"I don't know… don't you think that all of my clothes are too fancy? I was thinking about going to the town more incognito, but with that, won't everyone instantly know that I am a noble?

"

Miriette asked with a concerned expression while looking at her reflection and the available choice of things to wear.

"Not really? I think that it's not the clothes' fault – m lady, you simply look stunning no matter what you wear.

"

Zoemi waiting by her side with a change of clothes tilted his head and declared with a serious expression…

"…!

"

…making the dark-haired girl blush with a compliment he really didn't think of as anything special – because he simply spoke exactly what he actually believed.

"…we… we will go and try to buy some inconspicuous clothes as soon as we will get there – those will do for now…

"

Miriette ended up dropping her hands and lowered her head mumbling in embarrassment before walking up to the black-haired boy and grabbing his onto his arm.

"I'm ready, lets go.

"

She added bashfully but stubbornly leaning onto her attendant's shoulder with no intention of letting go.

|Alright, I made sure to ask around and it turns out that a suspicious ice-wielding individual was seen traveling in the opposite direction to where we are going, and more importantly, away from the Academy, so maybe the game event will never really happen? After all, Aspaekony assured me that the academy is safe…|

Zoemi glanced at the peculiarly timid girl dressed up in a refreshing white and green lacy one-piece

dress, and nodded to himself – there was only one thing left to ask to make sure that everything was fine.

"My lady, we can notify the bodyguards that we are about to go – if I may ask, are they someone I am familiar with?

"

"…!

"

Zoemi asked and felt Miriette flinching while wrapped around his arm.

"I… don't think so… since I didn't bother Horeo, I ended up asking the principal to recommend me someone, and he delivered… I've already contacted the with the message spell too.

"

The dark-haired girl lied hurriedly, hoping that the boy will not catch onto her insincerity.

Miriette who had already deployed the universal defensively-offensive large-scale accumulative semi-autonomous spell, Air Emperor, and three of them to boot, was never actually going to bother with the help of anyone who could have been bought out or turn against her.

She wanted a genuine date where no one knew who she was and she could be as clingy as she always wanted to.

"That was a brilliant idea, my lady! The principal is trustworthy.

"

"…

"

Zoemi's face brightened – but that made Miriette feel guilty, still, nowhere near enough to tell him the truth.

|If it's Aspakeony's corpse puppet, then it's even better than I could hope for – in case of trouble she can send in the light magicians at any given moment!|

The black-haired boy nodded happily and guided the dark-haired girl to the door.

"My lady, are you sure you don't want me to get a carriage, or maybe even fly there? Even though some warehouses are built close to the outer wall of the Academy, the town center and all the shops are between half an hour to a full hour of walk, depending on our speed… are you okay with that…?

"

Zoemi stopped and looked at Miriette with his hand on the door handle.

"Don't treat me as if I cannot walk for a bit! I am not that fragile!

"

The dark-haired girl blushed and pinched the boy's side but he showed no reaction as there was no strength behind her action.

"As you wish, my lady.

"

The dark-haired attendant bowed his head and opened the door, and the two of them walked out.

|Ohohohohoho! Poor Zoemi, I am actually planning to use the excuse of getting tired and ask you to carry me partway back to the Academy!|

The dark-haired girl snickered and lowered her head so Zoemi wouldn't be able to spot her expression.

|She says that now, but I bet that she will feel faint on our way back… Hmm~! I kind of wish that will happen, I will be able to carry her on our way back~!|

The black-haired boy thought to himself and looked away so that his master wouldn't be able to notice his blush.

With that, the two of them exited the room and walked out of the dormitory building – they didn't really meet all that many other students because most of them were already gathered in the back of the academy to the specially prepared area where they could safely watch the duels about to start.

But none of that really bothered either Miriette or Zoemim and they left unbothered through the front gate…

———

"…

"

Burushi was walking down the empty dormitory hallway while supporting herself against the wall.

To say that she was extremely tired was an overstatement.

She was on the verge of collapse, she was feeling horribly nauseous, her throat was dried up, and her stomach was rumbling.

…not to mention the painful headache that amplified the already terrible situation straight into a nightmare…

The previous night the blond heroine told herself that she would use – or rather waste – one last healing spell on the obviously faking Xeonith and then seek sanctuary in the room of the villainess

But, that plan crumbled into nothingness the moment when that awful, awful capture target started willing and tossing around, whining about the insufferable pain – which made that horrible old hag of a teacher force Burushi to heal him over and over again.

BUT XEONITH WASN'T ACTUALLY HURT!

And it wasn't even the phantom pain or anything, because the one time that the elderly teacher with the same surname as Zoemi went out of the room – having the guts to lock it so the heroine couldn't escape – that disgusting man stopped the act and started threatening the poor healer that if she ever tells anyone about how she saw him act, he will kill her.

Thankfully, even the awful teacher turned out to be useful and returned rather quickly so that the brown-haired boy didn't have time to try and do anything to Burushi.

The ridiculous charade lasted for the entire night, all until the blond girl's mana ran out dry – but the thing was, teacher Auequas wanted to keep her just so she would continue wasting her mana on casting the healing spells on the ABSOLUTELY HEALTHY GUY WHO WAS FAKING BEING IN PAIN just to have an excuse to not show up his loser's face in front of the other students during the mandatory duels.

…both Xeonth and teacher Auequas were equally stubborn – the older woman wanted the brown-haired boy to compete, and the brown-haired boy didn't and was doing his best to make the elderly woman give up – that somehow resulted in the blond heroine getting a black eye from Xoenith's fist while the brown-haired boy was tossing in bed screaming that he's in pain while not even sounding as if he was in pain – just pissed off…

The only bright side of that was that the wretched teacher FINALLY allowed Burushi to leave – but not without scolding her for being an inept healer who can't even heal a patient in need.

"…

"

Burushi couldn't even muster any mana to heal herself wasn't even going to her own room or the cafeteria – she was doing her best to reach Miriette's room to crumble on a chair and just have a moment of respite….