Chapter 9

"Anne!"

Kuna rushed over.

"What should we do? Soji, Anne is—"

"Stay calm, I'll examine her now."

"Can you really do that?"

"I can. I'm better at this than most doctors around here."

I knelt down next to Anne, who was lying on the ground, and checked her pulse by pressing my fingers on her wrist, opened her eyelids to examine her eye movements, opened her mouth to check her throat and tongue, and pressed my ear to her chest to listen to her heartbeat.

The conclusion was immediate.

"It's malnutrition and overwork. She should be able to wake up in half a day, and if she eats and sleeps, she'll recover by tomorrow night."

"That's a relief."

Kuna let out a sigh of relief upon hearing that her suddenly collapsed friend wasn't sick.

"This situation is far from ideal. What should we do with her?"

The Sealed City has notoriously poor security.

It's basically a town where everyone is responsible for themselves.

"Soji, what would happen if we left her here?"

"If we're lucky, her expensive sword and necklace would be stolen and she'd be left here. If we're unlucky, she'd end up being sold as a slave."

"What about getting the academy to take care of her?"

"That's not possible. The academy is funded by taxes, so using resources or money for non-students would result in backlash. They would definitely refuse."

This world is fundamentally cold and indifferent to others.

Relying on others' kindness leads to ruin.

Kuna looked at me with a serious face.

"Soji, I have a request. Please pay for an extra room at the inn. And prepare nutritious meals. I'll owe you the money. Since you seem to have medical knowledge, if you take care of her, you can add the medical expenses to my debt. I'll pay it back double. If I can't, you can do whatever you want with me. Please, help Anne."

Kuna bowed.

Her hat, which had been hiding her fox ears, fell off, revealing them. They were trembling, perhaps from anxiety.

"Why would you go so far for a stranger? Besides, I think she'll be a strong rival. She has excellent sword skills and her magic flow is smooth. She's talented and works hard. Wouldn't it be more convenient if she were out of the way?"

"That's true. But Anne is my friend. I don't want to become a special student by compromising my principles. I'd probably regret it for the rest of my life if I left her here."

...Actually, I intended to help Anne even if Kuna hadn't said anything.

I had my reasons.

I had already assessed her sword skills from her earlier movements. I also checked her magical aptitude while examining her symptoms, and her magic circuit and computational ability are top-notch. It's worth investing in her.

After enrollment, it's more efficient to explore the underground labyrinth with students of similar strength and compatible schedules. It's essential to form alliances with talented candidates now.

"Alright, I'll accept your proposal. But remember, I'll have more rivals too. Thanks to Kuna, I have more rivals—how troublesome."

"Ugh, but, somehow, I think Soji will still be the top. Anne and I will still compete for the remaining two spots."

That's true. With this body and the vast knowledge and refined magic in my mind, I can pass the special student exam in first place.

"Kuna, this is the second favor you owe me. What else can I ask for?"

"Ugh, that's scary. You have the eyes of a beast."

Kuna, holding her fox ears, shivered.

After teasing Kuna for a while, I picked up the unconscious Anne and left the scene.

...But as I laughed, I thought something was off.

In the game era, there were no such convenient, fate-like encounters.

Both meeting Kuna and Anne seemed too perfect. The timing was too good. The lack of game-like elements in Ilrande made it feel strange.

It was as if we were going through a prepared mandatory event, which was unsettling.

I suddenly felt a gaze and turned my attention to it.

"What's wrong, Soji?"

"Nothing, really."

While I said that, I heightened my vigilance.

I sensed someone in the shadow of a building near the academy. I tried to detect any residual magic, but found nothing.

...That's why it was suspicious.

Even in a busy street like this, there should be some residual traces. The fact that there were none meant someone had intentionally erased them.

'Why are we being monitored at this point?'

The person who noticed I had detected their gaze and erased their traces was a top-notch professional.

However, erasing them too perfectly confirmed their existence.

From this, I concluded that they were skilled but lacked experience.

I needed to be cautious about the people who would contact me in the future.

◇

"Where am I?"

Anne opened her eyes on the bed at the inn.

"It's our inn. You suddenly collapsed, so we brought you here."

"Thank you. I must have let my guard down after seeing an old friend."

Anne muttered.

Then, the next moment, she saw her own appearance, widened her eyes, and blushed as she hugged herself.

I wanted to reassure her. "Don't worry. Kuna changed your clothes and wiped your body. I was kicked out of the room when I offered to do it, so I didn't see anything."

"Really?"

"Really. I did it. I kicked Soji out during the process, so there's no need to worry."

Kuna, who was studying at the desk, spoke without turning around.

She was trying to make up for the time lost from taking care of Anne. She had to master the theoretical knowledge in three days, starting from zero.

Kuna was in her room clothes, so her fox ears and tail were exposed. When she concentrated, her tail would slowly wag, which was fun to watch.

"Sorry for the trouble. Thank you, Kuna. And..."

Anne hesitated to call my name.

Of course, I hadn't introduced myself yet. This was a good opportunity to do so.

"Nice to meet you. I'm Soji. I'm also a candidate for the knight school and Kuna's tutor."

"That's very polite. I'm Annelotte Oakley. Nice to meet you. ...You're a strange person, tutoring your rival Kuna."

"I do it because I see some benefits. Here, have this."

"What is it?"

"It's porridge. Your stomach is weak, so start with this to build up your strength."

I bought rice, milk, liver, and sage, a herb to mask the smell, from the market and made the porridge.

Liver is rich in vitamins and good for the body.

I thoroughly drained the blood and removed the veins from the liver, marinated it in milk to remove the smell, grilled it to remove the oil, and mashed it. I mixed in sage, which has a pleasant aroma and aids digestion, and formed it into balls. Then, I added the liver balls to the porridge made from rice and milk, seasoned with salt.

"It's delicious. I haven't had something this good in a long time. The taste is so gentle. It warms my heart as well as my body. Thank you."

Anne shed tears.

"Take your time. Your stomach is weak, so eating too quickly might make you vomit. Chew at least twenty times."

"I understand. You're a strange person, like a nanny."

The use of the word 'nanny' instead of 'mother' revealed Anne's ladylike nature.

It took Anne twenty minutes to finish the porridge.

"Your stomach seems fine. Would you like another bowl?"

"...Please."

Embarrassed, Anne held out her plate.

Eating two bowls of nutrient-rich milk porridge should help her recover by the next morning.