Vol 3. Chapter 94: On the Emotional-Value Side of Things

“Speaking of which, Classmate Vinny, you really are blessed.”

Seeing the three people who’d brought Vinny in—with Mirexia even holding his arm in that intimate posture—the priest thought back to Vinny’s previous hospital stays and couldn’t help chuckling.

This kid’s luck with girls was pretty strong.

“Priest, could I trouble you to give Vinny a full examination again, to see if there are any aftereffects?” Aesphyra said.

“Oh? Did something happen again?” The priest pulled back his teasing expression.

“It’s a long story...” Vinny let out a quiet sigh.

The term had only just started, and he was already about to become a regular at Carillian Academy’s church. He’d practically met all the priests and nuns here by now.

After giving Vinny a full examination, the priest still didn’t find anything abnormal.

“Based on this exam, Classmate Vinny still doesn’t seem to have any major problems,” the priest said, rubbing his chin in thought. “His physical state is much better than before, and his mana has started circulating again. Judging by your expressions, did something happen to him again earlier?? Still, he does look a lot better than he did just now.”

“No. Classmate Vinny just felt a bit unwell after waking up, so we brought him over for a check-up,” Aesphyra said, shaking her head without explaining the details.

All of that should be reported to the Academy’s upper levels first, so they could guard against [Blood-Debt]. Telling anyone else would be inappropriate.

Especially—

Aesphyra thought of a certain possibility. It sounded absurd, but out of caution, she decided it was best to stay conservative.

“Classmate Vinny, there’s nothing seriously wrong with you. Aside from weakness from the earlier mana turbulence, you’re fine. Take these potions back and use them according to the instructions on the bottles.” When the exam was done, the priest handed Vinny several vials of different-colored elixirs.

“By the way, what exactly happened today? Earlier, Classmate Dale came to me, saying something had happened to you and asking us to bring nuns to take a look, but we couldn’t find the cause. What actually happened? Or rather, before you started feeling unwell, do you remember anything that happened?” the priest asked.

“M-me?” Vinny was about to answer when he suddenly felt Aesphyra’s gaze cutting toward him from the side. Their eyes met in midair for a split second, and Vinny understood instantly. He shook his head. “No, nothing, Priest. No warning signs at all. After I got back from the match last night, I just went straight to bed. Nothing happened that was worth noting.”

“Is that so? In any case, please take good care of your health,” the priest said with a nod, not asking further.

After that, Mirexia helped Vinny back to his dorm.

“Vinny, that star that hit you that day—was that related to [Blood-Debt]?” Mirexia asked, setting Vinny down on the sofa.

“That, I don’t think so.” Vinny shook his head. “That star was actually, uh... I don’t really know how to explain it, but it shouldn’t have anything to do with [Blood-Debt].”

“Before those images of [Blood-Debt] suddenly showed up in your mind, did anything happen that might be worth paying attention to?” Aesphyra, who had been walking silently beside them on the way back, finally spoke up.

“No. Absolutely nothing,” Vinny said after thinking it over.

“In any case, I’ll report this to the Academy first. Classmate Aesphyra, Classmate Dale, I’ll have to trouble you two to look after Vinny,” Mirexia said.

She didn’t really want to leave Vinny at a time like this either, but she knew what she needed to do right now—and she was Student Council President. She absolutely could not let a sinful [Divine Armament] like [Blood-Debt] keep running wild on campus.

Mirexia left, and only Vinny, Shicodale, and a contemplative Aesphyra were left in the dorm.

Vinny felt the atmosphere was a bit awkward. If not for Shicodale still being here, it would definitely be even worse.

“Ahem, Classmate Dale, why are you just standing there? Sit down,” Vinny said to Shicodale. Honestly, right now he had no idea how to start talking to Aesphyra. Just thinking back on those mortifying moments from before made every possible opening line feel unbearably awkward.

“Ah? Oh.” Shicodale nodded. Just then, Aesphyra extended a glass stone inlaid with mithril toward him.

“Eh? Classmate Aesphyra, what’s this?” Shicodale instinctively took the glass stone, but didn’t understand its purpose.

“Classmate Dale, I’m counting on you, alright?”

“Eh?”

“If anything happens, just crush this glass stone. Understand?” Aesphyra instructed. “Once it’s crushed, I’ll come immediately.”

The reason she wasn’t entrusting it to Vinny was, of course, to prevent a situation where his mind was under control and he couldn’t crush it.

“Ah, I got it!” Shicodale nodded again and again.

