Vol 3. Chapter 104: Another Coincidence

Right now, Vinny really wanted to crack, “Aesphyra, are we sure your growth isn’t the defective part of this equation?”

But under the powerful survival instinct roaring in his head, he swallowed it back down.

He had a very strong premonition: if he actually dared say something like that in the middle of this kind of dominance stand-off, he would definitely die a miserable death afterward. So he absolutely could not say it.

“Ahem, so, you two... are you playing some kind of ‘stare-down’ game?” Vinny coughed lightly and asked.

“Stare-down? Which pair is the small eyes?” Aesphyra turned an amused gaze on him.

“Uh...” Vinny noticed that, at the same time, Isatia also silently turned her eyes toward him.

Shit. Do not drag me into your kink session, okay!?

The moment he saw the look of the scene, Vinny broke out in a cold sweat.

In that instant, Aesphyra and Isatia’s previous mutual stand-off turned into both of them turning to look at him together.

Which basically meant the pressure of two equally unyielding forces had now been combined and dumped squarely onto his shoulders.

Vinny swallowed hard and silently cursed himself. Why did he have to say “stare-down” of all phrases? Couldn’t he have picked something else??

Now he’d said something that could be twisted into a competition. These two just had to compare themselves and were clearly demanding he be the judge—what was he supposed to say??

Forget it, just call it a draw. What else could he do? This was impossible mode.

But just as Vinny was about to open his mouth, Aesphyra cut in first.

“You’re not allowed to say something like ‘they’re the same size,’ Vinny. You know that. None of us want to hear that kind of ‘everyone gets a glass of water’ answer~”

Gulp.

The words that had reached Vinny’s throat instantly shrank back down again.

Excuse me??

Then what exactly was he supposed to say!?

From the side, Isatia also seemed to tacitly agree with Aesphyra’s terms, silently staring at Vinny.

The meaning was very clear: You. Answer.

Oh, come on!

Aesphyra’s line had basically sealed off Vinny’s intended escape route.

She had just thrown him straight onto the grill to roast. What was he supposed to say now??

Last time he’d been dragged into a situation like this, Aesphyra had been the one to come in and rescue the scene. Now Vinny felt like there was no one who could save him. It wasn’t like he could count on Shicodale inside the room. Shicodale was even more timid than he was, a quail among quails.

“Ah, uh, I think, you know, maybe don’t get hung up on something like that. I was just using a figure of speech; don’t take it so seriously, okay? More importantly, what are you doing out here? Why are you just standing there at the door staring each other down? Don’t tell me... you two both drew this same room?” Vinny probed.

The response he got was silence from both of them. Apparently neither seemed to want to give that question a direct answer.

Vinny let out a breath. Good. Thank god he was smart enough to change the subject.

He’d successfully shifted their attention from that life-or-death question onto something else.

That said, on this hot-spring trip... they really had both ended up with the same room??

Seriously?

Across two year-groups, there were still plenty of people who normally lived alone in single rooms. And in those conditions, these two had somehow drawn the same lodging? That was actually impressive.

Should he call it an incredibly high level of compatibility between them? That they were just fated like this?

Or was it that people with Carillian blood were naturally drawn to each other?

This had potential for chaos on a cosmic scale.

“Um, you two, standing here forever doesn’t seem ideal either. If other people see this, they’ll think it’s weird. And you’re blocking the hallway,” Vinny said, seizing a moment to glance behind him.

Sure enough, there was a certain white-haired little elf blinking a pair of big round eyes while hiding behind his back.

Main point: they were blocking their path.

“How about you go inside and talk instead? If you want to keep staring each other down, you can stare in there?”

By the time Vinny realized how badly that line was phrased, it was already out of his mouth.

“Where are you going?” Isatia looked at Vinny, finally breaking her silence.

“To eat,” Vinny said helplessly. “Look at the time, you two. It’s dinner already. Dale’s hungry and keeps telling me we should hurry up and go eat.”

“You two should go put your luggage away and then go eat too,” Vinny urged.

“Vinny, is Dale still sharing a room with you?” Aesphyra asked, for some reason.

“Of course he is. This time they only reassigned the people who normally live alone. If you already have a roommate, you stick with them. You didn’t know?” Vinny gave her a weird look.

