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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: FusionX
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“…You didn’t rob some noble’s safe or something, right?”
Renny looked at me with suspicious eyes after opening the heavy money pouch on the desk.
It was a bit sad to be doubted, but I could understand.
The money I brought in the pouch was enough to pay the tuition again and still have some left over.
“I got it from clearing dungeons.”
“No, how many dungeons did you have to clear to gather enough money to pay the tuition twice?”
“I cleared about five of them.”
“Dungeons? Five of them? You’re joking, right?”
“It’s true.”
“Wow… This is like pulling out the roots of the dungeons.”
Renny picked up a gold coin from the pouch and held it against the window.
Was she checking for counterfeit money?
Renny examined it for a while, then bit the gold coin.
“…It’s real.”
“Are your teeth okay?”
“Not really? Anyway, it’s definitely a real gold coin.”
Did she bite into a chocolate shaped like a gold coin instead of a real one?
I looked down at the half-broken gold coin with a clear tooth mark on it.
What a brutal inspection method.
Is this what it takes to hear the sound of a true final boss?
As if my staring bothered her, Renny put the half-broken gold coin piece on the desk and spoke.
“How long are you going to stare?”
“Isn’t it quite a rare sight?”
“…What weird thing are you saying? Millia is waiting for you, so why don’t you go? I need to go see Lady Karina.”
“Is Karina’s condition alright?”
“You should make a habit of always adding ‘Lady’. I don’t mind, but there are quite a few people who will look down on you if you don’t.”
“Thanks for the friendly advice.”
“No, it’s nothing…”
Renny avoided my gaze as if embarrassed and scratched her cheek.
Is this something to be embarrassed about?
Maybe she’s just not used to compliments.
Come to think of it, even in the original, I mean the game, she showed vulnerability to compliments, probably due to her rough past.
In the game, it didn’t lead to affection points… since she was an unattainable NPC.
“Anyway, the curse embedded in Lady Karina’s body is being gradually lifted. She’ll wake up soon.”
“That’s a relief.”
It was fortunate news from what I heard.
If something went wrong with Karina, no matter how much I struggled, I wouldn’t be able to survive in this world that was rushing towards destruction.
I could survive if I abandoned everything and ran away, but that was not really living.
It would be better to commit suicide instead.
…No, should I still struggle even then?
I thought of Millia, Renny, and Karina.
People who had become close enough to call friends.
How cowardly would it be to abandon such people and run away alone?
If I go, I should go all the way to the end.
Even if that end is destruction.
I turned my body and walked towards the door.
As I grabbed and turned the doorknob, Renny spoke casually as if she just remembered.
“Millia is waiting in the reception room, so go and see her once. She seems to have something she wants to show you.”
“Got it.”
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“Johann! Look at this!”
Millia twirled around in front of me with her arms spread wide.
It was a move you’d only see in comics.
Come to think of it, since this is inside a game, it might not be that strange.
Millia smiled playfully, placed her hands on her waist, and puffed out her chest.
Her not-so-small breasts slightly swayed on top of the jacket, emphasizing their volume.
Perhaps because it was a school uniform, it was an outfit that seemed to emphasize her loveliness.
“It suits you well.”
“Right? Right? Renny had it tailored for me!”
“…It looks expensive at first glance.”
Befitting the most prestigious academy in this world, the school uniform Millia was wearing also seemed to be made of very high-quality material.
The golden embroidery stitched here and there, the navy-blue jacket made of obviously high-quality fabric, the black skirt that revealed up to above the knees, and the pristine white dress shirt visible through the jacket.
It seemed she had the uniform tailored before I arrived.
Did she believe I could gather enough money to pay the tuition?
Or did she take out some hidden emergency funds to pay the tuition for her?
Whichever it was, contrary to her image of a mad dog, she was nosy.
No, was it sympathy for Millia’s tearful past that couldn’t be heard without crying?
Whichever it was, it didn’t matter as long as it helped.
“Johann? Johann! Are you listening to me?”
“Ah, sorry. What were you talking about?”
“I was talking about transferring from the second semester, did you not listen at all?”
Don’t make that upset face.
People can sometimes lose their mind from time to time.
I stroked Millia’s head and sat on the sofa in the reception room.
Leaning against the backrest was incredibly comfortable.
