***

"Sorry, can you repeat that again?", Ria asked with a strained smile.

Still keeping his professional demeanor, the receptionist calmly repeated his earlier words. "Student Noah Ecertold is currently on a mission. He will return by the end of the month"

"...T- Thank you for the information", Ria said politely as she kept an aloof face.

However, her calm face only lasted until she got out of the building.

"FUCKING HELL!", she stomped the ground in frustration.

After having somewhat calmed down, she glared at the sky with a mutter. "Keep fucking Sylvia to your heart's content, Theodore Gray. You'll suffer more under Noah that way anyways..."

***

2 weeks had passed ever since I visited the shithole that was the Alchemy elective.

My business was doing exceptionally good, especially when there were people like the one idiot noble that ordered 3 whole boxes of sweet potions on the first day.

'I don't know who you are but thank you for being so stupid'

Well, asides from that weird noble, most of our sales as of right now was from Arthur's fangirls.

'Hehahahaha! It was definitely a good idea to make Arthur do the ad!'

As to the whole rumor that I was a Halfling. Well, it only got worse. Max definitely had a hand in this, seeing as how he smirked evilly at me whenever I came into class.

Some brave students tried to remove my sunglasses forcefully to confirm the rumor, but I just merely infused mana into my Eyes to scare them off.

And Sylvia... even though she still hadn't contacted me to finish up the rest of our deal, she still came to my dorm everyday after class to infuse mana into the egg.

'It's more like she wanted to play with the egg though... dragons are weird'

Anyways, those were my thoughts as I stared at Sylvia, who was snuggling with the egg in a thick blanket on the couch.

"It looks cozy"

"Mhm", she answered with her gaze still on the egg.

During these past 2 weeks, we've gotten somehow more comfortable with each other. Well, at least comfortable enough to make jokes and snarky remarks at each other anyways.

And I've found out that she was much more tolerant of me than I thought she was. As such, there were now much less awkward silence when she was in my dorm, and more of us doing our own things.

"...I'm hungry", Sylvia groaned.

"Then cook something", I curtly replied.

Still groaning, Sylvia reluctantly parted ways with the egg and moved towards my kitchen.

'Now that I think about it, this is the first time my kitchen is used...'

Not that it mattered, as I have always eaten in the cafeteria anyways.

Though, I would be lying if I said that I wasn't interested in what Sylvia was making.

"Sylvia!", I shouted. "Make some for me too"

"...Okay"
...

"..."

"..."

"Are you sure this is edible?", I gave Sylvia a skeptical look as I looked at the 'food' on the table.

'Is she trying to poison me?', I thought as there was a slight possibility that Sylvia was warning me for getting too comfortable with her around.

In response to my earlier question, Sylvia merely stabbed the 'food', which looked no different than a piece of charcoal, with a fork and munched on it.

Crunch—!

'I guess it tastes better than it looks...'

And with that thought, I very clumsily used a pair of chopsticks to put the food in my mouth.

"..."

"..."

'...It tastes just as bad as it looks'

Despite my thoughts, however, I still finished my portion. I didn't want to make Sylvia snap after all.

Well, that was part of it. The main reason why I decided to still eat the god horrible food was that I was absolutely starving. And even if I wasn't starving, I would still eat it, as I couldn't care less about how food tasted.

'As long as they're nutritious'

***

'W- What? Is he actually mad?', Sylvia thought as she watched Theodore eat the thing that could barely be categorized as food.

She would be lying if she said that she wasn't a little bit annoyed that Theodore asked her to make him food too despite having just told her to make her own food earlier.

As such, she made 2 portions. One that looked and tasted normal, delicious even. And the other was the food that looked and tasted like a piece of charcoal.

Her plan was getting him to eat the food and see his face crunch up in disgust. Then, she would laugh at him and pull out the actual food and enjoy it with him.

However, things didn't go the way she wanted them to, as Theodore was more than willing to eat his portion of the bad food.

'He actually likes it?'

Thus, she took note of this... strange preference of his, and mentally reminded herself to treat him to... similar things whenever she ate with him.

Pausing her thoughts there, Sylvia looked up at Theodore again.

He had already finished his portion. No, 'finishing it' wasn't the right word, as his plate was sparkly clean. Almost as if he wanted to savor the absolutely horrible taste forever.

And, worst of all, he was looking at her questioningly, as if he wanted to ask why her plate was still full.

GULP—!

Gulping a mouthful of saliva, Sylvia discarded the idea of secretly eating the good food she made and began eating the food that was on the table.

