NOVEL NEXT Chapter 26
One of the scenes from the cartoons I enjoyed as a child.
The hero’s grand entrance at the moment the heroine was in danger was just so cool.
So instead of teleporting straight to the fourth-floor hallway, I stubbornly broke through the window.
The price I paid was the injuries on my back, and I couldn’t help but think I was really acting foolish.
More than anything, I’m not the protagonist, and Yuer isn’t the heroine.
Moreover, this world wasn’t a romantic fantasy pursuing thrilling action.
I really should avoid doing things like this in the future.
“It’s not a serious injury, so let’s get past that and figure out what to do about being surrounded by corpses.”
“Before that, who are you?”
“Me? Well, I’m…”
Yuer doesn’t know who I am.
Just before entering, I had changed into the academy guard uniform and cast a magic for cognitive impairment on my face.
To her, I must just look like a blurry guard.
The reason I hid my identity is obvious; if Yuer reveals her identity, things are going to get messy.
While Rynelle had her conflicts with Nina over stealing attention, Yuer was just a simple rival.
It may feel like a plot hole for the distrustful princess to fight the protagonist over a guy, but here we are.
Yuer, who has aimed for independence for a long time, was suffering from severe affection deficit.
She was looking for a partner who could understand her and would eventually meet someone fitting in the middle of the story.
Lois Crosell.
The next Mage Tower master coming from the Parell Kingdom, which borders the Empire.
When the Mage Tower’s finances fell into crisis, he came to study abroad to forge a connection with the Empire.
Lois, now at Kia del Academy, devised a plan to get close to Yuer to build a close relationship with the Empire.
Fueled by the single-minded desire to save the Mage Tower, he fervently began to pursue Yuer.
As expected, Yuer openly rejected Lois’s advances with visible disdain.
However, as they say, “a tree that isn’t bent can be broken with ten strikes,” and slowly, her heart began to open to his persistence.
Just as Yuer was starting to give in to Lois, a big incident occurred.
Nina made a groundbreaking discovery related to magic stones, improving the Mage Tower’s finances.
Lois was overjoyed to hear that the Mage Tower had come back to life and simultaneously develop feelings for Nina.
No longer needing to obsess over the princess, he started pursuing Nina instead.
And then, Yuer witnessed the guy she loved flirting with another woman.
Despite having sworn to love Lois forever, she was quickly betrayed.
Yuer fell into despair over the reality that no one was there to look at her.
“There were many readers calling Lois a garbage man while cheering for Yuer.”
But no matter how much support she got, her role was set as the antagonist against Nina.
In that sense, I decided it was best to keep my distance from Yuer.
Having just envisioned a rosy future with Nina, attracting the princess’s favor would lead me to tread the same path as Lois.
“I’m the guard on night patrol!”
“You should make your lies more believable. That guard over there looks like a zombie!”
“Of course, Your Highness! Your insight is sharp!”
“Enough with the flattery. Just reveal who you are.”
“Is that really so important?”
“Excuse me?”
“I was hoping you could just believe that I’m someone here to save you.”
“There’s no way I can believe that! Not a single person has tried to help me until now. If someone suddenly shows up claiming to help, they must have ulterior motives!”
“I do have ulterior motives.”
“Of course…!”
Yuer glared at me with fierce, piercing eyes.
Her gaze was so sharp it felt suffocating.
But I pushed through and continued talking.
“This academy is where I belong. If something happens to you, it would become a huge hassle. There would be investigators from the royal family coming due to the royal assassination incident, and when that happens, my workload will pile up. That’s why I decided to help you.”
“… Is that all?”
“Of course! There are no other motives.”
And I meant it.
Especially since Yuer was in a special class, the investigation would inevitably focus on me.
Plus, the mid-term evaluation period was approaching, and I really didn’t want to deal with a royal investigation on top of that.
“You’re a strange person.”
“Haha! That’s a common compliment!”
Yuer sighed deeply, but then stretched out her hand towards me.
If it were a normal situation, she would have remained cautious, but perhaps recognizing there was no other option, she graciously accepted my goodwill.
I smiled to show I wouldn’t let her down and pulled her arm.
The elegance pouch nestled against Yuer’s chest pressed against my body.
