As light spilt through the closed curtains signalling that morning had arrived, Soren, not wanting to overstay his welcome, decided to leave.
"I'll see you tomorrow?"
"Mhm, I'll bring lunch again."
"Alright, later."
On his way back to his room, he couldn't help but smile as he thought back to the night that had just ended.
'She was really cute last night.'
After he had let her drink his blood, the distance between them had only shrunk even further, whether it was because she had opened her heart to him once more or whether they had just gotten used to each other didn't matter to Soren; he was just happy that he had a close friend in this world.
Every so often, his mind would overlap Aria with Lilliana, as they shared many similarities; in a way, both were saviours to Soren in some form.
Aria, saving him from his family, and a predetermined future.
Lilliana, saving him from his loneliness and trauma.
Even the way that they disregarded distance and acted comfortably was the same.
'So what should I do now?' He thought as he stepped into his room.
Initially, he had planned to return to his dorm and maybe study before visiting the training hall to practice forming circles in different areas, but now that he had finally left Lilliana's, he didn't have the motivation.
Then an idea came to mind.
"Oh, right, the ring."
It was an idea he had back when he first unlocked the inventory feature, to buy a ring to disguise his inventory as a spatial ring, but with everything going on in his life, he hadn't had the opportunity.
"I could also get a better axe…"
He had only been using an iron handaxe since that was all he could afford at the time, but after the gambling incident, he had acquired enough funds to splurge slightly, and Soren himself felt no remorse in doing so, as it would only increase his chances at survival.
"...Axe."
As that word circled in his mind, he couldn't help but glance up at the large, two-handed axe leaning against the wall.
Ever since reading Book 1 in the library, he had been dutifully taking care of it as a form of repayment to the original Soren, but right now, he couldn't help but be curious about it.
'I wonder how strong it is?'
Given the fact that it was Freya's personal weapon, it could be assumed that the weapon itself would be powerful enough to assist a person who had almost become a member of Trinity.
With those thoughts in mind, he walked over to the giant axe and grasped it with both hands, placing it into his inventory.
"Ugh, I don't think I can use it anytime soon."
Even just lifting it off the floor drained Soren of a vast amount of stamina and left his arms aching.
He wiped the sweat from his brow and tossed his clothes onto the floor, deciding to shower before he went out.
••✦ ♡ ✦•••
"Hmm~ Hmmmm~♪"
Strolling down the street, Soren hummed a melody that he had heard from Lilliana the day before, showing off his heightened mood.
As he walked, he couldn't help but stop a couple of times as things caught his eye.
Although he had an outline of what he wanted to do, it wasn't too important, meaning that Soren could spend some of the money sitting in his heavy pouch, and just have fun for the day before classes finally arrived tomorrow.
The streets were quiet as it was still reasonably early in the morning.
Still, to the shopkeepers in the academy city, that was irrelevant; both students and adventurers would often use the weekend to explore monster-infested areas or delve into nearby dungeons.
In response to that, stores opened early in an attempt to grab even one more customer.
That was also the reason why the red light district was so large within the academy city, as to be expected with an academy full of people that had only barely reached adulthood, there was a large market for both alcohol and ways to satisfy their urges.
Gurgle…
Soren's stomach lightly rumbled at a sweet smell that lingered in the air.
'I guess I should eat something.'
Due to him falling asleep the previous day, he had accidentally skipped one of his meals.
He followed the smell that caused his mouth to water and found himself at a warm-looking diner.
Jingle jingle
"Ah, a customer. Hello there!"
As Soren stepped through the doorway, a cheerful woman greeted him.
Before Soren could even reply, the woman ran over and grabbed his arm, pulling him towards a table.
"What do you want? If you want my recommendation, I'd suggest the pancakes!"
'Her energy is insane…'
Although Soren was far from tired, he couldn't help but feel lacking compared to the girl in front of him.
Somewhat regretting his choice, Soren picked up the menu in front of him before raising his head to look at the girl next to him.
The appearance of the girl before him didn't suit the medieval setting of Ivansia at all; if anything, she looked like she had been pulled right from current-day earth.
Her ginger hair was tied into a side tail, revealing the pierced ears beneath, and the heavy makeup caked on her face made Soren wonder how she had the motivation so early in the morning.
Another way to describe the woman would have been a 'gyaru.'
Then, as his eyes traced her from head to toe, he noticed a small metal nameplate on her chest.
'Esper…'
He was unsure of who the girl was, but from appearances alone, it was clear that she wasn't just an extra.
"Ahem…" Esper cleared her throat.
Soren snapped out of his thoughts and looked up at Esper's face, seeing the grin plastered upon it.
"Did you enjoy?"
A hint of playfulness was evident in her voice.
It was only then that Soren realised how he had appeared, a customer walking in, not talking, then staring at her chest (nameplate) in silence for a while.
