The Academy Regressor is Obsessed

“Fortunately, we got in safely.”

Asel muttered as he put the two entrance tickets in his pocket.

Fortunately, Nigel didn’t even suspect the two and let them enter the auction hall. It was proof that their acting hadn’t been detected. Even to him, who had encountered many couples standing at the entrance, Asel and Elena appeared to be a couple.

It was worth firmly establishing the concept. Asel smiled with satisfaction and looked down at Elena walking right beside him.

“Are we going straight to the auction hall? Or should we look around here a bit first? There’s still some time until the auction starts.”
“……”
“Elena?”

There was no answer. For some reason, her expression was blank. Her cheeks were flushed, and her moving lips seemed to have something to say. Her clear blood-red eyes didn’t stay still for a moment.

It was quite an unusual appearance for her, who was always lively. At this, Asel poked her shoulder with his finger and called her name, and Elena startled and quickly turned her head.

“Eek!”
“…? Why are you so surprised? Are you okay? Are you feeling sick somewhere?”
“N-No! I just had something to think about for a moment!”
“Is that so?”

Asel disregarded her oversensitive reaction and adjusted the slightly disheveled position of his coat. Elena looked up at his face and swallowed hard.

‘Why am I like this?’

The not-quite-embrace from earlier. Since then, Elena’s heart had been pounding as if it was malfunctioning. For no reason, looking at his face made her feel hot, and her fingers twisted together. It felt like an unknown wave of emotions was stirring through her entire body. She didn’t know what this emotion was, but it was certainly kneading her brain right now.

Feeling her face heat up for no reason, Elena stepped one step ahead of Asel and pointed at the various shops set up in the auction hall.

“L-Let’s walk around a bit before the auction starts! There’s a lot to see, ahaha!”
“…?”

Although Asel shook his head at her inconsistent attitude, he matched his pace to hers as she started walking quickly. In any case, he had visited the auction hall at her request today, so he intended to follow her wishes. There wouldn’t be a big problem walking around since there was time until the auction started anyway.

“Welcome.”

The first place they entered was an accessory shop full of flashy ornaments. Elaborately crafted jewels filled the display cases, and gems with good magical conductivity emitted faint light. The two looked at them for a while, then soon left the shop.

The next place they visited was a food stall selling simple snacks. As they were feeling a bit hungry. Elena ordered bread pieces and Asel ordered fried chicken. The two walked down the lavish auction hall corridor, each holding their food.

At that moment, they saw an auction hall employee walking from the opposite direction. Asel immediately put on his concept and skewered a piece of fried chicken with a stick, holding it out to Elena.

“Ah~”
“U-Uh?”
“I’ll feed you.”
“Ah, okay.”

Elena awkwardly opened her mouth and bit the meat Asel offered in one go. Her sharp canines tore the meat, and her molars ground it. She chewed a few times, then looked back at Asel with sparkling eyes.

“It’s delicious! Give me one more!”
“Here.”

Asel felt the employee glance at him as he passed by, and fed Elena another piece of meat. This time without any awkwardness, she opened her mouth wide and chewed the meat.

Happiness spread across her face. Asel smiled slightly and stroked her hair, then popped the last remaining piece of fried chicken into his mouth.

“A glass of blood would go perfectly with this. Too bad.”
“You say such scary things so casually.”

Elena, who had somehow returned to her usual self, muttered while wiping her lips with her finger, and Asel answered while wiping the seasoning off the corner of her mouth.

[Ah, welcome everyone. I am Leonard, the owner of this auction house and the Leonhard merchant group.]

Just then, Leonard’s voice began to resonate from the ceiling. People walking in the corridor all stopped in their tracks and raised their heads towards the ceiling.

[I am very grateful to all of you who have visited our auction house today. I imagine most of you have made the long journey to purchase the newly released couple items.]

The man’s voice was full of power. The arrogance and confidence typical of a merchant group leader were evident. As the owner of a prestigious merchant group that could operate an auction house within Academy grounds, it was perhaps natural that his confidence overflowed with self-love. The amount of money he handled must approach tens of thousands of gold coins.

[We swear to provide the best experience to all our customers. We have prepared plenty of new items, so please feel free to participate in the auction. Not only are there items for couples, but also many items that will be helpful for scholars, swordsmen, and magicians, so please actively participate in the auction!]

“Come to think of it, didn’t they say the Staff of the Guardian Tree would be up for auction this time? I should buy that too.”
“I’m planning to buy a Pentahorn’s horn. It’s an excellent catalyst.”

As Leonard’s voice continued, murmuring noises began to spread around. Everyone was talking about which items they would buy from this auction. Fortunately, no one mentioned the Blood-Drinking Dagger that Elena was aiming for.

Of course, that didn’t mean they could let their guard down. There were always variables at play in an auction, so it was right to prepare money generously.

The fortunate thing was that when paying at the Leonard auction house, there was no need to hand over money right on the spot. As long as the money was paid within 24 hours, the item would be transferred to the buyer. That’s why Elena hadn’t brought gold coins right away. She probably planned to fetch them from her dormitory after winning the bid.

‘I might buy a few things too if I find something I like.’

Asel had quite a bit of saved money as well. He couldn’t spend astronomical amounts, but he could comfortably purchase fairly expensive items. If there were interesting items related to magic, it wouldn’t be bad to buy a few.

[In 5 minutes from now! The auction hall will open. The list of items to be auctioned is written on the back of your entrance tickets, so I hope you can enter when the item you want comes up and make your purchase! With that, I hope you have an enjoyable auction and happy trading, and I, Leonard, will take my leave! Have a happy night, a good night of pleasure!]

With that, Leonard withdrew.