With extreme reluctance of course.

***

A week had passed since I first tasted Sylvia-approved food. And... everything she made afterwards only got progressively worse.

That wasn't even the worst part, as I began to actually think that the food tasted not that bad.

'A- Are my taste buds dying?'

Pausing my horrifying thoughts there, I looked at the 'lunch' that Sylvia made for me.

It was something... green. No, not vegetable. It was a piece of meat that had the color green.

Even Goblin meat was red-colored. As such, it was definitely quite a rare sight to see a naturally green meat.

'Unless it's not natural... oh no...'

Sniffing the food for confirmation, I crunched my face in disgust.

'It's definitely poison alright'

However, my artifact that could detect poisons said otherwise.

As such, I could only sigh and finish the lunch.
...

After finishing my meal, I came back to the couch again, only to be greeted with the all too familiar sight of Sylvia snuggling up with the egg.

I stared at them for a few seconds, trying desperately to burn this absolutely cute image into my mind.

Sylvia, seemingly having noticed my presence, looked up and met my gaze.

Thankfully, however, she didn't question why I was staring at her. Unfortunately, however—

"Do you have a name for your Wyvern already?"

—What she ended up asking was the thing I had least expected.

"Uh.... no?", I answered truthfully as I have never really thought much about it.

"Then", Sylvia's eyes shone with excitement. "You should think of a name! You can always consult me if you can't come up with anything, you know?"

"Hmm..."

After thinking hard for a while, I nodded in satisfaction as I came up with a perfectly good name.

"Bob."

Hearing this, Sylvia tilted her head in confusion. "Bob?"

"Yes. Its name shall be Bob"

"But she's a girl though...", Sylvia said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"The Wyvern's a female?", I was genuinely surprised.

"Yes. It's very obvious. Especially after I was able to feel her mana for weeks"

"I see..."

'It's a Sylvia-only thing I guess', I thought as I couldn't recall anything really special when I injected my mana into the egg.

Waking me up from my thoughts, Sylvia asked yet another question. "So, do you have any other names?"

I shook my head. "No, it will still be Bob"

"But the name doesn't fit her gender!", she similarly shook her head.

"Why does it even matter?"

"It does", she retorted, and then her eyes turned dreamy for some reasons. "I think we should call her Glacia"

It was a decent name. However—

"...But it won't even have Ice affinity"

—It really didn't fit a <Great Storm Wyvern> as much as 'Bob' did.

"She won't have Fire affinity either! So why are you naming her 'Bob'?"

"..."

"..."

We stayed in complete silence as we both glared at each other in annoyance.

" 'Glacia' is still better than 'Bob' ", Sylvia broke the silence as she voiced her stubbornness out loud.

However—

"Whatever. I'll name it Bob when it hatches"

—I was equally as stubborn.

"Her name's Glacia"

"No, it's Bob"

"Glacia!"

"Bob!"

"GLACIA!"

"BOB!"

"GLACIA!"

"BO—"

"...Can you guys keep it d-"

""ALICIA!"", we both shouted as Alicia intruded in our debate.

"W- Wh—"

Not letting Alicia finish her sentence, both Sylvia and I interrupted her at the same time. ""Which is better? Glacia or Bob?""

Darting her eyes between me and Sylvia at a surprisingly fast speed, Alicia stuttered. "Um... G- Glacia?"

She then ran out of the room, not wanting to deal with me nor Sylvia any longer.

"Traitor!", I screamed. However, she was already gone.

Sighing, I turned my gaze back towards Sylvia, who was caressing the egg while having a wide smile on her face.

"There there Glacia", she whispered. "I saved you from his horrible naming sense"

Normally, I'd have interrupted her yet again and insisted on naming the Wyvern 'Bob'. However—

"C- Cute..."

—The scene right before my eyes could best be described as 'heavenly' to a 16-year-old like me.

Since I accidently muttered those words out loud, Sylvia was definitely able to hear it.

As such, she was staring at me with a red face.

"N- No! Y- You're wrong! I'm n- not c- cu...!"

She then buried her head inside the blanket and lets out a muffled scream that sounded more like a cute squeal.

Not wanting to deal with the awkwardness that would definitely ensue when she calmed down, I quickly left the room.

But not before catching a glance of Sylvia peeking at me from inside the blanket with flushed cheeks.

CLANK—!
...

"Heh, how cute...", I muttered as I thought back to Sylvia's dazzling smile.