"Oh, sorry…"
Even though he was innocent, he still apologised.
"Hehe, it's fine, that's what they're there for," She said with a shrug.
"Can I have a large pancake set and a coffee, please?"
"No bother! Black coffee?"
"Milk, please."
"Yep! Yep! Be right back, customer!"
As the girl bounced away, Soren let out a sigh.
"Too much energy in the morning is exhausting…" He muttered as he leaned back before returning his gaze to the girl. "Still though, she's pretty."
If Esper's energy had been toned down slightly, then she would have fit perfectly into Soren's ideal type, at least appearance-wise.
After a few minutes, the girl, holding a tray, bounced back over towards Soren with a wide smile.
"Here ya go! A large pancake set and a coffee with milk!"
"Thank you."
Clink
She placed the tray down, and just as Soren was about to question why she was still standing there, the girl spoke.
"You, you're Soren Arden, right?"
"...Yes?"
He was unsure of how Esper knew him, given his pathetically low ranking and poor showing during both mock duels, but he didn't question it and instead waited for the girl to speak up.
"I knew it! Oh my gosh! I love your hair, and your eyes…! They're so pretty!"
She jumped up and down a few times as if happy by the fact she had correctly guessed his identity.
"Uhm… can I ask who you are?"
It felt strange for only one party to know of the other, so Soren decided to ask.
"Right, silly me! I'm Esper Rupindolf, let's see… If you're human, you might know me since my father is a Duke."
Clatter
Soren's fork fell from his hand at the reveal of her identity.
Esper Rupindolf, the only heir of one of four duchies located in the Fialova Kingdom, and better known to Soren as…
"Second place."
"Well, yeah, that too." The girl said sheepishly while scratching her cheek.
Second place in the arcane studies major.
It was someone Soren had never seen, let alone met.
The reason for this was likely tied to her ranking.
Just like the martial studies major, the arcane studies major's first place was an overwhelming genius, meaning those below rarely got a chance to shine unless they were truly special or unique, like Alex.
"Anyways! Enough of that. Tell me how you take care of your hair! Also, do you use any makeup? Your skin is so clean!"
Esper naturally sat down without even bothering to ask, and pestered him with questions related to his appearance.
"Uhm, well, I don't use any makeup, as for my hair, I just wash it, dry it with magic, then brush it out. Nothing special."
"Ughhh!" A pained sound came from Esper's mouth as she softly pounded the table. "Life's so unfair!"
"Can I ask something?" Soren cautiously asked.
Although he rarely paid attention to such things, he didn't want to make a bad impression on the girl next to him by completely disrespecting her nobility rank.
"Yep!" She said with a smile that made it hard to believe she had just been pouting.
"Why is a duke's child working in a place like this?"
He wasn't very good at over-the-top polite speech, so he decided just to ask the question bluntly.
Although the place he was sitting in wasn't low quality, it certainly wasn't up to the standards of a future duchess, he thought.
"Mmm…" She stretched her body onto the table and groaned slightly before continuing, "Dad tells me I have to learn how the commonfolk live, and how to make money myself. It's such a chore. Whenever I'm at home, he's prattling on about how I have to follow my duty or whatever, it's so annoying…"
In response to her rambling, Soren smiled gently.
"It seems like your father cares about you a lot."
"Pfft, I guess that's one way of seeing it. An~y~wa~ys~ give me some of that."
Soren shrugged and replied, "Sure," only to be greeted with an inexplicable situation.
"Ahhh~"
Esper sat there with her mouth open and her eyes closed, seemingly asking Soren to feed her.
If he were close to her, he wouldn't have had any proper thoughts; at most, maybe just thought she was cute before agreeing.
However, given their lack of connection, the girl's actions felt strange.
He looked at her strangely for a few moments before Esper raised her hand and pointed at her mouth, making an 'Ah~' noise once more.
Soren laughed slightly as he cut a little piece off and scooped it up with the fork before pushing it towards Esper's mouth.
"Mmm!"
"How is it?"
"Itsh sho good…" The girl said as she held her cheeks in delight.
After eating the rest of his breakfast, of course, while feeding Esper a few more times, Soren was getting ready to leave when she suddenly stopped him.
"Heyyyy~! Where are you going! Don't leave meee~"
Soren, now slightly used to the girl's antics, turned to face her.
"Aren't you working? I have things to do."
It might have sounded like a cold response, but Soren spoke with a light tone, changing the intent of the words.
"Lemme come with~" Esper pleaded.
"When does your shift end?"
"Shift? I don't have one?"
"...Then why are you here?"
"I just help out whenever I'm bored." She said while shrugging.
"Then sure, but I'm not going anywhere fun."
"Okay! Gimme a second, I'll tell Granny."
With that, she turned on her heel and bounced off in the direction of the counter.
Soren smiled as he thought to himself, 'At least today won't be boring.'
————「❤︎」————