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A few days later, the weekend.
Girls' dormitory.
Bellum and Luna's room.
Bellum bursts in, slamming the door.
"Ugh, Boulder, that clumsy idiot. He's as useless as I thought. I knew it from when he didn't recognize my sister back in the first semester."
"Why? What's wrong?"
"I'm just coming back from asking him."
"Asking what?"
"About Davian's type."
"Oh... and he doesn't know what kind of style Davian likes?"
"Yeah. Doesn't know a thing. All he knows is how to build muscle and tear into meat. Clumsy idiot."
"If Nubes doesn't know, who else would? Liber?"
"That chatterbox doesn't know either. I asked him earlier. He said he's never talked about that kind of thing with Davian. On the contrary, that blabbermouth only got our weaknesses. He's so quick to catch on, too."
A look of disappointment couldn't be hidden on Luna's face.
She had high expectations that Bellum would find something out.
"Then... who is Davian the nicest to? Maybe that person is Davian's type?"
"That taciturn guy being nice? To whom...? Ah?"
"Why? Did something come to mind?"
Bellum suddenly grabbed Luna's small shoulders.
"Now that I think about it... Davian seems to be the nicest to you? He even pats your head sometimes."
"Huh? What?"
Bellum, letting go of Luna's shoulders, crossed her arms and nodded to herself.
"Now that I think about it, that's true... Davian seems to take special care of you."
That's natural.
Luna is an indispensable healer in the party Davian is planning.
But Bellum and Luna have no way of knowing that.
"R-really?"
"Yes, really! Maybe Davian likes you? You've been saying it like a habit that you've been together since the entrance exam. You always say he specifically asked you to do the entrance exam together? With Davian's skills, he would have been guaranteed top marks no matter who he was with."
"T-that's true. He would have been at the top of the entrance exam no matter who he was with."
But if that were the case, she wouldn't have been able to defeat the hundred-headed Hydra and get the 'Blessing of the Sea Serpent' skill.
Of course, Bellum and Luna are completely unaware.
"Right! And Davian has this habit of saying something whenever we encounter dangerous guys!"
"What is it?"
Bellum imitated Davian's dry voice.
"Protect Luna."
Luna's face brightened.
"T-that's right!"
Bellum, who has never been in a relationship.
Luna receiving dating advice from Bellum.
Their dating consultation began to flow in an unintended direction.
This is why you have to choose your friends wisely...
Bellum's voice became excited and began to go off the rails in earnest.
"Luna! We were missing it! The entrance exam! You only met Davian once in an alleyway before entering the academy!"
"That's right! That's when Davian retrieved my bag from the thief!"
Luna's voice also began to get excited.
"And Davian found you before even passing through the academy's main gate! Davian found you first and called out to you, right?"
"Yes! He did!"
"And then he asked you to take the entrance exam together! Even...!"
"...Just the two of us!"
Bellum grabbed Luna's shoulders again.
"Didn't Davian fall in love at first sight? With you, Luna?"
"Kyaa!"
"Now we might just have to wait for Davian to confess first!"
"Kyaa!"
Same time.
Boys' dormitory lounge.
Liber asked.
"Nubes, didn't Bellum ask you anything today?"
Nubes, who was looking at his watch, waiting for dinner time, turned his head.
"Huh? What?"
"No, just wondering. Didn't she ask anything? Related to Davian."
"Ah! She did. Davian's sexual preferences."
Davian looked at Nubes with surprised eyes.
"What? What kind of preferences?"
Liber laughed and waved his hand.
"Hey! Nubes. She must mean his preferences in women."
"Ah, is that so."
Davian shook his head and lowered it again.
In Davian's hands was a paper he borrowed from the library today.
A paper written by an academy senior 27 years ago.
'The Correlation Between Magical Power and Inner Strength.'
Liber asked again.
"So what did you answer?"
"I said I didn't know."
Liber nodded.
"So even Nubes doesn't know."
Liber then leaned towards Davian.
"How about it? Davian. What's your type?"
Davian turned his head.
"What are you talking about?"
"Your type. What kind of girl do you like?"
"I'm not interested in that kind of thing."
"Come on. Don't lie. How can you not be interested at our age? And there are so many attractive people around you."
Nubes asked.
"Latia?"
Liber shook his head.
"Ugh. All he knows is Latia, Latia. He only knows Latia."
"She's pretty."
"...She is."
Liber's persistent questions continued.
"How about it? Davian, what's your type? The pretty and haughty Latia? The kind and cute Luna? The cool and awesome Bonita? The bright and lively Bellum?"
"None of them."
"Then the small and pure Bellus? The sexy Sophie, or noona Sara? The chic Karin? Or... could it be! Teacher Medium?"
"I said I'm not interested."
"Are you impotent?"
Whoosh.
A small fireball appeared on Davians hand.
Davian's gaze was directed towards Liber's crotch.
He looked as if he was about to make him impotent right away.
"Ah, never mind, put that fireball away. Don't you know you're not allowed to manifest magic freely in the dorms?"
Only after Liber begged with his hands together did the fireball disappear into the air.
"But don't you guys really have someone you like? Don't you have anyone you like?"
Nubes answered.
"I like Latia."
Liber closed his eyes, nodded, and patted Nubes on the shoulder.
