Chirp, chirp.
At the sound of birds chirping, Anakin tossed and turned on the fluffy bed.
“Ugh.”
It felt like his muscles were screaming in protest.
‘I must have been completely knocked out.’
A full day had already passed.
“Ah.”
A metallic sound, not Anakin’s typical melodic voice, escaped his throat.
Anakin brushed his messy hair with his hand and climbed out of bed.
He stared blankly at Mantis, who was still fast asleep across from him.
‘Everyone must be sleeping by now. It was a spectacular lesson, after all.’
Hilde seems fine, and Lucien is….
Thinking of Lucien, Anakin quickly tidied his hair and searched for clothes to change into.
He had to go and check on his condition immediately, so he staggered, bumping into furniture, but steadfastly found and put on his clothes.
Anakin headed toward Hilde’s room.
He knocked on the door, but without waiting for a reply, he threw it open.
Creak.
What awaited him was Hilde reading at the table and Lucien standing in front of the door with his pants off.
“…….”
Three seconds of silence passed.
Lucien stood frozen in that awkward position, looking as if his soul had left his body.
No one could bring themselves to speak in that situation.
Anakin quickly slammed the door shut again.
He leaned his back against the door and smoothed his pounding heart.
‘I didn’t think he’d be changing his clothes. This is why you shouldn’t just open other people’s doors like that….’
Intense regret washed over him.
Anakin tried his best to forget the scene he had just witnessed.
A few minutes later, he knocked on the door again.
‘Knock, knock.’
It was a more polite knock than the one he had scribbled earlier.
Then, Hilde’s calm voice came from inside.
“Come in, Anakin.”
As Anakin carefully poked his face inside, Hilde was still reading a thick book in the same spot, and Lucien was sitting on the bed with his face covered by both hands.
“……G-good morning?”
At Anakin’s awkward smile, Hilde glanced at Lucien.
“You can come in.”
“Um… Lucien.”
Anakin, who had entered hesitantly at Hilde’s words, carefully called out to Lucien.
He nodded, still unable to lift his head.
“I’m sorry. For barging in like that. I wanted to check on your condition….”
Seeing him, the feast of bare skin he had just witnessed popped into his head, making his face burn.
“Are you okay?”
Nevertheless, Anakin steadfastly checked Lucien’s condition.
‘One must do what one has to do.’
The bandages and gauze wrapped around his arms and legs showed just how serious his condition had been.
“Lucien. Shouldn’t you be in the infirmary if you’re this bad?”
“He said he felt stifled, so he ran out. The healing mages tried to stop him, but he wouldn’t even listen.”
As Hilde explained the situation, Anakin looked at Lucien with a serious face.
“Your mouth is filthy.”
“Coming from you.”
Annoyed at hearing this, Lucien lifted his head and glared at Hilde.
Hilde, who had retorted habitually, didn’t seem to care.
Anakin sat on the edge of Lucien’s seat with a worried expression.
At Anakin’s deeply concerned face, Lucien said nonchalantly:
“There were dangerous moments here and there, but I was able to hold out thanks to Anakin’s healing.”
“……Really?”
Anakin’s face lit up suddenly.
‘The healing I did with that barely squeezed-out ether actually worked.’
He couldn’t be happier.
“Hey, Lucien….”
Looking at the injured Lucien, he remembered the last artifact that had been stolen.
Anakin had to tell him the truth.
“I’m sorry. The last artifact from the canyon… it was taken.”
It was an artifact that should never have been lost, especially since his life had been on the line for it.
Plus, given the high difficulty, the points awarded for the artifact would have been high, too.
Anakin hung his head. He couldn’t face him.
Then, a few seconds later, Lucien’s soft touch lifted Anakin’s chin.
Naturally, his eyes met with Lucien’s blue ones.
As he stared intently into his bewitchingly beautiful eyes, Lucien opened his mouth.
“It’s an artifact you saved. I was only being controlled, wasn’t I?”
“No. At the end, you…”
As Anakin tried to refute, Lucien covered his mouth.
His hand was large enough to almost cover Anakin’s small face.
To Anakin, who blinked in confusion, Lucien smiled and said:
“I don’t remember anything.”
“…….”
