'I almost thought I was going to die.'
No matter how much I used the evenings and early mornings, it was too much. The half-day training raised my score by 0.4 points, but after making the medicine, I only had five days left.
I managed to achieve the goal with just nine hours to spare, after skipping class three times.
Fortunately, my strength and endurance had significant increases, sometimes earning me more than 0.4 points.
Ding—!
Congratulations!
'Proposal 2: Achieve 0 points in 'Health'' Successful!
'Confirming 'Route 1 — Chapter 3 Special Reward'.'
'I wonder what's coming out.'
Chapter 3 Special Reward
Do you desire a particular trait? We've prepared this for you!
'Trait?'
As I looked at those words, a memory flashed through my mind.
'Could it be because I said I wanted the exchange student trait back then…?'
I guess I need to be more careful with my thoughts from now on.
I watched the white light cluster that appeared before me.
The light began to take a certain shape, forming a pile of notes.
They looked like pages torn from a book and folded. The texture of the milky white paper with tiny black ink letters was vivid. However, due to the shining light, I couldn't read the contents.
'So, I just need to pick one of these…'
I squinted and reached into the pile of notes.
Before I could properly open a note, white letters appeared before my eyes.
Ding—!
Congratulations!
The 'Charm' trait has been added!
What the hell?
I couldn't help but laugh out loud at the absurdity.
Charm? What good is charm? A mage makes a living with magic, not charm… Are they kidding me?
'Guess I had bad luck.'
Although having something is better than nothing… Do I really need such a trait right now? No matter how I thought about it, I couldn't shake off my skepticism.
With a complicated mind, I summoned the Charm trait.
Charm Lv.1
― 'I want to be friends!' Increase Favorability with a certain target by 2 points
― 'If you say so, it must be right.' Persuasiveness increased by 20%
― 2.0 points needed for the next level
I take back what I said about it being a joke.
I was too narrow-minded. I shouldn't judge a trait by its name.
Increasing Favorability and Persuasiveness by 20%.
Both are appealing, but the Persuasiveness aspect is particularly attractive. It's a trait worth investing in for the long term.
'Not bad.'
I closed the window with satisfaction.
* * *
"Narce! It's Narce's day!"
Pie excitedly ran around my shoulder, shouting.
The reason this guy is here is that he found it amazing to meet someone who could communicate, so he kept warping to my room using his divine power.
After taking him to the administrative office for the eighth time, the staff contacted Narce and explained the situation. Narce said it was okay to leave Pie free if I was fine with it.
Since I had to be alone from midnight, adding one more animal wouldn't be too chaotic, so I accepted.
And… During our time together, I gathered a lot of information about Narce. I decided to make him an ally, but since we hadn't even had a proper conversation, I needed to be cautious. The more I knew about him, the better.
I didn't need to ask Narce about himself.
Pie voluntarily spilled all sorts of information about him.
I recalled the trivial information that Narce, who came from a seminary, didn't like to eat noodles and mumbled to myself.
"Good for you."
"You're happy too, right?"
"Yeah, I'm happy."
Well, we'd be happy if we got along to some extent. But I just played along for now.
"Narce will be happy to meet us too~!"
"I see."
I put him in the cage and told him not to follow me, then headed to the classroom. Although a cage is useless for a guy who warps using divine power, I still put him in to keep up appearances.
I grabbed the slightly open classroom door and pulled it.
The students were gathered in the back row, chatting noisily.
"The 1st section must be nervous."
"We dropped to 3rd place in the final exam of the first year. We have no right to complain now."
"They don't remember that. Once we're in the middle of the term, they'll start blaming our exchange student."
"Let them. But we have to win first to even get blamed…"
"Narce! Are you good at any sports? We have a competition before the break."
Someone interrupted to change the subject, and the student in the middle smiled and answered.
"Well, I'm confident with most ball games."
"Hey, we've won. It's over."
"Why are you pressuring him as soon as he arrives?"
This school has exactly two classes per department.
Since there are only two, there's a subtle rivalry between the classes. They compare everything, from the number of students selected for special classes and the class average scores to various competitions. Sometimes, even the professors encourage competition, saying it helps improve achievement.
'It's inevitable.'
Even in high school, where classes were more divided, we sometimes joked or seriously compared our performance with other classes.
It's like our obsession with winning the athletic meet prize turned into a focus on grades and various competitions.
And since this school gathers top students from all over the country, the students here are more obsessed with their grades than those from other schools.
Unfortunately, since the first exam after our admission, the other class, 1st section, has slightly outperformed us.
I handed out notebooks to the students sitting next to me and took my seat.
"Good job. Let's do our best today too."
"…Ugh…"
The students muttered with deadpan faces as usual.
At that moment, I made eye contact with a student sitting in the back corner of the classroom. When Narce saw me, he smiled and waved.
The classroom fell silent as if cold water had been poured over it.
