition than those of most large cities. In fact, it was harder for it to get dirty due to being plastered with all kinds of magic. It was even possible for alert magic to activate, track, and restrain anyone doing strange activities inside.

This was magic Grace didn't particularly need to worry about. She had no intention of causing a disturbance here.

For now, at least.

She descended into the sewers and walked towards her destination. Water elementals floated freely on the clean water. They splashed around freely but all fled to the elemental realm upon sensing Grace's aura. Grace frowned at this sight.

There are elementals. That means no part of the sewers is polluted.

Considering that the terrorism was supposed to happen nearby, this made no sense. Water elementals tended to frolic only in clean and pure water. For the polluted elemental rampage terrorism that was supposed to occur during the entrance ceremony, the water in the sewers shouldn't be clean.

...Has this changed too?

Separate from her doubts, her body continued moving forward. Like that, she arrived at the sewers directly below Dupeide Blacksmith. All that greeted her was cleanly flowing water and the quiet echo of her footsteps.

"...Ha."

There was nothing unusual. Grace let out a hollow laugh and pulled back the hood she had been wearing.

Based on her experience, when things that happened in the previous iteration didn't occur, they tended to come back in some other form. This was why Grace had hoped that at least the events at the academy would be the same as before.

But her expectations were blatantly betrayed.

At this point, it was impossible to prepare for or eliminate threats in advance. She would have to deal with things improvisationally somehow.

"..."

Grace's face darkened.

She missed Acel.

***

The entrance ceremony started at 10 AM and ended before evening. So the night before the entrance ceremony, instead of forcing himself to stay up until dawn, Acel went to bed early and woke up in the early morning. He forcibly lifted his heavy eyelids and lightly manifested magic to shake off fatigue.

He got up from bed, tidied up the bedding with telekinesis magic, then washed in the bathroom and came out. He blew away all the moisture with magic. Then he put on the uniform designated as the entrance ceremony attire and opened the window for ventilation.

From Acel's room, opening the window provided a direct view of the training ground set up behind the dormitory. It was a training ground created for knight department students to handle weapons. Straw dummies stood here and there, and equipment for physical training was gathered in one place.

Perhaps because there were only two physical-type new students staying in Weizel so far. There was no one visible in the training ground. Ellen seemed to be sleeping, and Grace still hadn't moved in so he hadn't seen her face. From what he heard from Lacey, she was moving in today due to personal circumstances. It seemed she was planning to come in after the entrance ceremony ended.

What circumstances could make her come in so late?

He was curious, but soon shook it off. It was right to quickly shake off curiosity about others' personal affairs. Holding onto it would only cause unnecessary trouble.

Acel looked at the training ground, then turned his head towards the clock. There were still about three hours left until the entrance ceremony. There was plenty of time to prepare leisurely. Thinking this, he brought a glass of cold water and looked out the window again.

At that moment, he saw a woman with red hair entering the training ground.

It was Grace. She was wearing gym clothes and leggings that exposed her stomach and armpits freely, with her hair tied back tightly. After lightly warming up, she started running around the training ground. Her face was expressionless, but conversely, she seemed to be deep in thought. Acel observed her while sipping his water.

"Phew..."

After running exactly ten laps around the training ground, Grace wiped her sweat and started strength training. Even at a glance, she was lifting considerable weight. A heavy sound echoed each time she put the equipment down on the ground.

I'd lose if we fought barehanded.

While Acel was having this idle thought, Grace finished her strength training and brought a blunt sword from the corner to start striking at the dummies. At first, she swung the sword without any aura, then gradually pulled up her aura as she continued training.

After a while, Grace's eyes narrowed for a moment. She imbued part of the aura she had pulled up into the sword and swung it towards the dummy's neck.

Slash!

Despite being a blunt sword, the blade she swung cut off the dummy's head without any resistance. The straw head rolled on the ground. Grace, who had been standing still managing her energy, made an "Ah" sound as she looked at the pile of straw.

"I shouldn't have cut this, right? Do I have to compensate for it?” She muttered, then turned her body while wiping the sweat from her forehead. 

