It was unfortunate, but I was never able to see the fight between the members of the Empire and the Rock Dragon.

We were evacuated from the town shortly after the fight began and sent back to the Academy.

The same was true for the town natives who were brought back to the Academy for temporary shelter.

Everything moved by so fast that before I knew it, we were all back in the Academy.

"It's Sunday today. You just came back from a long trip. Take some time to cool off. Classes will resume as usual tomorrow."

Professor Bridgette's voice echoed from the front.

Her words were accompanied by subtle groans. Couldn't be helped, everyone was tired and nobody looked forward to resuming classes so fast.

I was the same.

"Oh, right."

And then, as if recalling something, Professor Bridgette smacked her palm with her fist before smiling.

It was a smile that gave one chills.

"Your test results. They'll come out tomorrow."

"....Hiek!"

I heard a strange sound from the back.

There was no need to look. I could more or less guess who had made the sound.

"Well then."

Professor Bridgette clapped her hands.

"Enjoy your day off!"

She proceeded to leave shortly after that.

The same was true for the other cadets. Sadly, I wasn't one to have such privilege. Turning around, my eyes locked with Professor Hollowe's.

He had an unusually serious expression.

"Get ready. They're waiting."

".....Yes."

Unlike the others, I didn't get to rest.

Understandable considering what had happened to me. The Academy wanted a clarification of what had happened.

It was for this reason that I was being singled out.

"Let's go."

Professor Hollow had just turned to head in the direction of where we were supposed to go when I caught sight of a certain figure in the distance.

With a pale face, the glaring black circles beneath his eyes especially stood out. In particular, I could hear his faint mutterings from where I was, 'cursed... knew it... book...'

Just a bunch of nonsense.

As if noticing the abnormality in him, the Professor stopped.

"Looks like the situation is a lot more serious than anticipated."

".....Yeah."

"What do you think happened?"

"I wonder..."

My lips twitched.

"Maybe, he didn't sleep."

"Nightmares?"

".....Hmm, probably."

"Isn't he your knight? You don't seem particularly worried."

"No, I'm very worried."

"Really...?"

The Professor tilted his head to take a better look at me.

After a few seconds, he leaned his head back.

"I don't see it."

"I've been told I've got a very stoic face."

"Huh, I guess."

Taking another look at me, the Professor eventually shook his head.

"Well, that's fine. I'll check up on him later. Let's see if my worries are meaningless."

"....Sure."

Like that, the two of us left.

***

"Huuu."

It was late into the night, and I stood outside the interrogation Hall.

The interrogation took more than a few hours. Facing the heads of the Academy, I could only relay to them everything that had happened in the time that I had 'died'.

Of course, I omitted a lot of information considering that a lot of them had to do with my second ability.

Nonetheless, I was able to get out of there without revealing too much.

Even if they were skeptical, it wasn't as though they could force information out of me.

Especially since I ended up resolving the entire incident by myself.

"Hmm, right."

I paused for a moment.

".....Now that I think about it, I did resolve the entire situation by myself."

At the very least, the necromancer part.

"You did."

A familiar voice sounded from behind me.

When I turned to look, I found Delilah standing a few meters away from me.

"Chancellor?"

Instinctively, I reached out for my pocket but stopped when I realized it was empty.

"....."

Feeling her gaze, I pursed my lips.

"Just came back, so..."

"....?"

"...Got nothing on me."

"Oh."

Delilah's eye twitched.

"I'm not here for that."

Why do you look so disappointed then?

"Anyways, I have a couple of things that I need to speak to you about."

".....A couple of things?"

"Yes."

"First thing."

Delilah waved her hand and handed me a letter.

"This is?"

"An invitation to an important event that will take place in a month. You can check it out later and if you want to come, tell me."

"Uh?"

Before I could even voice my doubts, she continued.

"Other than that, the results of the Jovinc Award will also be revealed soon. I've been asked to relay the information to you. You will soon receive an invitation for it."

Jovinc Award...?

It took me a couple of seconds to remember, and when I did, I smacked the palm of my hand.

"Ah."

It was the acting award.

'Good, I need some money.'

The award was going to be a great opportunity.

I didn't vote for myself for no reason.

Just as I thought that was it for the information, Delilah spoke again,

"There's something else."

"More...?"

What else was there?

"Although we haven't discussed what exactly it is, we're planning on rewarding you."

"..."

