Became a Childhood Friend of an Academy Genius

33 – Arden Feltner (3)

After the sparring with Arden, who had exhausted himself, I sat down on the floor gasping for breath.

As the memories from earlier passed by like a kaleidoscope, my cheesy heart made me frown.

Even if it’s to see exactly how much Aden’s power is at this point in Amman, she talks about her friend and says something like a Llan Novel heroine.

It’s just a pity that he’s a boy who doesn’t even want to raise his likes.

“Ha, as expected…. hahahaha, that’s strong bell.”

I heard Aden’s voice in my ears as I was wiping away my blurry vision with sweat.

Sweaty, pointy hair kept poking at my eyes, so I brushed it off and cast my gaze, and a new type of guy sprawled on the floor caught my eye.

This side was also extremely tired, but the other side looked like a corpse.

Sweat trickling down the back of his neck soaked the floor and made him feel uncomfortable, but he gave a refreshing smile as if he didn’t care at all.

“Are you talking about your in-laws? Thanks to you, this side will die too.”

“But didn’t Bell tell her to come with all her might?”

“… Well, I have nothing to say when I say that.”

I got up from my seat, quenching my appetite, and returned to my seat with the two towels I had hung on the corner of the training room.

I’m not a nice person who even runs errands for others, but I was proud of the guy who followed my wishes, so I decided to provide this level of service.

“Write.”

I tossed a towel over the lying guy’s face as if distributing flyers and passed by.

He said thank you from behind, but he didn’t respond.

Shuk. Shuk.

As the soft towel touches the sweaty skin and absorbs the waste, it seems that the discomfort is lessened now.

‘Anyway, to really win against that guy.’

I finally got up and thought about the guy who was wiping his face with a towel.

To be honest, I feel bewildered because I think I won more easily than I expected.

Because the original Aden Feltner was an outlier who already had skills at the level of a great man than Elisha at this point.

As is usually the case with strong concepts, it is usually expressed in such a way that such characters have no rivals among cadets in the same grade.

Of course, depending on the degree, there are cases where it is comparable to the upper grades, and web novels with a power balance going to the mountain are divided into professors or instructors from the beginning.

Anyway, as a result of my own competition, I didn’t feel anything as overwhelmingly strong as the original.

Although the original Aden and I have not personally met, so there is no basis, but the feeling is that way.

‘It will turn.’

Thinking that if this guess is true, it would be the worst result, I reflexively touched my temples, which were getting tingling.

You’re going crazy and jumping around.

Amman, even if I roll like a dog, there will be limits in the end, and I might need the strength of this guy who is the protagonist of the original work someday.

If Sirius really infiltrates the academy a month from now, I can’t guarantee that even that will be resolved on my own.

At least it’s fortunate that I made up my mind early on to develop this guy’s skills.

‘Yes. Because it’s not the worst. It would have been a problem if it was so weak that I couldn’t use it at all.’

Fortunately, the worst that Aden had assumed from the time she heard that she was in Class E was wrong.

By any chance, unlike the original, if this guy had come to class E because his skills were really bad, and not because he had a strong concept, I might have killed this bastard and hanged himself out of despair.

Anyway, since we’ve made it this far, all we have to do is throw out the last comment we’ve prepared.

This guy won’t easily accept my offer unless I reveal this fact.

After all, in order for something to come, there must be something that goes.

“Hey, Aden.”

“Huh?”

“… ….”

As I said the name quietly, the guy who was still wiping the nape of his neck with the tip of the towel turned his head away.

Frustrated by that appearance, I sighed deeply, forgetting what I was about to say.

It’s not some kind of girly girl, just like me, you can put a towel under your clothes and wipe it off.

I should at least show you a demonstration.

“Bee, Bell? Why are the clothes… !?”

“You’re doing this to wipe your sweat. What are you cleaning so frustratingly?”

I lifted my top and tried to wipe the sweat from my stomach and chest with a towel, but Aden looked away in embarrassment.

No, what are you guys with peppers talking about?

Isn’t it? Am I strangely shameless? To be honest, I think this is a nobleman.

I wondered if there was a difference between the ethics before reincarnation and the ethics in this world, but looking back on my memories so far, it doesn’t seem to be the case.

It’s just that this guy has a particularly loud personality.

Anyway, I just wanted to finish the story quickly and go back to the dormitory, so I lightly ignored the flustered guy and got to the point.

In the meantime, looking at the boy’s blushing cheeks, it felt like the acid in my stomach was coming up backwards.

“Aden. Let me ask you one thing.”

“Please… ?”

“Actually, this is the reason I applied for sparring with you today. The story will be a little long, but.”

Seeing that my expression became more serious than anything else, Arden also lowered her eyes one after another and nodded her head.

It must mean that you are ready to listen.

However, in case you didn’t know, I warned you in advance.

Now I’ve nodded my head boldly, but it’s a different dimension for this guy to accept and agree to my words without hesitation.

“Let me tell you in advance, it will be a very confusing story. Will you be okay though?”