She picked up the water bottle she had placed on the ground and drank water while looking up at the sky.

"..."

"..."

Their gazes met like that. Grace froze in the middle of drinking water, and Acel smiled and waved his hand.

"Hello."

"Kheuk...! Kek kek...!!"

Grace spat out the water she was drinking. As if she had choked, she coughed several times while pounding her chest. In sync with this, water droplets sprayed in all directions from her sweat-soaked top. Her large, almost violent chest also heaved greatly.

Acel averted his gaze slightly at this sight.

Somehow, it felt like something big would happen if he kept looking.

Since it seemed awkward to have a conversation in the dormitory, Acel went down to the training ground before Grace could come to her senses.

Fortunately, Grace quickly regained her composure. Her disturbed breathing also returned to normal, and the stray thoughts she couldn't hide seemed to have disappeared as she was constantly smiling. Acel sat on a bench with her and chatted.

She pushed her hair that was blocking her side vision behind her ear and asked in a shy voice, "I-it's been a while, Acel. Have you been well?"

"So so. How about you?"

"I... was busy, but it wasn't bad!"

"When did you move into the dormitory? I didn't see you yesterday."

"At dawn! I came right after finishing my business. I didn't need a carriage since I had nothing to bring. I came in quietly."

Grace chuckled and placed her hands neatly on her knees.

The cold and chilly atmosphere she had shown at dawn was nowhere to be seen. Like a girl who had just realized love, she kept glancing at Acel and laughing, fidgeting her body. As if just looking at him was good enough.

Then, suddenly remembering something, she opened her eyes wide and chewed her lips. She looked like she had something to say but was wondering if she should say it. After a while, she seemed to make up her mind and opened her mouth.

"Um... Acel. You know what I said before."

"...What did you say?"

"A-about calling you a magic-monger. I'm sorry, I didn't mean it that way. I was just surprised..."

"Ah."

He wondered what she was talking about, but it seemed she was referring to what happened in the tent.

Acel had forgotten about it too until Grace brought it up. If they had fought genuinely criticizing each other, it might have remained in his memory, but at that time, they had parted quite beautifully without any of that. There was no need to hold onto the other person's slip of the tongue and seek revenge.

"It's fine. Don't blame yourself too much, I'm not bothered by it."

"R-really? That's a relief."

Grace put her hand on her chest and let out a sigh of relief. Acel smiled faintly as he watched this, then realizing that Grace was getting closer and closer, he blurted out without thinking.

"You're a bit closer than before. Do you have something secret to say?"

"...S-sorry! I didn't realize!"

Grace was startled and returned to her original position. She made an "uu" sound and rolled her eyes around.

Through her conversation with Acel in the tent, she had resolved to bury unnecessary emotions and memories in the past, but talking with him like this again made her old habits creep up.

She wanted to burrow into Acel's arms right away, smell his scent, leave marks on his neck and shoulders, and deeply engrave tooth marks in places everyone could see. She wanted to mark his entire body to show that this man was hers.

The reason she had unconsciously approached him was because such thoughts were sleeping in a place even Grace herself hadn't realized. Once she became aware of it, her desire burned even more. But she squeezed out nonexistent patience to suppress her desire.

I have to endure...! Acel and I are just friends for now...!

She chanted this self-hypnosis and glanced at Acel. Acel showed an awkward expression at her reaction, which was more intense than he expected.

"...I didn't mean I disliked it."

"N-no, it's not that. You said it because it was burdensome, right? I'll smell of sweat too. I'm fine!"

"...Really? Your face doesn't look very fine though."

"It's just a bit of fever! It'll go down soon!" Grace said, then started taking deep breaths to calm her mind. 

After a while, her desire subsided somewhat. She opened her eyes that had been closed and exhaled deeply one last time.

"Ah, so you two were here."

At that moment, Lacey, who had been inside the dormitory, approached the two. 

She continued speaking before Acel could open his mouth, "The headmistress is looking for you two."

"...The headmistress?"

"Yes."

Lacey nodded.

"She said she has something to tell you about the top rankings before the entrance ceremony."