“Oh, I see.” Aesphyra gave Shicodale a meaningful glance and then smiled.

“Such a coincidence, you two being placed together.”

As far as Vinny was concerned, the relationship between those two was... pretty delicate. But it wasn’t like the playful, flirty routine they had in his previous life’s game routes either.

“Is it a coincidence? Sometimes coincidence is just another form of bad timing~” Aesphyra chuckled softly, then glanced at the Isatia at her side. “Isn’t that right, Isatia?”

Isatia didn’t respond. Aesphyra didn’t seem bothered by that at all.

Uh-huh.

Vinny decided it was best not to get involved between them, so he prepared to back out. “Well then, you two go put your stuff away. Dale and I are going to grab dinner.”

“Let’s all go together,” Isatia said, arms folded, her eyes as beautiful and brilliant as starlight staring at Vinny calmly and seriously.

“Huh?” Vinny didn’t quite process it for a second.

“I’m hungry too,” Isatia said.

“Ah? Uh, but, Isatia, your luggage isn’t put away yet,” Vinny said, hesitating.

“Can I put it in your room for now?” Isatia asked.

“That... should be fine.” Vinny hesitated for a moment, wondering if these two had both forgotten to pick up their keys, which was why they were standing out here staring each other down.

Click.

Right then, a crisp sound rang out. Everyone turned to look. It turned out Aesphyra had just opened the door with her key.

“Aesphyra, you had a key this whole time?” Vinny’s face went dark.

He’d thought they were stuck in this awkward situation because both of them had forgotten to grab their keys.

If one of them had a key, why were they still standing there at the door staring each other down and refusing to go inside??

Vinny genuinely could not wrap his head around it.

“When did I ever say I didn’t have my key?” Aesphyra said, amused.

“Then why didn’t you go in?” Vinny’s gaze went back and forth between Isatia and Aesphyra, confused.

“I don’t know. When I got to the door, I saw Isatia standing there, luggage at her feet, staring at me without saying a word. I didn’t understand what was going on or what she saw that was so interesting about my face, so I ended up just... staring back for a while,” Aesphyra said, explaining how this started.

“So Isatia didn’t say a single word the entire time?” Vinny looked at Isatia with a strange expression.

“I thought Aesphyra had something to say to me,” Isatia said, arms folded. “So I was waiting for her to speak.”

“So you didn’t say anything either?” Vinny was speechless.

These two really were remarkably similar in some ways, each with this inexplicable stubborn streak.

Was it that serious? They wouldn’t even say, “Put the luggage in our room,” or, “Open the door,” or anything like that.

Vinny really had a hard time understanding them.

But since Isatia had said that much, Vinny couldn’t just leave first. He could only stand outside with Shicodale and wait until the two of them had put their things away, then all head to the dining hall together.

On the way they naturally drew a lot of attention. No one could quite understand why there were so many beautiful girls gathered around a guy like Vinny.

When they got to the first-floor dining hall, as the northern tribes’ flagship tourist destination, the environment was naturally very good. The food was pretty decent too; it just had a very strong tribal style.

The students from the northern tribes were naturally delighted. Coming back here was like coming home; the food and lodging all hit just right for them.

Vinny sipped some tribe-specialty meat broth and glanced at the table in front of him.

Yeah. The mood was oddly heavy.

Aside from him, the other three people at the table were all eating with extremely elegant movements. It was the kind of noble bearing carved into the bone from childhood, the kind you couldn’t fake if you tried.

On the flip side, the tribes didn’t have much in the way of vegetables, which was rough on vegetable-loving elves.

“Ahem. You two, we’re about done here. Do you want to go for a walk?” he asked.

“That depends on what Vinny wants, doesn’t it?” Aesphyra said, dabbing at her lips with refined grace.

“I’ll pass. It’s already late. Better to rest early,” Vinny said. He really didn’t want to keep soaking in this kind of low-pressure atmosphere. It felt like he and Shicodale had turned entirely into the battlefield.

And Shicodale, the little idiot, also didn’t dare to speak, just playing dumb like he couldn’t see anything.

“All right then. I’m about done too. Let’s head back,” Aesphyra said.

After finishing their meal, the four of them went up to the third floor and returned to the lodgings.