They looked back and forth between Narce and me, then started to say something to Narce.
Creak—
"Hello, good morning."
"Good morning."
The professor who came in for the roll call greeted the students, and they quickly returned to their seats and greeted him back. After the professor briefed us on today's schedule, he mentioned Narce.
"Today is the first day for our exchange student. Since he'll be studying with us for a year, let's have him introduce himself."
The students' attention turned to Narce again. He smiled and stood up.
"Hello, I'm Narce Farnese, and I'll be with you this semester. Please take care of me."
"He has consistently achieved good grades at his previous school. I hope he performs well here too."
"Yes, thank you."
After the roll call and the first class, Narce approached me.
"Lucas."
Narce whispered.
"I got the message. Sorry for leaving Pie to you. Was he much trouble?"
"No, it was fine."
"Thanks for looking after him. If it's okay…"
"Narce."
A student carefully called Narce from outside the classroom.
Narce stepped out and soon returned with a smile, raising his eyebrows at me. I asked about the subtle gesture.
"What's up?"
"They told me to be careful because there's a rumor that you're Pleroma."
How considerate.
I couldn't help but chuckle.
"What did you say?"
"I said I don't think so."
"..."
His responses were always intriguing.
After a moment of thought, I asked, "Can we talk briefly after dinner?"
* * *
"Lucas."
Narce entered the dormitory lounge.
I placed the cage containing Pie on the table.
"I brought Pie."
"Lucas!"
"Thanks. Was he well?"
"We had fun!"
Narce just smiled without saying more.
I poured tea for Narce and sat down.
"Here."
"Thanks. I'll enjoy it."
"No problem. Did you get a tour of the school?"
"Yeah, the class president helped. I can use the personal training room starting today. Want to come?"
Since I need to inform Leo about Narce, I can't.
I shook my head lightly and changed the topic.
"No. By the way… I'm curious about something."
"What is it?"
"What kind of animal is he?"
"Oh, Pie? He's a sage rabbit."
Rabbit?
I stared at Pie in shock.
"…You're a rabbit?"
"To be precise, he's not just a rabbit. He looks more like a rat, doesn't he?"
"Yeah."
More like a hamster than a rat, though.
"He sure does. Anyway… don't you have something else to tell me?"
"Yeah."
I took a sip of tea and spoke.
"First… I think I should tell you this. I can hear him."
"What? Cough…!"
Narce turned and coughed. He looked at me, unsure if he was laughing or surprised.
"What?"
So he couldn't figure that out with his Insight.
If his level 2 ability knew everything, everything in the world would be under his control.
"Really… I didn't know you could actually hear him. I knew you used divine power, but I didn't think it was enough to communicate with Pie."
He must have used Insight just now to be sure.
Also, it seems he can't communicate with Pie from a distance. If he could, Pie would have already blabbered to Narce about our conversations.
I imprinted various bits of information from Narce's words in my mind.
Pie jumped from Narce's shoulder to the table.
"Now there are two people I can talk to! I hope more people can hear me!"
"No, that would get you in trouble with the diocesan office."
Narce stroked Pie's head and smiled. Then he looked at me directly and asked,
"You have other questions, right?"
I liked how quickly he got to the point.
"Yes, I have many questions for you. It's sudden, but it's important to me. Can you answer truthfully?"
"Sure, you saved Pie, so it's the least I can do."
I nodded and continued.
"Why do you think others shouldn't know about my magic?"
"You mean that day. Well, if I say it's intuition… would you believe me? It's hard to explain."
Intuition.
Insight can be seen that way too. It's not different from the information in the status window.
I nodded.
"Why do you think I'm not Pleroma?"
"Oh, that's definitely not the case. For one, you've never died."
This point… it's a common belief.
People don't see me as someone resurrected like Pleroma, but rather someone with Pleroma's traits. There are people who follow Pleroma's will without having died, so they can think that.
Narce's gaze drifted into the distance as he pondered.
"The rumors about you… I remember hearing that you drank animal blood at three and killed a servant at five. And that you drain the magic power of those around you."
"You know well."
"Your story is a topic even in the Papal State."
Narce drank his tea, carefully choosing his words before looking at me again.
"You've never willingly drunk blood or committed murder. If you ask for proof, my intuition is all I have. But it's the truth, right? You know that now, don't you?"
"Now?"
"Until recently, you probably believed those ridiculous rumors too."
"..."
I couldn't help but smile.
That's true. It's because I'm possessed.
Narce's golden eyes shimmered.
He clasped his hands together and asked me,
"Adrian Askanian isn't an ordinary person, is he?"
"..."
"Pinning his murders on his younger brother… That's not something a sane person would do."
Adrian Askanian… That's my brother's name.
I maintained my smile as I answered.
"Yeah."
The more we talked, the clearer it became.
I absolutely had to make this person an ally.