"Wha-" (Lime)

Before I could even ask Nii-san what he meant, he suddenly slammed his head on the table as if he was about to beg me for something.

"Please!!! I need your help!!!" (Lyle)

"H-hold on Nii-san! Let's calm down for a quick second!" (Lime)

"Before you say no and walk away, please hear me out!!!" (Lyle)

And already, I can hear some people talking about what's happening. 

"Oh boy, Lyle is at it again."

"Man, for an older brother, he keeps making such a mess for his younger brother."

"Pfft, those guys are at it again!" 

"It really doesn't grow old!"

Instead of the misleading rumours that I normally hear, all I hear is people joking about me and Nii-san. Even though this is a restaurant, it's atmosphere resembles that of a tavern instead. It serves the same kind of food as other fancy restaurants do. The thing is, most of the people who dine here are adventurers who don't care much about etiquette and such which results in the restaurant being devoid of a fancy atmosphere. At first, I was worried about whether or not the owner would be angry but soon found out that the owner was a retired adventurer and that the reason why business is booming is because his adventurer friends promoted his restaurant to other adventurers. It appears that even he is a fan of the atmosphere this restaurant has gained.

As much as the food is good, the atmosphere is the main reason why we eat here. With that being said, most of the people here are familiar with me and Nii-san which is why they openly make fun of Nii-san's antics. 

Of course, there's the occasional newcomer who comes up to me because they think that I'm threatening Nii-san or something of the sort, but all in all, we are pretty much well known here. I would like to become friends with them, but their personalities are just too much for me to handle, so I just end up running away from them.

"Okay okay, I get it!!! I'll hear you out, so please raise your head!!!" (Lime)

"Thank you!!!" (Lyle)

"Geez, you should really stop doing those things Nii-san." (Lime)

"Nope. If I don't do this, then I can't be called your Nii-san anymore." (Lyle)

"You're telling me that doing stupid things is your identity!?" (Lime)

"Yup! 100% yes!" (Lyle)

"100%!?!?" (Lime)

I feel like I've had this type of conversation earlier today. Wait, wasn't it with Melanie-san? Wow, they truly are similar.

"So about my request, I need you to teach my son." (Lyle)

I want to say yes but, I can't. I'm scared. I know it's selfish and that's why my face starts to frown. It's not the demonic-looking frown I usually make, but a truly sorrowful frown. I'm so sorry.

"I'm sorry, but you already know my circumstances. I have to refuse. I'm sorry. I know it might sound selfish, but I can't teach your son. Believe me, if you needed my help, I would do everything in my power to do so. But it's just, when it comes to those kinds of things, I just can't, you know? I'm truly sorry considering all the things you've done for me, but I just can't help you with that."  (Lime)

"Nah, it's fine. But I want you to think about it for a while. I'm sorry to burden you, but can you at least think about it for a few days. I'll be staying in the city for 3 days. When you're ready, just come to the inn I'm staying at and ask for me. While I'm in the city, I'm going to go sightseeing, so I might not be in the inn the entire day. But I'll be there during the night, so call for me then. Anyways, let's eat!" (Lyle)

Geez, he just switched tones right at the end. Nii-san is just that kind of person in the end.

After eating and talking with Nii-san about random things, I go back to the academy. The academy I belong to is the Xerxes Research Academy. It is an academy second only to Aerith Academy. Even though it is second in the kingdom, it is the number one academy when it comes to producing researchers. Its main purpose is to produce researchers. 

Xerxes Academy didn't start out as a learning institute, but as a research institute. It was founded as a research institute about 343 years ago, but it was only 102 years go that they started teaching students. Unlike Aerith academy which accepted only those with talent and capabilities, Xerxes academy would help develop even those with no prior capabilities into well-learned individuals. But of course, the academy wasn't able to accommodate everyone, so instead, they collaborated with the royal family and some of the higher nobles to help provide commoners with public education that would come in the form of lower branches. Every year, they would send invites to students from the lower branches with high capabilities to come learn at the main institute. That happened to me about 17 years ago. 

It was 17 years ago that I was given an invite to study at the main branch. I was 5 years old at the time. Xerxes academy would invite children of different ages, as long as they could meet their standards, but the youngest they had invited was a 10-year-old child before I was invited. It wasn't that I could match against a 10-year-old when ai was 5, but rather, I was leagues ahead of most 5-year-olds back then. They thought I had potential, so they took me in at an early age to nurture me. They taught me the basics for 2 years until I could meet the standards needed for the academy. In short, as a 7-year-old, I had been able to match up against a genius 10-year-old. After that, it took me 11 years to graduate and become a fully-fledged researcher. 

It's been 4 years since I became a researcher. Since those 4 years, I've experienced barely anything worthwhile. The main exception would be the fact that I found a lab assistant that actually stuck by and didn't leave. When I think of how happy I became when Melanie-san decided to stay, I became scared because I knew that one day, she would leave my lab and start her own, she is a researcher after all.

As I think of that, I enter the lab and see my blonde-haired assistant who is currently asleep on her desk. It seems that as she was doing some calculations, she had fallen asleep. I would like to carry her to her bed or at least the sofa, but unfortunately, I have neither the physical capabilities nor the courage to actually do that.  So instead, I go grab a blanket in the drawers and cover her with it. 

Considering the amount of furniture in the lab, one might think that this is my living quarters. In truth, I had turned it into one. As I had no friends and my only hobby was research, I decided to just live here. When Melanie-san had just become my lab assistant, she was shocked by the fact that I had turned it into my home. What was more shocking was the fact that she decided to do the same.

For the first 2 months, she slept on the sofa I had bought on a whim back when I was first given a lab. When I got my first pay, I wanted to splurge a little bit, then realized that I don't have any actual hobbies and was wondering what to spend it on. It was then that I passed by a store that was selling a sofa. On impulse, I decide to buy one, and then shortly realized that I had no reason to use it. I mean, I already had a bed and didn't really have any reason to use the sofa so it was left unused. I'm glad that it was of use. 

It was only after the third month that I offered to buy a separate bed for her. At first, she declined but gave up as I kept on insisting. You can say that it was a gift from me as I felt really happy having another person help me in my experiments and research. 

Still, she should be reserved about being alone in the same living quarters with an unmarried man. I mean, we're both unmarried and of different social status. She is the second daughter of Viscount Byron. While she may not be the heir, she is still a potential marriage candidate for other male nobles. Meanwhile, I am a mere commoner who just so happens to be a prodigy. I tried acting in a courteous manner, but she immediately wanted me to stop with that treatment and said that since I was the superior here, she should be the one to act in such a manner. However, even though she said that she still treats me like an equal. 

As I think of all of those things, I lay on the bed and ponder over Nii-san's request. As I do that, I slowly doze off and fall asleep.