At the news that the auction hall would soon open, people walking in the corridor all started rushing towards the auction hall. Asel and Elena sat side by side on a nearby bench, scanning the items listed on the back of their entrance tickets.

“The Blood-Drinking Dagger is… quite far back?”
“Yeah. Looks like we’ll have to wait about three more hours.”

The list of items divided by time slots. The Blood-Drinking Dagger was located in the middle of it. As Elena said, they would have to wait three more hours before the item came up on stage. There was nothing interesting among the items coming up before that.

Staves that increase magical power are meaningless from the 5th Circle onwards.

Armor that creates an outer shell to protect against external shocks is less efficient than shields or the interception magic Asel created. The same goes for catalysts used in alchemy.

The most interesting thing was the magical text coming up after the Blood-Drinking Dagger.

‘Basic Black Magic…’

Black magic is heretical magic treated as evil arts, like blood magic or necromancy, not legitimate magic. Just using it is enough to be treated as an abhorrent magician by other magicians, and one becomes someone who can’t fit into any group.

The only places they can blend in are with demon worshippers or criminal organizations. That’s why black magicians are absolutely few in number publicly and don’t carelessly reveal themselves. As a result, information about black magic is strictly prohibited from leaking even among themselves.

Even if that weren’t the case, normal groups wouldn’t handle black magic anyway.

Therefore, it was quite surprising that an item related to black magic was put up for auction. It wasn’t very common for a magical text recorded by the closed-off black magicians to be publicly disclosed like this.

However, it wasn’t strange either, as it wasn’t unheard of for items carried by subjugated black magicians to be put up for auction. There were quite a few people willing to pay high prices for these items, which were always in high demand among collectors.

Although Asel wasn’t particularly a collector, he was quite interested in black magic itself. Like wanting to learn blood magic, he had long been interested in black magic and necromancy. There was no reason to refuse now that such an opportunity had presented itself.

‘I’ll have to spend at least a hundred gold coins.’

If no one follows, it might cost less, but well. Are there really no collectors here?

Collecting is something only people with suspiciously abundant money and time do. There are probably a few people here trying to collect items related to black magic. The thought of having to compete with them in a cash battle made him feel stingy about his pocket.

“What should we do with the remaining time?”

Just as Asel was thinking that, Elena asked, blinking her eyes. Asel put aside his thoughts about the magical text for now and looked at the auction hall interior map hanging on the wall.

The largest space was, of course, the auction hall where the auctions took place. A huge stage occupying nearly half of this underground facility. And next to it was a banquet hall connected to the auction hall.

-A banquet hall with various food, drinks, music, and dancing prepared! If you want to rest during the auction, please come this way!

This was the description of the banquet hall. Asel thought for a moment, then turned to Elena and suggested going to the banquet hall. Elena’s eyes sparkled at the word “banquet” and she nodded vigorously.

The banquet hall was large enough to be similar to those in the mansions of most nobles.

A place exuding a splendid and luxurious atmosphere with overall coloring in gold and red. Musicians sitting in the corner played elegant songs, and various types of couples danced or drank alcohol, bursting into laughter.

“Wow……”

Seeming to like this atmosphere, Elena exclaimed in admiration and ran into the banquet hall. Then she turned to Asel and waved her hand as if telling him to come quickly. Asel smiled slightly and approached her.

That alone became a beautiful scene. At the appearance of the handsome man and beautiful woman, the gazes of people already in the banquet hall fixed on the two, and riding on that atmosphere, the musicians played lively music. Asel took two cocktails handed by a banquet hall employee, gave one to Elena, and smiled brightly.

“Do you like it?”
“Yeah! I love this atmosphere! Music playing, everyone having fun!”
“If you like it, I like it too.”

Perhaps because there were many people around, Asel put on his concept again this time. He stood next to Elena, who was humming along with the song, and sipped his cocktail.

To others’ eyes, they looked like a lively country wife and a cold noble young master. Although in reality, it was the opposite.

“Excuse me, young master.”

At that moment, a tall man carefully approached Asel and called out to him. Asel slightly rolled his eyes to check his face.

A man with impressive golden hair and green eyes was wearing a friendly smile, accompanied by his lover. Asel glanced at the two from the corner of his eye and spoke in a low voice.

“Do you have some business with me?”

The noble speech and dignity Asel had learned from Ena made him unmistakably appear to be a nobleman. While inwardly admiring his own acting, Asel maintained a cold expression. The man scratched his head awkwardly and smiled sheepishly.

“Well… my lover said she wanted to see the two of you dance. If it’s not too much trouble, could you show us?”
“…Dance, you say?”
“Yes. My lover is a painter, and she says seeing the two of you dance might inspire her. It’s because you both are so handsome and beautiful. Would it be possible?”
“…What an unexpected proposal.”

Asel answered with an expressionless face. But Elena seemed to think a bit differently, as she tugged on Asel’s sleeve with a bright face after hearing the man’s words.

“I’m okay with it! Let’s dance together!”
“…Are you sure?”
“Yeah! When you come to places like this, you’re supposed to dance and stuff!”

Since that was Elena’s opinion, Asel smiled slightly and nodded.

At this, the man’s lover’s eyes sparkled.

“A cold noble man who can’t resist a woman’s words… How can there be such a storybook-like couple? I’m overflowing with inspiration…!”

Her eyes were similar to those of a madman. Asel looked at her with a dubious expression, then followed Elena as she walked towards the center of the banquet hall. The musicians momentarily stopped their instruments, then exchanged signals among themselves and began to play the most representative classical piece.

Asel smiled bitterly at the performance that was clearly paying attention to them.

After a moment, he composed his expression, bowed to Elena, and held out one hand.

“Would you dance one song with me?”

Elena smiled softly at the request and gently placed her hand in his.

“Yes!”