8 - Sophomore Year, Spring 1

It’s been a year since I regained my memories last April. With this new school year, my Magic School life will soon come to an end. But for now, I was in the backroom of a coffee shop.

It was usually used for meetings between the noble who owns it and his wife’s purveyor; in other words, it’s like how restaurants were used in my past life which is why I called Sergius here.

“What the hell do you want, Ms. Meathead?” he asks as he comes in.

I throw a soil dagger by his head. “I’ll make sure not to miss next time,” I say.

“Woah, okay, my mistake!” Sergius says as he raises his hands in surrender.

I invite him to sit down, he does. “Soon it’ll be time for your final mission,” I said.

“Final mission?” he asks, tilting his head.

“We’re going to destroy the magic cult,” I explained.

“Finally… will I be free?” Sergius asked, his face stops looking like an overworked plow-horse headed to slaughter.

“You will,” I said. “Follow my orders to the letter, no matter how ridiculous they may seem.”

“You make it sound like I trust you that much,” Sergius huffs.

“Well, haven’t you up to now?” I asked.

Sergius wavers.

“You’ll find all your instructions here,” I said as I hand him a new set of papers.

And with our business concluded, I left the coffee shop.

“Eli!” Serena cries. “Let’s hurry up!”

I and Serena are currently in a hot spring town. Ostensibly, it’s a vacation with her, but in reality, it’s to destroy the magic cult.

In MaSLo, after I was defeated in the Magic Tournament last year, the cult kidnapped me while I was recovering. After being experimented on and brainwashed, I would start regaining Arthur’s favor. Serena would find out the truth then the two of them would team up together to put me out of my misery.

I can’t let such monstrous villains go unchecked, so I was going to crush them before their horrible plans came to fruition. This is as much for my good as the world.

Even though I had Sergius on the case, I needed to personally handle them, too, so I took Serena with me in case something happened. I swear I’ll apologize for putting her in harm’s way after all is said and done. But right now, we need to go to a restaurant so Sergius can relay what he’s found.

“I’ll have the omelet rice,” I told the waiter.

“I’ll have the omelet rice, too,” Serena said.

I had asked Sergius to write in code with the ketchup.

“Sorry for the wait, here are your orders of omelet rice,” the waiter said as he handed them out.

Did Sergius find anything? Wait, this omelet rice is normal. I glance at Serena.

She’s already started eating it, but I can see parts of deliberately written numbers.

Sergius! What is that idiot doing? The code was already lost in Serena’s stomach.

“That was delicious, Eri!”

“… Wasn’t it?” I say.

“Speaking of which, for some reason, my ketchup spelled 881.”

“…”

881: “Danger”. I wondered what happened as we left the restaurant.

“Look, Eli, there’s a foot bath!” Selena said. “Let’s go for a soak!”

Oh, yes, that does sound lovely.

I sink my feet into the water and sigh. This place is a paradise of paradises, partly because I also loved hot springs in my previous life. And this foot bath is pretty good in its own right.

“Elizabeth, listen carefully,” Sergius said as he used his “Stealth” attribute, leaving him unnoticed by anyone else, “they’ve found us. You and Hollina will be surrounded by tomorrow. Help me launch a surprise attack tonight.”

I nod. “Thank you for your cooperation,” I whisper. But when I turned around, Sergius was no longer then.

“Hey, Eli,” Serena called out. “Come here a moment.”

I leaned in and she started smelling me. “… You smell like a man. Ugh!” she snapped.

Then she hugged me. I’m surprised by her suddenness, but it’s cute so I’ll excuse it. “What’s wrong?” I asked.

“I’m changing your ‘bad guy’ scent into my into my scent,” Selena says with a smile.

I’m not sure if she can, but it’s cute so I’ll excuse it.

“Selena, why don’t we got to the secret hot spring in the mountains?” I asked.

“Mmm! Let’s go, let’s go!” she said before we started a long trek up.

I was approaching the cult’s headquarters, putting Serena at even more risk. I’m sorry, Serena. I’ll protect you with everything I’ve got.

“Phew, we’ve made it,” I said as we arrived.

“I’m so tiiired…” Selena whined.

I formed a wall and golems around us.

“Huh, what’s going on, Eli?” Selena asked.

“I want to keep any guys from peeping on us,” I said.

“As expected of a genius like you, Eli,” Selena said.

Of course, they’re also defenses to protect me and Serena against the cult, but I’ll send half to Sergius. Well, since I’m already doing everything I could… why not take a soak in the secret hot spring?

“Pwah, this feels so good…” I sigh as I sink in, naked.

“Isn’t it?” Severa said. “But you’ve got such a lewd body, Eli.”

I choke on my own spit. “Do you have something to say to me, Serena?”

“No, you misunderstood,” Serena said. “I don’t want to have another nosebleed as I did a little while ago.”

“You know, Serena, I could say the same to you,” I shoot back.

“Eli’s a pervert.”

“Who’s the pervert here?” I ask. “Your face is all red.”

“It just got warm!” Serena says as she dips the bottom half of her face into the water. Cute.

And so we took a break at the secret hot spring.