“But you need help, right? I have to help as a friend.”

“… What the.”

I was speechless at the absurd logic.

I was afraid that someone might not be the main character of the original work who heard the screams of a hogu, so I would have thought that I would express such a strong bond just by mentioning that I was a friend.

At the same time I felt grateful, I also felt like an idiot.

What kind of requests and stories do I know and am so confident?

“If you think it is really difficult, refuse the request. Don’t think about anything Instead, don’t tell me anywhere what I said here.”

“… Okay. Is it that important?”

So, from now on, everything is on my snout.

I think I’ve organized it well in my head, but if I make a mistake, the reliability will drop in an instant, so I have no choice but to tap on the stone bridge and cross it.

* * * *

Bell’s mouth opened and Aden’s eyes widened as she heard the fact that she flowed out.

The mysterious forest incident, more precisely, the story that started from the point before that, was too detailed and specific to just laugh it off, dismissing it as Bell’s fantasy.

Arden wondered if she had heard it wrong. She wanted to ask her again in the middle, but as if to prove that her reality was harsh, Bell said everything about her was true and said with her firm face, nodded.

As the story came to an end, Aden looked at the empty floor with her trembling eyes and muttered quietly.

“What the heck….”

She didn’t know where to start asking.

Although the amount of stories Aden heard was not vast, it was so shocking that she couldn’t keep her mouth shut.

“Whether you believe it or not, you are free. I’m just in a position to ask you a favor.”

“Oh, no. It’s not that I don’t believe it, it’s just that I’m so confused….”

At Bell’s whispered words, Aden hurriedly shook her hand, and she confirmed that she trusted him.

If it had been another cadet, Belle would have had deep doubts about what she had told her

No, it’s fortunate that it ends with only doubts.

Most of them might have laughed it off, saying it was nonsense, and giggled, telling me to write novels when I get home.

But Aden had a different situation. He was one of the few cadets who knew the followers existed.

Wasn’t the reason why he entered this academy in the first place because he wanted to increase his strength to avenge his father who was killed by his followers?

“Then why did I participate in the Wizard’s Forest exploration….”

“Right. I knew they were coming.”

Seeing Bell’s calm reply, Aden bit her lip.

‘That’s why you were so passionate about mock exams.’

At one point, I heard someone mocking me in class, asking why I was following the dangerous wizard’s forest exploration.

If that’s the reason, it’s understandable enough.

The problem is that apart from reliability, there was a fundamental question floating in Aden’s head.

“… Then why didn’t you tell the faculty?

“I can’t talk about that right now. It’s just that this is all I can tell you, and all I’m asking is if you can help me.”

Bell drew a line with a determined tone, and her golden eyes shone coldly.

Aden, who had been trying to gauge Bell’s true intentions while meeting those gazes, was finally able to understand. What he is talking about

Now he is asking.

Can you trust yourself just by hearing this fact? Would you like to lend a helping hand?

It is a kind of test.

Originally, it would be impossible to make a rash decision on such an important issue.

However, Aden was different.

‘There is nothing to worry about.’

So far, while hiding, on the other hand, I have finally found the traces of the followers I’ve been searching for.

Arden had no doubt that if he missed this opportunity, he would return to being a child who knew nothing.

Besides, there were more reasons.

Didn’t he tell you? It’s a friend.

Thanks to the loss of her parents when she was young, Aden has made few friends for her, but she knows at least that friendship is not something that can’t be easily reached out in the face of adversity.

And in Aden’s view, what Bell was trying to overcome was a rough wilderness that seemed too far-reaching for her alone.

Aden wasn’t cruel enough to throw a long-awaited friend alone in a place like that.

“Okay. I’ll help you, Bell.”

“Really? Once you choose, you can’t go back?”

“I’m not that weak-willed. I’ve decided to help you, I’ll help you until the end.”

Aden smiled at her, resolutely determined.

The fact that she gave such a serious secret must mean that he trusted her.

Even if it wasn’t much help, it was Aden’s honest feeling that he wanted to live up to it as her friend.

‘You managed to think of telling me this secret.’

And on the other hand, I felt a warm feeling in my heart when I saw her friend showing so much trust in her even though the relationship was not very long.

‘On the contrary, I….’

Aden stared at him with sullen eyes and fell into trouble.

Wouldn’t it be okay to tell him.

Just as the other side told me the secret, I thought I should tell you what I’m hiding from this side as well.

As Aden continued to ponder, a broad hand popped into Aden’s field of vision.

At this, I opened my eyes wide and lifted my head to see Bell, the owner of the hand, smiling deeply.

“Well, now that it’s like that, please take good care of me from now on. Aden.”

“Ah…. Yes.”

Seeing that bright appearance, Arden closed his lips, which he was about to part, and carefully held Bell’s hand.

He didn’t want to feel betrayed by a friend he trusted so much.

Putting the secret she was trying to tell into the back of her mind, Arden smiled with effort, believing that the time would come for her to reveal it someday.