I was so infatuated with her smile, in fact, that I had an almost irresistible urge to prevent that incident from befalling Sylvia and protect her smile. After all, she would be depressed for years after going through... it.

'Sometimes... I really wish this world wasn't a novel...'

However, as soon as I finished my thoughts, I immediately realized that how... awry my mindset had gone.

I was... actually enjoying my time at Avaron.

'Come on Theodore Gray!'

SLAP—!

'Major event like that have to happen NO MATTER WHAT!'

SLAP—!

If anyone came across the sight of me slapping myself right now, they would have questioned my sanity. However, I couldn't care less about such things, as what I was doing was extremely important.

SLAP—!

'DO NOT get too attached'

SLAP—!

'Lest you want it to hurt badly when she inevitably join Arthur's harem'

SLAP—!

'She's just a tool that you use to your advantage'

SLAP—!

'You're a cold person, and your past reactions was just your raging teen hormones messing you up'

SLAP—!

With the final slap, I stopped hitting myself.

"...S- Sorry, Syl..."

I felt tears accumulating in the corner of my eyes as I finally became aware of what I should do from now on. However, I didn't want to cry, as I knew for a fact that it would just weaken the resolve that I painstakingly hardened.

"Hehahaha!", I let out a self-deprecating chuckle. "I've enjoyed myself for more than enough..."

I'd have to had been an idiot if I didn't notice that Sylvia liked, or at the very least, had a little bit of affection towards me. The opposite was also true as I... started to feel affectionate towards Sylvia.

And I'd have to had been stupid if I didn't realize that Sylvia really meant it when she said she wanted to compensate for me. And that she really felt guilty about forcing me to fight.

'Guess I was indeed stupid until now...'

Although I was extremely reluctant to just stop enjoying my time with Sylvia, I knew that it was the best course of action... for both me and her. 

'Should I just use the skill...?'

As I thought that, however, I remembered back to my fight against Sylvia. The feeling of having negative emotions overwhelm my entire being was... not a good one to say the very least.

Thus, I shook my head, and decided not to do it.

Sighing, I turned on my phone to take my mind off this whole situation.

"Oh... I almost forgot about this..."

I wasn't in the mood to attend the event right now, but—

'Maybe this will help ease my mind...'

—I still decided to go anyways.

Thus, I walked out into the rain and made my way towards the shooting range.
***

"DARLING!"

"Oh, Ri— oof!", Noah lets out a gasp of surprise as Ria suddenly gave him a tight embrace.

"Did you miss me?", he smiled as he patted Ria's head.

In response, however, Ria just gave him a serious look.

"Uhhh... What's with that look, Ria?"

"Darling, I have to tell you something"

Hearing this, Noah's face hardened.

'D- Don't tell me she's... pregnant?'

However, he quickly shook that thought away, as he had definitely used protection every time he did it with her.

Thus, he turned towards Ria, and asked. "What happened?"

Sighing, Ria told Noah about the conversation Sylvia and Theodore had in the infirmary, and the fact that Sylvia had been coming in and out of Theodore's dorm for the past month now.

"I see... Good job telling me this, Ria", Noah muttered as his eyes turned cold.

Seeing this, Ria couldn't help but to curve her lips into a grin. 

'Serves you right, Theodore!'

Noah, unaware of her thoughts, spoke with a serious tone.

"Ria, where is Theodore Gray right now?"

Barely able to contain her excitement, Ria answered. "I've just texted him to meet me in my dorm"

"Alright then", Noah sighed. "Let's go to your dorm and wait for him, shall we?"
***

Plit—! Plat—!...

Rain streamed down to the ground as I made my way towards the outdoor shooting range. 

Normal Lightning mages would have been overjoyed in this kind of weather, as this was the only time when their magic was actually useful in a fight.

However, I was anything but a normal Lightning mage. As such, I wasn't exactly thrilled to go out into the rain and wet my clothes.

In fact, normally, I'd have absolutely hated going out in this weather, but—

'Huh? I actually feel refreshed?'

—Lyra's traits seemed to have assimilated into me even more.

Not just that, I felt that my strength was increased by a bit under the rain. Or well, the storm now.

Putting aside such thoughts for now and focusing on walking, it didn't take me long to get to the shooting range.

-Fuck! Why do we have to do the competition in this weather?

-Don't ask me! Senior Ethan and Gwen are the ones to call the shots.

-Wait... isn't this whole thing basically a quarrel between those two?

-Yeah... I still don't get why we have to suffer because of them...