“Good. If there’s anything unusual or off, remember to let me know right away,” Aesphyra said, glancing at the darkening sky, then nodded to Shicodale and swept out.

Not only because it was late—

she also had some very important things to think through. She needed to calm down and go home.

Only once the door closed and Aesphyra’s figure had completely disappeared did Vinny look toward it.

So that girl was just going to leave without saying a single word to him? Not even a “see you”?

She really was mad, huh?? Still hung up on what had happened earlier and all that.

Or was she hung up on [Blood-Debt] suddenly showing up??

“Classmate Vinny, what’s wrong?” Seeing Vinny staring at the door in a daze, Shicodale asked.

“N-no, nothing.” Vinny shook his head, at a loss for words, not sure what to say.

Honestly, what was wrong with him? Tiptoeing around because of one white-haired nutball—this really wasn’t like him.

Still, they really did owe Aesphyra for this one. If she hadn’t shown up in time, there was no telling what would have happened next.

If he had grabbed hold of [Blood-Debt], would he really have been controlled by it, unable to help himself, turning back into that great demon from his previous life??

Vinny didn’t know. But a gentleman did not stand under a crumbling wall. No matter what the chance was, Vinny had zero interest in testing it.

He really, really didn’t want to lose everything he’d gained now.

Honestly, the more you had, the more cautious you became.

“Um, Classmate Vinny, how about tonight you, you...” Shicodale trailed off mid-sentence, suddenly stuck.

“Tonight I what?” Vinny looked at Shicodale’s face, flushed red all over, and immediately realized what he’d been about to say.

After a semester together, Vinny had picked up a bit of “Shicodale-speak.”

“No need, Classmate Dale. You don’t have to force yourself,” Vinny said, shaking his head. “Our rooms aren’t far apart. You don’t have to sleep in the same room as me.”

“Mm—but what if something happens to Classmate Vinny again?” Now that his intentions had been seen through, Shicodale was a bit flustered.

“Tonight, I really don’t think that thing is going to act up,” Vinny said.

“Eh? Why?”

“Its scheme just got exposed not long ago. If it’s lying in wait, picking a time to act, it’s not going to choose tonight, right? That would be way too reckless,” Vinny analyzed. “Besides, our rooms are so close. If something does happen, with your elf senses, you’d feel it, wouldn’t you?”

“Well, that’s true, but...” Shicodale still hesitated.

“Alright, don’t overthink it.” Vinny let out a long sigh. He really had more and more to worry about lately.

So this was what it meant to turn over a new leaf—life was still this hard even when you weren’t doing evil??

Vinny thought of one possibility: the story’s repair force.

If the power of the world insisted on making him do evil, insisted on jamming that villainous final-boss role onto him, would he be able to resist it and change his fate?

Man, if the world really did have a will, there were times he really wanted to say: World Will, I’m attending an 8 a.m. class here.

Why hadn’t there been a single good piece of news lately??

No, that wasn’t quite true. There was at least one bit of good news. Vinny could feel his mana circulating again. It seemed that while he’d been asleep, the side effects of [Saint’s Favor] had finally faded, and he could use his Spirit Soul and magic again.

As for Vanessa’s anemia, that had probably improved a lot too. It had been so long already that she should’ve recovered quite a bit.

The night passed without incident. Dawn came.

Today was still a rest day. Vinny woke up to Shicodale knocking on his door.

The recent nightmares had left him a bit mentally scarred. When he first saw Shicodale, he didn’t even process it right away.

“Classmate Vinny, are you? Are you sick?”

“Huh? No?” Vinny, who had just finished getting dressed, opened the door, speaking a bit wearily. “Okay, I mean, I am a little tired, but is it that obvious?”

“Classmate Vinny, you look really haggard today,” Shicodale said, clearly pained.

“Haggard?” Vinny slowly walked over to the floor-to-ceiling window and saw in the glass that his lips were pale, his eyes dull, his hair a mess, his complexion terrible—at a glance, he just looked terribly sickly.

What was wrong with him now??

“That’s weird. What’s going on with me?” Vinny thought for a moment.

“Should we, um, go back and have them take a look?”

“No. It should just be the aftereffects of being affected by [Blood-Debt] yesterday. I’ll take the potions the priest gave me for a few days. That should help,” Vinny said, pulling out the medicine from yesterday.

“Really? Are you sure?” Shicodale was half-convinced at best.

“More importantly, Classmate Dale, are you real?” Vinny’s gaze narrowed on Shicodale in front of him.

