Capítulo 25: A night out

"So, why am I here, exactly?"

"Because Sophie said that you needed rest to grow stronger, and she is probably the strongest out of all of us!"

I don't know how I got talked into joining the group for a trip out to the city center, now sitting on the train that would take us there from the academy. Maybe it was because it felt unpolite to decline the excited golden boy, maybe it was because I was still overly hyped after getting my Side Manual. No matter what, I had somehow ended up here as a part of the clique.

As the train had its seat paired up and facing each other, the whole group could sit with each other. The group in question which consisted of me, Arthur, Sarah, Anna, and Sophie with me and Arthur on one side and the girls in front of us.

All of us were wearing student uniforms, something Arthur had encouraged me to do as well as it seemed like students got a lot of discounts in several places. Luckily I had gotten a couple of sets sent to my room during my absence from class yesterday.

It wasn't bad, per se, getting to lay my eyes upon the three very different beauties in front of me.

Anna, the petite and delicate girl wearing elegant glasses. Unfortunately, her curves were just not there, making her very much not my type.

Then we had Sarah, with her amazing golden hair, somewhat innocent face, and moderate but very attractive body. From a purely physical point of view, she was pretty great, but when one considered the fact that she was a princess, it was a no-go. Even more so as she had said that as soon as we got to the city, her bodyguards would watch us in secret throughout our entire stay.

Lastly, we had Sophie. All of her was very, very in line with my type of girl. Extremely curvy, yet athletic body and a mature face. It was just that it would be nice if she was several sizes smaller...

Still, they were well worth taking some time to look at, similar to how one would appreciate Mona Lisa or the Eiffel Tower.

'It's also a good distraction from the fact that I'm GOING TO GET SURROUNDED BY HUNDREDS OF PEOPLE IN A COUPLE OF MINUTES!'

My heartbeat started speeding up, my neck sweating, and my face felt cold. Just as I was about to have a minor panic attack, Sarah managed to save me. "So James... What have you been up to this week? I mean, I know that you have been training, but what kind of training did you do?"

As my vision was still a bit blurry, I didn't notice the slight blush on her face, "Well. I have mostly been meditating, practicing with my weapon, doing some physical training, and reading up on animals. Oh, I also learned how to use my element!"

All of the other students just stared at me in awe, unable to understand how I was able to get so much done in a single week.

Most students would spend their time focusing on one thing at a time, like how Sophie and Arthur spent most of their free time sparring, thus they must've believed I was an idiot for doing so many things at once. Or so I thought...

"You already learned how to use your element?! How?!"

Sarah was the one to ask the question, but I could see that the others were thinking the same thing, all of them intently waiting for my answer while leaning forward.

'Hooo... Seems like it was even more impressive than I thought! It would be a waste to tell them about my Side Manual, ruining the illusion that I am a super genius!'

"Well, it took a couple of tries, but then it just sort of happened."

"Bullshit! Prove it!"

Anna didn't believe my lies at all, her little face turning into a frown as she called me out.

'If only she knew that I was lying about the fact that I only needed one try to conjure my mist...'

Straightening my back a bit, re-energized by the looks of awe coming from my fellow youths, I met her demand head-on.

"Sure. I'll prove it."

Lifting my right hand, I quickly conjured a small cloud of dense mist around it, making Anna whisper, "-Holy shit..."

After letting it conceal my hand for a couple of seconds, I spread it out thinner around us, reenacting the same kind of visual potency as when you were looking through fogged glass.

Feeling pleased with my little performance, I let the mist dissipate, ending the obstruction of our visions.

Keeping a poker face, to make sure I looked as humble and cool as possible, I just concluded the conversation with a "See? Told you I learned how to use it. Anyway, how long is it until we reach the city?"

Turning my head out towards the window, I completely missed the fact that one of the girls was currently staring down at the floor with a red face, her fists shaking as she clenched them hard to contain her immense elation at seeing the one she was interested in flex a bit.

====

I was still faring fairly well, mostly as a result of focusing most of my consciousness on the main body who was diligently practicing using [Conjure] at home, meditating when I got low on mana.

Before I knew it, we were sitting at a wooden table in what looked like a very traditional tavern, immensely reminiscent of what one would expect from traditional RPGs. It was just a bit weird to end up here after walking through a modern city filled with skyscrapers and neon lights.

Just like the game, this world was set in the same period as the Earth was, meaning that the year was currently 2020 and the modern society was a reflection of it.

After giving our orders to the lovely waitress, who happened to be a big burly man with a bushy beard, there was more small talk to be had, with Arthur taking the lead. With his smile shining on us, making me want to raise my hands to block the light he started talking about what would happen next weekend.

"So what do you guys think about the upcoming ranking event next week? I don't know if I will do well, but I'm going to do my best to try and claim a spot in the A-class!"

'Wait, what is he talking about? Tournament?'

It wasn't that I couldn't easily conclude that we would be having some kind of tests to determine our specific rankings, which also gave us the chance to climb up from the B-class, it was just that I hadn't heard about it before.

Even Sophie appeared to already know about it, "I think it'll be fun. Though I think I will appreciate the duels a lot more than the survival part of the test. Ugh... Just thinking about spending three days in a forest makes my skin itchy..."

As she pretended to scratch her arms, Anna just dismissed her silly words, "We are allowed to bring insect repellant, also shouldn't a commoner like you be used to being around insects."

"Shut up, you stupid noble! Maybe you should go back to your castle and ride around a unicorn or something!"

Although they were throwing harsh words at each other, they were both laughing and smiling, clearly showing it was all just some friendly banter.

'Why doesn't Sophie react like that when I tease her?'

A mystery, that's what it was. An enigma I wouldn't get the answer to in a long time, mainly because I never asked her.

Then the stereotype-breaking princess opened her mouth, speaking timidly and abashed like always, "Umm, James?"

It couldn't be helped that I didn't know that she carried herself proudly for the majority of the time and that it was, in fact mainly my presence that made her act like this.

Turning my head to the lovely princess, I replied curtly, "Yea?"

She brushed away a lock of her golden hair that had fallen to her face as she continued, "Do you have someone who you wanted to team up with in the survival? I heard that if you don't register as a pair before Tuesday, the teachers would pair up the remaining students themselves or you would have to go solo."

'I guess she was impressed by my little display on the train. Sadly, I don't think we could work well together and if her words are true, I would very much like to go solo if possible.'

Letting on a polite smile, turned her down before she could even ask me to pair up, "Sorry, Sarah. I'm planning on doing the survival event by myself. I don't want anyone to feel burdened by having to team up with me, I'm pretty weak after all."

'A frank but polite refusal, check. Explaining my reasoning, check. Doing the pity dance, check. All in all, I would rate my performance an 8/10.'

As expected, she didn't force the subject on me anymore after that and as if waiting for our conversation to end, our food got served to our table. Big plates filled to the brim with food and wooden mugs containing our selected drinks.

It smelled delicious, tasted delicious but felt like shit. Why? Because I had spent 250 USD just to get a steak and an ale. That was a quarter of all of my assets just thrown away, getting eaten up in a matter of minutes.

"Oh! Do you really like the food that much James? I mean, even to the point of tearing up?"

'Yes, Arthur. Even to the point of tearing up...'

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