Rumors (5)

As I walked to school, I was lost in deep thought.

I hadn't actually seen Serf Daniel die. Sybil was the one who shot the arrow, and I fainted right after.

I only heard about Serf's death in the hospital.

...But even so.

Just because I didn't see Serf die with my own eyes.

"Did Serf dodge the 'certain hit' of Kryslakatos...?"

I thought Serf was completely off guard at that time, but could there have been another way for him to survive?

"I don't get it."

It's unbelievable. Serf is definitely dead.

There must be some trick-

My concerns continued even after I entered through Constel's main gate.

"There! It's Frondier!"

"Huh?"

Almost reaching the main building, I thought I heard my name and looked up.

Raising my head, I realized the grounds of Constel were incredibly crowded today. It was packed with people.

"What? Where?"

"Over there! Coming this way!"

And as some students noticed me, the person next to them looked at me, and then the next person too.

"Woahhhhh!"

"Out of the way! I'm first!"

And they started running. Racing towards me.

"...Huh?"

I stared dumbfounded at the rushing crowd, then

Sprinted!

Off to the side.

"Hey! Frondier! Stop! Why are you running away!"

A somewhat familiar face yelled at me from behind.

I kept running as I answered.

"Ah, just because? Somehow just felt like it?"

"Stopppppp!!"

The momentum was too frightening to stop.

This time, another boy yelled at me.

"Hey! Is it true you're dating Elodie!"

"What?"

I was taken aback by the unexpected question. Even for me, it was surprising.

Who would spread such a ridiculous rumor

"Are you dating Elodie while also two-timing with Sybil?"

"What?!"

This time, I genuinely screamed in shock.

The rumors must have traveled far and wide.

"You're seeing Elodie but you're also dating Sybil. And then you enslave Aten on top of that? Is that true!?"

"What the heck? Hey! What's gotten into you guys!?"

I turned to my right and started running. Students who were looking for me were all over the place.

I tried to escape to a place with as few students as possible, but it was futile. There were more students chasing me than I thought.

I stopped and looked around.

"...Holy moly."

I let out a sigh as I counted the students who had me completely surrounded.

I couldn't believe so many people could fall for such absurd rumors. No, maybe it wasn't absurd from their perspective?

'Out of all these people, who's a threat'

I quickly checked my surroundings. I was looking for people with 'named', so to speak. As long as there were no 'named' characters, I might be able to get away somehow. It would be best if I could convince them to let me go, but I wasn't sure if that was even possible.

Alright. Anyone with a name should know better than to believe this rumor, so

"Hey! Frondier! I heard the story!"

Robald Lieff was there.

I rolled my eyes in dismay. Conster's biggest troublemaker, a hot-blooded simpleton, had fallen for the rumor.

"I knew it! You've been threatening Aten-nim!"

"Still with that nonsense?"

When I first met Robald, he also thought I had some kind of leverage over Aten. Back then, it was just petty high school gossip that I could ignore, but how did things get this bad?

"Frondier, do you know this?"

Robald suddenly put on a serious face and spoke solemnly.

"Know what?"

"No matter where else you go, 'justice' is alive and well in Conster."

What the heck.

"Frondierrrr!! Honestly speaking! Are you threatening Aten-nim while two-timing her?"

"I'm not."

"Unbelievable!!"

This beggar-like punk.

But surprisingly, the surrounding eyes seemed to side with Robald. They were nodding vigorously in agreement with Robald's exclamation of disbelief.

Ah, I thought I had been living diligently in my own way ever since I became the Human Sloth Frondier.

My diligence that I had shown throughout the first semester didn't help my image improvement at all.

"Frondier! What were you planning to do by threatening Aten-nim! No, d-don't tell me! You've already carried out your intentions! You, y-you defiled Aten-nim's body...!"

To Robald's wild imagination, gasps could be heard from the surroundings. Are these guys actually all in cahoots? Could it be that they've gathered just to pick on me?

I said with a resigned feeling.

"Yeah, I threatened Aten. I caught Aten's weakness and have already done all sorts of things with her."

"......Unbelievable!!!"

Robald screamed as if he was coughing up blood. He wouldn't have believed me either way, this punk.

But Robald was crying out as if he was about to burst into tears. If I kept going, he might even start shedding tears of blood.

Did this punk have feelings for Aten? He hadn't shown any signs of it when we played the game 'Etius'.

Is it because the player was Aster Evans back then, so he admitted it coolly and moved on? He's okay with Aster, but not with me, Frondier. Oh, so he thinks I'm actually the threatening type.

"I'm kidding. I don't know what rumors you've heard and gathered here for, but it's all hearsay."

I said so and stretched out both arms.

"Look at me."

"......?"

"I'm the 'Human Sloth Frondier'!"