Lucien had clearly taken the hit on purpose at the end, even though he could have bLocken free of the binding.
It was impossible for Lucien, who had kept his sense of self even while being mentally controlled, not to remember what happened then.
Anakin bit his lip at the sight of Lucien lying to relieve his guilt over losing the artifact.
“Who took it?”
Hilde, who had seemed uninterested, asked sharply. Lucien then looked at Anakin with a curious expression as well.
“…….”
Under their focused gaze, Anakin couldn’t answer.
‘It’s a bit awkward to say Kayla betrayed me at the last minute.’
It was true that he felt betrayed by her, but there was no need to reveal this and turn her into a public enemy.
Because it felt like Hilde and Lucien would find a way to pay her back.
‘If I’m going to get revenge, I’ll do it myself….’
This wasn’t the way.
“It’s a secret.”
“Hmm….”
As Anakin avoided their gaze, Hilde rested his chin on his hand and stared at him as if piercing through him.
“More than that, Hilde, don’t you have something to say to me?”
Anakin said as he looked at him. Hilde asked, looking puzzled.
“What do you mean?”
“You let me go in the labyrinth.”
“…….”
Hilde didn’t answer. If they had fought to the end, that artifact would have been Hilde’s.
“Don’t do that next time.”
Hilde knew that Anakin disliked things like this.
Since he had always grown up protected by his family, he must want his opponents to give it their all at least while at Pasadian.
Hilde recalled the moment he made his final attack on Anakin.
His composure shattered the moment he saw Anakin close his eyes, as if to say it was all over.
The fact that the final blow missed… was not intentional.
“……Yeah.”
Hilde answered Anakin with an unreadable expression.
At that response, Anakin retorted with a pouting face.
“A victory won like that is a disgrace.”
“…….”
Watching this, Lucien added a word.
“Anakin. Seriously, maybe that guy just couldn’t aim.”
“…….”
At his words, one of Hilde’s eyebrows twitched slightly, but he seemed to have learned how to ignore Lucien, so there was no particular reaction.
Seeing that, Anakin burst into a soft laugh.
“Lucien. Aren’t you just trying to bash Hilde?”
“Hmm. Maybe?”
He didn’t even deny it.
It really seemed like they had become friends after sharing a room.
“Better than the guy who got knocked out and carried back.”
Hilde interjected naturally while flipping a page of his book, and this time, Lucien’s eyebrow twitched.
Anakin, who had been watching the situation, poured cold water on them.
“Why don’t you stop? None of us is in first place.”
“…….”
“…….”
The atmosphere turned cold in an instant.
‘Right, why should we fight among ourselves? The first-place winner is someone else.’
Anakin crossed his legs relaxedly. Even so, they remained silent for a long time.
“Did you know, Anakin?”
“Hm?”
As he was on his way to class peacefully, as always, Mantis called Anakin over.
“They say the official disciple tournament is being held soon.”
“……What is that?”
Anakin asked, his face full of curiosity at the unfamiliar term.
“It’s a tournament hosted by Pasadian that happens once a year. Trainee disciples aren’t eligible to participate, but we can watch. It’s a golden opportunity to see the skills of the official disciples.”
“…….”
“They come out one by one and fight. How about it? Sounds fun, right?”
Seeing Mantis’s excited face made Anakin feel excited too.
“Wow, we haven’t even seen an official disciple yet!”
Except for the teachers, one couldn’t even see the tip of an official disciple’s toe.
That was because, unlike the annex, the main building was located in the center.
Therefore, one could only guess who they were and what kind of skills they possessed.
“But I wonder if that Evan guy will come too?”
Since that day, he hadn’t crossed paths with the person named Evan.
In the first place, their training areas were on different floors, and they didn’t take the same classes, so he didn’t even know what he was doing.
Senior students who had been there a while didn’t come to the lecture hall anymore once they had completed a certain amount of classes and practical training.
Having learned enough, they focused on training on their own and accumulating achievements.
It was impossible to tail Evan all day.
If he went outside under the pretext of accumulating achievements, there was no way to follow him.
Anakin had no idea how to resolve the headache that was Evan.
‘If he’s having a secret meeting with a senior disciple, it must be inside Pasadian.’
‘Where in the world could they be meeting safely within Pasadian?’