I flinched momentarily but managed to hide it and carefully embraced Yuer.
Noticing my impure physical contact, her gaze felt a bit sharper.
“You….”
“Haha! Well then, let’s get going!”
“Gahargh!”
Zombies beginning to charge, swearing they wouldn’t let me go.
I jumped through the broken window ahead of them.
Gravity started pulling me down, but I activated the wind magic I prepared in advance to create an upward draft.
My whole body soared against gravity, flying high.
“Ugh…!”
“It’s okay to open your eyes now.”
“Umm…! Ah!”
In the moment of plummeting, Yuer tightly clung to me, closing her eyes.
As she slowly opened her eyes to my words, her sapphire-like blue irises began to shine.
A huge full moon rose in the clear sky without a cloud in sight.
Strolling across the sky while enjoying the moonlight was truly picturesque and beautiful.
“Do you like it?”
“Yes! Ah, no! I mean…! Um, it’s… quite good.”
“Pfft!”
“D-Don’t laugh!”
Yuer, who initially enjoyed like a child, suddenly started to consider her image, making her seem so cute.
She was so flustered that her fox ears and tail, hidden by illusion magic, became visible.
Realizing this herself, she slightly lowered her head, glancing at me shyly.
“What’s wrong?”
“Isn’t it okay that my ears and tail are out in the open?”
“Is that even a problem?”
“Isn’t it contemptible? It’s a symbol of a lowly beastman…”
“Well, the Empire treats beastmen poorly, but I don’t really have any strong feelings about it. Personally, I think they’re soft and nice.”
“W-What…!”
Yuer lifted her tail and covered her face with its fluffy fur.
However, it didn’t cover everything, and I finally noticed that her face was unusually red.
Now that I think of it, she seemed bizarrely unwell from the moment we first met?
Her body felt unnecessarily hot, and her clothes were damp with sweat, giving me a general idea of her condition.
She must have caught a cold after wandering around thoroughly drenched.
The night air was chilly, and especially up in the sky, it was even colder.
This wasn’t good for a cold patient, so I decided to stop our sky stroll and gently descended.
Since Yuer’s hiding place wasn’t safe, I moved her to the health room bed.
With a warm bed, blankets, and fever medicine, she should be able to rest comfortably.
“Please rest well here tonight.”
“Where are you going?”
“I need to finish up my overtime work.”
“Overtime means eliminating the undead that appeared out of nowhere, right?”
“Exactly.”
“I’ll help!”
“There’s no need for you to do that. I’m more worried that your cold symptoms might worsen.”
“It’s not a cold, so don’t worry about it.”
“Come on, you were roaming around drenched the other day. It’s obvious you caught a cold. Why are you being so stubborn? Just rest quietly.”
“Don’t interfere with my decisions… Ugh?!”
Yuer suddenly tried to get up and leave the bed.
I gently pressed down on her shoulder, forcing her back down.
Then, I fed her some sleeping medicine I brought from the witch’s hut.
Though she protested, there was no way a cold patient could resist properly.
“I’m sorry, Your Highness. But you don’t need to worry. When you wake up, it will all be over.”
“You…! I won’t let this go…”
“I’ll settle the score later.”
“This matter is definitely…! Absolutely…”
Maybe it was because of the fast-acting sleeping medicine, but Yuer’s eyes were slowly drooping.
Her eyelids were halfway closed, and she pointed at me with her fingers.
I could see her trying to shake off the swarm of drowsiness, but it was futile.
In the end, Yuer closed her eyes and began to breathe lightly and regularly.
As I tucked her in with a blanket, I turned to leave.
“Have sweet dreams.”
As soon as I closed the health room door, I activated the spatial magic.
I turned the health room into an isolated space that no one could invade.
Now I could focus on my work without worries.
[Professor! Are you almost there? I’m starting to struggle here?!]
“I’m coming soon.”
The communication magic tool lit up as Rynelle’s voice flowed through.
I had asked Rynelle to distract the Undertaker while I protected Yuer.
As expected of her, the talented villainess held on for a long time against the veteran necromancer.
[Please hurry!!]
“Okay, okay.”
Seriously, these students needed a lot of attention.