“Ah? Real?” That completely threw Shicodale. “What, real? Is Classmate Vinny saying you want something steamed for breakfast?”

“...Alright, I get it. You’re definitely real.” With that level of clueless adorableness, Vinny was certain no nightmare conjured by [Blood-Debt] could simulate it. Ninety-percent-plus chance he was genuine.

“Eh-eh??” Shicodale watched Vinny head downstairs, totally confused, still not understanding what he’d meant just now.

After Shicodale had waited on him to finish breakfast, he suggested Vinny go back to bed and rest, but Vinny refused.

“I spent all of yesterday lying in bed. I’m going stir-crazy. Today I’m going outside no matter what,” Vinny said, pulling on his shoes.

“Then I’ll go with Classmate Vinny?” Shicodale suggested. “After all, it’s not convenient for you to be alone right now.”

“It’s fine, Classmate Dale. In broad daylight on a sunny day, I doubt that broken sword would dare try anything,” Vinny said, stretching a bit. “Seriously, I’ve gone my whole life without being scared of anyone. If that thing really wants to go head-to-head with me, I’m not afraid.”

Shicodale couldn’t win against Vinny’s stubbornness, and in the end could only tell him to be careful.

Vinny walked alone down the Academy’s main street and was already a bit out of breath not long after.

“Come on, what is this...” Vinny sighed softly. “I’ve barely been a Magus for how long? I didn’t even get a chance to act cool, and all this hits me.”

Sure, his Spirit Soul was back, but now [Blood-Debt] had shown up, leaving him having to relive that sick-fever, whole-body-weak feeling from his previous life here in the magic world.

This wouldn’t do. In this condition, if someone challenged him, wouldn’t they snatch his ranking away in minutes??

He hadn’t gone far before he was too exhausted to keep walking. He ducked into a fruit-tea bar and ordered a hot fruit tea, then slumped in his seat like a salted fish that had lost its dreams.

“What a pain...” Vinny muttered, head tilted, expression lifeless.

Why? Because it was only after he’d ordered the fruit tea that he realized—

he’d gone out without bringing any money.

Had this fever fried his brain??

“Excuse me, handsome, are you here alone?”

“Uh...?”

Vinny really was a bit weak; normally, whenever he heard “handsome,” his first reaction was to assume they were talking to him. Today, he reacted half a beat late.

Wait. That voice sounded kind of familiar...

After a moment of delayed processing, Vinny slowly turned his head, and saw beside him a honey-haired girl in a girls’ student-uniform skirt and sheer white stockings. Even the bright sunlight couldn’t compare to her radiance.

“You were talking to me?” Vinny blinked.

“Of course. You won’t find a second boy this handsome in here, will you?” Luna let out a soft laugh like silver bells over running water, smooth and soothing.

“I—ah, well, haha, you’re flattering me, flattering me,” Vinny stammered for a moment. It had been so long since someone had praised his looks that he actually felt a little embarrassed.

This was his first time being called handsome by a truly beautiful girl.

“Classmate Vinny, it’s been a while,” she said.

“Yeah, long time no see. If I remember right, you’re... Classmate Haukekai?” Vinny pretended he still had some impression of her. After all, they had met once.

“Just call me Luna.” Luna smiled, then sat gracefully in the seat beside him. “So, has this fruit tea been paid for yet, Classmate Vinny?”

“Ah, not yet.” Vinny felt it was a little embarrassing that he’d ordered something and only then realized he hadn’t brought any money, and he didn’t know how to explain it.

“Then this fruit tea is my treat,” Luna said.

“Eh-eh, that’s... not really appropriate, is it?” On the surface, Vinny and she didn’t have much of a connection.

“There’s nothing inappropriate about it. If a boy this handsome is willing to let me sit next to him, shouldn’t I at least show some appreciation?” Under the sunlight, Luna’s smile was like that of a pure, flawless goddess.

Vinny froze.

Right now, if Luna also had some kind of Virtue system or favorability system, it would probably be detecting an extreme spike.

This really was the first time Vinny had been praised for his looks in this many different ways.

Setting aside the fact that Luna herself was an extraordinarily beautiful girl, just her maxed-out emotional-value conversation skills alone had Vinny grinning till his lips curled.

And she wasn’t done. She also casually smoothed over his awkward situation and offered a reasonable explanation for picking up the tab—all while taking care of his pride and maxing out his emotional value.

After that one exchange, Vinny’s mood went from overcast to clear skies.