"It's an impossible love."
"What? Why!"
"Um... I just have a feeling."
"But Liber."
"Yeah?"
"Actually, I have that feeling too."
Nubes scratched the back of his head with an awkward smile.
"At least you know your place, Nubes."
"My parents always told me that a person should know their place, Liber."
"Yeah. That's true. What about you, Davian? You don't have anyone you like?"
Davian waved his hand dismissively.
In Davian's mind.
There was one female student who came to mind.
3rd playthrough.
The person Davian liked.
Because of that, Davian made a big mistake.
Emotional feelings clouded rational judgment.
He almost failed the quest and died on the spot.
He almost drove his companions to their deaths as well.
Somehow they managed to get through the crisis.
Anyway.
'I won't repeat the same mistake.'
Of course.
Constantly running into her did stir up Davian's feelings.
Still.
Davian planned to keep those feelings deeply hidden this time.
Absolutely.
Graduation is the top priority.
This is the last chance.
Time passed.
It was now the end-of-term exam season for the first year, the second semester.
Normally, a main quest by the Marino Empire spy organization should have opened in the middle.
But nothing happened.
It seemed that too many spies were discovered due to the Behemoth summoning situation.
Also, there was Hugo Molten's strong warning.
It was not something to be happy about that the main quest was not in progress.
The main quest always appears in a different way.
On the contrary, the difficulty only increases the later it comes.
Of course, the reward also gets better.
The training grounds where swordsmanship classes were held.
Professor Stella stood on the sparring arena.
"Now, it's time to show all your achievements for the past year. As I announced. The practical evaluation for the second semester final exam is a rivalry match. Based on what you have shown so far, the teaching assistants have matched your rivals."
Rival matches that Stella and the professors had carefully decided.
Everyone was still unaware of who their opponent was.
However.
Davian could vaguely guess who he would be facing.
Speaking of rivals...
"Bonita Fortis. Darian Naone. Step forward."
Murmurs were heard here and there.
Until now, it was the norm to do practical evaluations in reverse order of grades.
But from the beginning, the names of Darian and Bonita were called.
"Since this evaluation is not a grade-based match, the order was determined randomly. Coincidentally, the main match was drawn first."
Ting.
=====
[Quest: Win Swordsmanship Duel Against Bonita Fortis]
-Condition: Reward will be given if successful within 3 attempts (2/3)
-Reward: 12K Mana Points (x2)
-Failure: No penalty
=====
'It popped up.'
The swordsmanship duel victory quest against Bonita, which gives a total of 3 chances.
Now the second chance.
Davian slowly ascended to the sparring arena.
He saw Bonita coming up on the other side.
As she climbed the stairs, she took out a hair tie and roughly tied her long red hair back.
Swish.
Bonita silently drew her sword.
Bonita's main sword, thicker than a rapier and thinner than a bastard sword.
Swish.
Davian also drew his sword.
"You're not going to go easy on me, are you?"
"Of course not."
"I'm going to win this time. Bonita."
"Try it. I know you've improved a lot. But it's not like I've been slacking off either."
Swish.
Davian's left foot took a half step forward.
The sword was held vertically.
The height of the sword's center of gravity exactly matched Davian's body's center of gravity.
Of course, he wasn't holding the sword while calculating such things.
He naturally got there by taking a stance for the best sword path.
Davian, having taken a stance, glared at Bonita.
Bonita Fortis, lightly gripping her sword and standing towards Davian.
'As expected.'
There's no opening.
Bonita was Bonita.
But.
Just because there's no opening.
He can't just stand there.
Flash.
Davian's right foot kicked off the floor of the sparring arena.
At the same time, Bonita also came flying.
Clang!
Davian's and Bonita's swords collided strongly.
No matter how perfect Bonita's swordsmanship was, she couldn't beat Davian with strength.
Bonita turned her sword to the side first.
Intending to disrupt his balance by taking advantage of Davian's strength.
The opponent is no longer the swordsmanship novice he used to be, so he won't falter and lose his balance to this level of skill.
But if she can create even a small gap, it's a success.
However.
Davian's sword didn't get dragged in.
Rather, Davian used inner strength to greatly rotate his body in the opposite direction.
Davian's sword quickly rushed in on the other side.
'That bastard!'
Fast and concise movement.
'Do you think I'll just take it!'
If he were an ordinary swordsman, he would have quickly sent the sword to the other side to block Davian's sword.
But Bonita chose a different path.
A thrusting motion that switched like flowing water.
The sharp tip of Bonita's sword aimed at Davian's elbow, who was wielding his sword.
An extremely precise attack that even took into account the opponent's movements.
Davian's wrist bent sharply.
The sword, which had been slashing towards Bonita's waist, instantly defended the elbow.
Clang!
The tip of Bonita's sword and the side of Davian's sword collided.
Davian pushed Bonita's sword away with force.
Bonita used that force to create distance from Davian.
"Not bad?"
"That's what I was going to say."
"How cocky. Darian Naone."
"Make the most of it."
"What?"
"Saying I'm cocky."
"Why?"
"Because today will be the last time."
Pfft.
Bonita laughed lightly.
"Let's finish this quickly. Darian Naone."
"Good. Bonita Fortis."
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