Next time, I shouldn’t do something crazy like clearing five dungeons in two days.
It was really insane.
In the last dungeon, when I saw an orc company heavily armed in the boss room, I was so dumbfounded that curses flew out of my mouth.
To kill them, I covered the area in front of the boss room with traps, released all the poisons I brought to immobilize them, and spent half a day using skills to gradually reduce their numbers.
Later, the orc that seemed to be the captain even looked at me with a disgusted face.
“…Are you tired?”
“Yeah.”
Millia looked at me with worried eyes.
I wasn’t tired enough to be looked at like that though.
I tapped the sofa armrest with my finger and said to Millia,
“Just continue the story. What about the second semester?”
“I decided to transfer! It’s difficult now in the middle of the first semester, so I’ll take the transfer exam and enter from the second semester!”
“Which department did you decide to go to?”
“I’m going to the Liberal Arts Department!”
The Liberal Arts Department.
The department that belongs to the neutral faction among the departments of Kalon Academy.
It was a department that played a role similar to the university we know in reality.
It was a department that studied various disciplines at a superficial level, close to liberal arts.
In the end, to go to an advanced course, you had to become a graduate student, but even if you just graduated from the Liberal Arts Department, there was no need to worry about employment.
I vaguely remembered reading such a setting from the tooltips on the loading screen.
…Why do I remember these things well when I can’t remember the detailed story?
“Are you confident in studying well?”
“That’s why I’m going to study at the library!”
“It will be difficult to catch up if there’s no teacher-”
The little one in front of my eyes is unbelievably a person from hundreds of years ago.
No, to be precise, that’s the setting, so her level of common sense or knowledge about this world is similar to a newborn baby.
In other words, she has to learn everything from scratch, but can she learn all of that before the second semester starts?
There’s no one to teach her either.
The only person we know is Renny, and even Renny isn’t someone who is overflowing with knowledge to teach Millia.
…Do I have to earn money to hire a tutor too?
How much would it cost to hire a tutor?
I felt dizzy at the unexpected private education expenses.
Why am I voluntarily taking on responsibilities that bring no pleasure?
After escaping from the deserted island, my job is to play the role of a parent that’s not even in my fate!
Am I destined to live as an old bachelor, playing the role of a parent for the rest of my life?
“…I want to date though.”
“Date?”
“…I misspoke. Don’t mind it.”
It seems I blurted out what I was thinking again.
I should slowly fix this habit.
Well, I can’t put a clip on my mouth either.
At this rate, I might end up saying important things about the future that I shouldn’t tell anyone.
“Do you want to date, Johann?”
When I looked at Millia at her question, she was looking at me with a very intrigued expression.
Did I say it to the wrong person?
Thinking that, a sigh naturally came out.
“…It would be a lie if I said I didn’t want to.”
Isn’t dating during the golden age of life something everyone does at least once?
I don’t know if the golden age of my life will come before or after the possession.
“With whom?”
“…I haven’t lived a life leisurely enough to think about such things.”
I gave a rough answer.
It’s also because I don’t have anyone I have clear romantic feelings for.
The women I’m close with right now are Millia, Karina, Renny, and Sif, but there are many issues in developing into a romantic relationship in many ways.
I don’t think we’re close enough to think about dating either.
I think we’ve built something like camaraderie though.
“I see… Come to think of it, I haven’t thought about it either!”
“A forever alone club, huh.”
“Is that so?”
Millia and I burst out laughing at the same time.
I didn’t know why I was laughing, but I couldn’t stop.
After laughing like that for a while, Millia stopped laughing and said to me,
“I’m sure you can date someone, Johann!”
“What about you?”
“I want to try it, but going to school is more important to me than that!”
“…Is that so.”
Is she going to follow her own dream in her own way?
It was a good attitude.
“Since you’re going, study hard.”
“Of course! When I graduate from school and become successful, I’ll pay back everything you’ve done for me so far with interest!”
“Then I’ll have to accumulate a lot of debt until then.”
“Hehe, accumulate as much as you want! I’ll pay it all back later!”
…I don’t think I can expect her to be able to pay it back.
I chuckled as I watched Millia speak with confidence.
Still, it was commendable of her to have such thoughts.
Then I should also earn money so that Millia can graduate.
…With a decent job that can give me a proper status.
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