Before they reached their own door, Vinny saw two familiar faces at the door of the room next to his.

“Mirexia? Milian?” Vinny blinked when he saw the two golden-haired girls standing at the door.

“Vinny?” Mirexia was also surprised to see him here. She was just about to say something when, the moment she saw Isatia and Aesphyra walking alongside Vinny, she abruptly fell silent.

“Mirexia, did you draw this room?” Vinny looked at the open door.

“Yes. What about you?” Mirexia asked.

“Coincidence again. I’m in the room right next to yours,” Vinny said, pointing at the door behind them.

“And them?” Mirexia’s eyes shifted subtly toward Isatia and Aesphyra.

“Let’s just say that’s a huge coincidence,” Vinny said helplessly. “Isatia and Aesphyra— they’re over there, across from us.”

“I see. You just finished eating?” Mirexia looked like she was thinking about something.

“Yeah.”

“Long time no see, Mirexia dear~” Aesphyra stepped forward with a bright smile to greet her.

“Mm. It’s been a while, Aesphyra,” Mirexia nodded.

“So, were you two heading out to eat?” Vinny asked.

“We just got back too,” Mirexia said.

“Excuse me, but is this princess being ignored here?” Milian said, arms folded over her considerable assets, cheeks puffed in indignation.

Then her eyes shifted past Vinny to Shicodale behind him, and she leaned in.

“Dale, how have you been lately?”

“Fine,” Shicodale gave her a very perfunctory answer.

But Milian, this golden-haired dummy, acted like she didn’t notice at all. The moment she got a response, she had to scoot even closer and keep asking, making Shicodale shrink himself back even further.

How to put it...

Vinny looked around at the various beautiful girls surrounding him, each with their own distinct style and vibe.

What day is it today? Destiny Heroines convention?

All five Destiny Heroines were right here around him, completely surrounding him.

Oh, right.

Since Milian was here—

Vinny remembered something he’d always wanted to compare. He looked at Milian, then looked at Aesphyra, his gaze moving back and forth.

The two were hard to call one way or the other at first glance. But if you really did a detailed comparison—

After carefully looking, Vinny reached his conclusion. He gave Aesphyra a long, deep look, his eyes full of regret, and let out a heavy sigh.

Hey, white-haired nutball, I swear I’m not picking on you here.

Losing out in development was one thing. But you’re bottom of the pile in height too?

That’s right. At first glance, Aesphyra and Milian were neck-and-neck. But observation-master Vinny noticed a clue.

Aesphyra, this scheming little nut, was wearing custom loafers. The heels had been boosted. It wasn’t obvious, but Vinny still caught it.

Milian, the big dumb blonde, clearly hadn’t thought about any of that. Her heels definitely had no extra lift.

So the winner was obvious.

No wonder this little nut was so fond of knee-high heeled boots whenever she wasn’t in uniform.

Still, it wasn’t all bad. In terms of height and development, Aesphyra wasn’t bottom of the pile for everything. For development, in particular, she could easily beat Shicodale.

The rest... well. Yeah.

“Vinny, are you thinking some very rude thoughts right now?” Aesphyra asked, watching him with a smiling squint.

“Ah? No? Of course not. What are you talking about? Why are you suddenly jumping in mid-sentence like that? What rude thoughts? Don’t go inventing things in your own head,” Vinny hurried to cover up the fact that she’d nailed exactly what was going through his mind, replying with an utterly straight face.

“Oh~?” There was a different sort of meaning in Aesphyra’s eyes.

“Well then, everyone, rest early. We won’t bother you any longer—we’ll head back,” Vinny said, tugging Shicodale toward their dorm.

“Going to bed this early, Vinny?” Aesphyra suddenly said.

“Long trip. I’m beat,” Vinny explained.

“I just glanced inside—looks like the inn rooms have some board games in them. Why don’t we play~?” Aesphyra suggested.

“Play what? The three of us? How exactly is that supposed to work, nut-brain?” Vinny said, annoyed.

“Then I’ll join as well,” Isatia’s voice, as always, was calm and steady.

“Uh...”

“Vinny, could you teach me how to play?” Before he could even react, Mirexia cut in, sounding just a little too eager.