It took a moment for me to process her words, but when I did, I opened my eyes slightly.

I wasn't surprised by the news.

Rather, I was hoping it would happen. I did after all do a lot of the work.

"What sort of reward?"

I made sure to contain my excitement as I spoke.

"Undecided."

"Can I decide?"

"...It depends."

"Hm?"

Depends?

Depend on what?

"The Academy isn't the only one that is considering rewarding you."

I blinked for a moment before realizing,

"The Megrail family?"

".....Correct."

I closed my eyes for a brief moment.

Right.

Yet again, I wasn't surprised.

"It'll either be like this,"

Delilah spoke again.

"The Megrail family contributes individually. And if such a case occurs, we'll also reward you individually. Or, we both decide on a reward together. The decision hasn't been made yet. A major reason we interrogated you today was to decide what option we'll go with."

"I see."

That made sense.

Realistically speaking, I was fine with either option.

Either two rewards or one bigger reward. I was fine with either. Especially since I couldn't choose.

"....Is that all?"

"Yes."

"Hm."

I nodded my head slightly.

This was quite a pleasant piece of news.

'I wonder what type of reward they'll give me.'

A better manual? A bone? Money...?

I'd be fine with either one of those three rewards. However, if I did have to choose, then it'd be money.

After all, with the right amount of money, I could buy something similar to the first and second rewards of my own choosing.

"I will update you more on the first two pieces of information that I told you."

Delilah's voice broke me out of my thoughts. Looking up, she was staring back at me with her inky black eyes.

'Again...'

A familiar sensation washed over me the moment I looked into her eyes.

The sensation...

It was familiar to the one that I felt when meeting the Dragon's eye.

'Is there a correlation...?'

It was odd, but for some reason, I didn't feel disturbed by the sensation.

Rather, it felt as though I could do something similar.

'Uh, maybe I'm going crazy.'

Not yet, but given time, perhaps it was possible.

My fingers twitched.

I really wanted to ask her more about it, but before I knew it, her figure had already vanished from my sight.

"Ah..."

I hadn't even noticed.

Leaning my head back, I let out a long breath.

Perhaps next time.

There was no need for me to rush it.

Especially since I was just going based on speculation.

***

The first thing that Kiera did upon returning back to her room was clean up her place. Changing into a set of casual clothes, she started to polish every nook and cranny of her room.

A week had passed since she had left her dorm and while it had been clean since the last time that she had left dust had started to accumulate.

Kiera couldn't stand such dust.

So,

Brush. Brush.

Kiera started to clean.

From the area beneath her bed to the corners of the room. She left nothing untouched and within an hour she was done.

".....Phew."

Wiping her forehead, she looked around the room.

It was sparkling.

.....At least, in her mind.

"Better."

Only now did she feel satisfied and relaxed.

Going to her bed, she opened one of her drawers and paused. Locking eyes with the box resting there, her expression changed.

"Fuck me."

It had been a while since she had last seen it.

...Been a while.

"Crazy."

This was an all-time record for her.

For an entire week, she hadn't had any cravings to smoke.

It used to be a daily thing, but...

"Haha. This is fucking nuts."

Kiera had mixed feelings about this.

Especially since the reason she stopped smoking was silly.

"Sniff, sniff."

Pinching her shirt up to her nose, she sniffed it.

"Even the smell is gone."

Kiera felt that she was almost unrecognizable.

.....She was starting to change.

"Haa..."

Tossing the pack back into the drawer, Kiera dropped on her bed and blankly stared at the ceiling of the room.

For a moment, she let herself drift into her own thoughts.

"....."

She remained like that until eventually, she pursed her lips.

"I'll get the results of my exams tomorrow."

The grading system within Haven was rather simple.

From F to A.

Kiera's grade bordered the E's and D's.

Never in her life had she ever received anything above a C.

Was tomorrow going to be the first time for her...?

Ba... Thump! Ba... Thump!

For some reason, Kiera started to feel strangely nervous at the thought.

She was confident of getting an E, perhaps even a D.

However,

".....I don't want that."

It wasn't even because she wanted to prove her own efforts.

Rather, it was more because it would serve to further prove the fact that she was changing.

Just maybe...

"No, fuck."

Kiera slapped the sides of her cheeks.

"Don't get ahead of yourself bitch. There's no guarantee that you did well."

Flipping her body to the side, she tucked herself into bed and closed her eyes.

".....Right, there's no need to get my hopes up."