24 – Cafeteria 3
From the moment I entered the cafeteria, I felt the students’ eyes on me. After seeing me once, people who were eating together chattered among themselves.
I didn’t need to hide anything; I heard everything they were saying.
“Hey, look over there.”
“Why there? Are you trying to steal his side dishes? Don’t be fooled now.”
“Oh, come on. It happened just once. Turn around and look at that.”
“Why make a fuss about it? Just turn around already.”
Apart from freshmen, not many had seen me. It was the day of the entrance ceremony. Except for professors and club representatives who watched the auditorium from monitors, there were hardly any others.
“That guy over there is the one I mentioned. That unique magic of his.”
“Yeah, but why is Johanna next to him…”
Distinguishing between the students who saw me for the first time and those who didn’t was simple.
“Is it okay to wear that mask?”
“You’re wearing a necklace too.”
“That’s different from this.”
Someone who saw me for the first time today commented on the mask I was wearing. I hadn’t seen an academy student wearing such a ridiculous mask before, so I understood the curiosity.
If there was any dissatisfaction, it was that I didn’t hear voices talking about my handsome face, but I guess it would be embarrassing to talk about it out loud.
“You can talk about it without being embarrassed, you know.”
“What are you talking about?”
When I suddenly muttered to myself, Johanna tilted her head and asked. In her blue eyes, staring at me, there was a mix of curiosity and interest.
“Why is Johanna with that guy?”
“Well, you see.”
If it wasn’t the first time a student saw me, they questioned why Johanna was sticking with me. No, it’s not a question but more like jealousy and envy.
Many eyes looked at me with dissatisfaction, as if they didn’t like the fact that a freshman like me was eating with Johanna. But this is normal. Most students in the special class didn’t recognize Johanna because they were not normal.
Even after receiving the meal and sitting with Johanna, the gaze didn’t diminish; instead, it increased.
“Now, he’ll take off the mask, right?”
“Of course. How can you eat with a mask on?”
After that, ignoring the expectations of the students who thought I would take off the mask, I continued to eat with the mask on.
“The Academy’s food is really delicious, as expected!”
I could sense everyone’s disappointment when I ate without taking off my mask. Even Johanna looked at me with regretful eyes when I didn’t take off my mask to eat.
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But there were students who were more interested in the mask itself than regretting my decision to keep it on.
“What’s the identity behind that mask?”
“I’ve never seen such a mask before.”
“Could it be an artifact?”
“Should I ask to borrow it later?”
They stared at me, fascinated by the mask that allowed the food to pass through and into my mouth.
While being watched by them as I ate, I noticed Sepia sitting alone, having her meal in the distance. She also caught my gaze and our eyes met.
Sepia seemed to realize that I was looking at her and quickly turned her head. The spirits around her tried to cheer her up by being cute and affectionate.
Perhaps because Sepia was eating alone, a guy stood up with his tray and approached her.
The guy who approached Sepia started a conversation with her. We couldn’t hear their conversation from a distance, but he probably asked if he could join her for a meal.
Even though we couldn’t hear Sepia’s response, her blushing face as the guy returned to his seat indicated her answer.
I turned my head to look in another direction. There, Lucas was having his meal with the students from the special class. It seemed like he had made quite a few friends after talking with the others for a while.
Some students wanted to get closer to Lucas and approached him. However, not wanting to disturb his meal, they all exchanged a few words and went back to their seats.
While observing them as I ate, suddenly I couldn’t see in front of me. Before I could even comprehend the situation, my vision was restored.
In front of me, Clara was standing with my red cloak in her hands. The reason I couldn’t see a moment ago was because Clara had held the cloak in front of my eyes.
“What’s this?”
“It’s my cloak!”
Clara responded in disbelief after hearing my cheerful reply.
“Would you ask if I didn’t know? Why are you asking me about your cloak?”
“Well, I covered it for Miss Clara and came out.”
“So… well, never mind.”
Clara, seemingly aware that continuing the conversation would only tire her, let out a short sigh and handed me the cloak. The cloak in my hand automatically draped itself over me.
Johanna, surprised to see the cloak putting itself on me, looked at me with slightly widened eyes. Clara, who had some idea of what was happening, also looked at me with a knowing expression.
“Is that an artifact?”
“Yes! As expected of a sorceress like Miss Clara, she recognized it right away.”
If it were Clara, she would have known just by touching the cloak. That it was an artifact.
“To pass an artifact around so casually, have you lost your mind?”
Clara scolded me. Well, she was right; passing around an artifact carelessly was indeed a negligent act.
“Well, still, Miss Clara is more important than an artifact.”
“What?”
After hearing my words, Clara blushed and hastily left the spot. Why is she acting like that?
“Why is she like that?”
“…”
Somehow, Johanna didn’t look pleased since I started talking to Clara.
“Senior, are you feeling unwell?”
“No…”
While having a silent meal with Johanna, someone approached her and spoke.
“Why are you eating alone today?”
Behind the approaching man, there were about ten men who seemed to be his subordinates. The man, leading the group of about ten men, appeared and informed his subordinates as if making an announcement.
“You guys eat separately; I’ll be having a meal with Johanna.”
It was a clear statement ignoring me. Johanna, with a face full of disgust, uttered a word while disregarding the man.
“Get lost.”
“Don’t say such bitter words. Have you thought about my proposal for engagement?”
Ignoring the man as if he wasn’t worth dealing with, Johanna continued eating. When Johanna ignored him, the man looked at me and said,
“You rejected when I asked to eat, and now you’re eating with this loser?”
The man, glancing at my mask, spoke with a sly smile.
“But when talking to seniors, you should take off your mask!”
Saying so, the man reached out towards my mask. Despite him exerting force to remove the mask, it did not budge.
“What, what’s going on? Why won’t this move at all?”
Without turning my head, I only shifted my eyes to glance at the struggling fool trying to take off my mask.
‘Should I kill him?’
Considering the troll-like actions this fool might perform later, killing him now might actually be better. The fool, unable to remove the mask, continued struggling, wearing himself out even with enhanced strength.
However, the mask still showed no sign of movement. Sensing the disturbance, students around us started looking our way one by one.
Seeing his subordinate, the man who seemed to be the fool’s lackey, draw a sword, he said,
“Take it off yourself when seniors ask you politely.”
Drawing a sword in a place with so many people. Just like a lackey of a fool would do.
“Do you really think I’ve said anything nice so far?”
As I spoke with a mocking tone, the lackey, angered, pressed the sword against my throat. How could someone make such a foolish judgment in a situation like this?
Before me was a sword. Johanna strengthened her body to knock out the subordinate immediately, but the hand of the subordinate pointing the sword at me froze faster than I could.
“aaahhhhh!!!”
“Who is it!!”
As his hand froze, the subordinate screamed, and the friend of the subordinate yelled to find out who did it.
“I did.”
The answer came from a place farther away than expected. It was a voice so chilling that it was almost numb. You could tell he was a man from that voice. There weren’t many people who could use magic from such a distant place.
The man walked slowly, and the students naturally made way for him.
The man walked slowly, as if it was natural for the students to make way for him.
Behind the man, more than twenty students followed, each with a gold badge attached to their uniforms. In the academy, the gold badge represented only one thing. The student council.
And the one who froze the subordinate’s hand.
The man who appeared leading all the student councils.
Joden Adellian.
The president of the academy’s student council.
He, the strongest among the recognized academy students, spoke to the frozen man and his friends.
“Wasn’t someone looking for who did it? I did.”
As he stepped forward, Buzzard and Buzzard’s subordinates, like frozen, couldn’t say a word.