Ignoring the conversation between the 2 Archery elective members, I turned my gaze to the left, where most of the members of the Sharpshooting elective were at.

"..."

'As expected...', I thought as I saw that every members had their head drooped down, and probably extremely unconfident in their chances of winning.

Sighing, I decided to sit a little bit away from my elective in absolute boredom, waiting for the competition to start.
...

"Why the fuck are you here, loser?"

Hearing the sweet sound of drama, I instantly turned my gaze towards its source and watched it with interest.

'Finally! Something interesting happened! I thought I was going to die of boredom!'

The situation, or what I'd like to call 'drama', involved 2 people: A boy and a girl.

Judging by the color of their Avaron insignia, they seemed to be 2nd-year students.

The boy looked just like your typical bully, with a bulky body and tattoos on his arm.

The girl, well, she was anything but typical. She wore a yellow robe, yellow pants, yellow shoes, yellow socks. Even her eyes were yellow.

Her hair was also yellow. No, not blonde. It was actually bright yellow. And it was tied into a... ponytail?

'Actually, what do you call that?', I was absolutely confused.

After all, the supposed 'ponytail' looked like a bolt of Lightning, and it was pointing upwards. Not just that, it was even crackling and glowing as if it was an actual Lightning bolt.

'...What a unique appearance'

Although I felt as if I had heard a description of someone exactly like her from a certain gray raven that was probably still snoring in my dorm, I decided to not think about it any further.

'Lyra rambles a lot anyways... it's probably nothing'

Pausing my thoughts there, I turned my gaze towards the pair of students again.

"Why shouldn't I be here?", the girl asked innocently, as if unconcerned by the fact that he had just called her a 'loser' earlier.

"You're a fucking Lightning mage! You and I both know that you're useless in this competition"

In response, the girl merely pointed her finger towards the sky. "What do you see?"

Confused, the boy blurted out. "Clouds...?"

"And?"

"...Rain?"

"Exactly!", she exclaimed.

Apparently realizing his mistake, the boy coughed awkwardly. "Keum! Sorry..."

'How surprising... the bully actually admitted that he's wrong'

However, I soon snapped myself out of my own thoughts as I noticed the girl's mischievous grin.

Bzzzzzzzzzt—! Crackle—!

"Hehahahaha!", she giggled almost evilly as she cladded her hands in bright-yellow electricity and slowly moved them towards the boy's wet shoulders.

However, just as her hands were mere inches away from her target, the girl suddenly snapped her head sideways and met my gaze.

Various emotions flashed through her eyes in what seemed like an instant: Discomfort, confusion, surprise, realization, and finally... awe?

<[Lightning rampage]>

Following the loud chant which sounded more like a scream, the girl's body turned into a yellow bolt of Lightning. And almost instantly after, she appeared right in front of me with her hands behind her back.

'Fast!', I widened my eyes in shock.

In fact, if she wanted to, I would have died before I could even figure out what was happening.

'Well, maybe I could stand a chance if I used [Red lightning]'

Snapping me out of my thought, however, was the girl's energetic voice. "Hello!"

"Um... Hi?"

"I noticed that you were staring at me"

"That's...", I scratched the back of my head. "It's really hard to not stare at you"

Still looking at me with awe and respect like how a fangirl would, she spoke. "I'll take that as a compliment!"

"..."

"So", she moved closer to me. "Is it just the rain or you really looks miserable and sad right now?"

I was, in fact, really sad just half an hour ago. However, I was pretty sure that I've wiped all of those emotions off my face by now.

'Probably...'

Not really having anything to see my own face with, I blindly answered. "It's just the rain, I guess"

"Nah", she shook her head. "I'm good at reading people. And something tells me that you're depressed"

Not letting me retort to her very assumptive statement, she continued. "It doesn't matter much anyways. What's important is that you reeks of a Lighting God"

"Huh?"

Although it was probably true that I had much of Vihar's and Lyra's divine power within me, it was strange that this girl could see it with a mere glance.

'I should be careful around her...'

"Aw... why did you 'huh' me?", she pouted. "Tell me, what's your name?"

Almost by reflex, I gave her my name. "Theodore Gray"

"I'm glad to meet you, Theodore!", she extended her hand out, apparently wanting me to take it.

Sighing, I grabbed her hand and shook it.

Satisfied, she put her hand behind her waist, leaned forwards, and flashed me a wide smile. "Let me introduce myself. My name is Lyn Blitz and I'm—"

Yellow electricity crackled around her as she voiced out her next words.

"—the Saintess of Light—