The next day

Naturally, Heinrich von Schwarz, who had been completely drunk, said that he didnt remember anything from the previous night.

However, it seemed like he was the only one who had some missing memories, meaning everyone remembered what happened.

Ellen seemed to have said to Heinrich that she doesnt like him.

Harriet seemed to think that he was pathetic.

Adelia seemed to have said that she Doesnt really like him, but it was clear that what she felt on the inside was extreme hatred towards him for what he had done.

The most important was Liana de Grantz.

Why should I apologize to him?

Just do what I tell you to do.

But I dont remember anything.

Then go tell him youre sorry for not remembering anything.

Of course, one of the servants seemed to have scolded Liana a bit. The smell of alcohol was wafting from all of us, so there was no way that they didnt know.

Anyway, during lunch, Heinrich was arguing that he shouldnt have to suddenly apologize for something he didnt even remember. He had no idea what was going on.

Fine. Whats even the point of such an apology? How could he sincerely apologize for something he doesnt remember?

Heinrich frowned at my words that were telling him it wasnt necessary for him to apologize.

It was so easy to screw that guy over. The more he showed off his uglier side, the more he would only destroy himself.

Liana looked at me with round eyes.

Huh, did Reinhardt mature? You can even tolerate things like that now?

Its not like I can keep acting childish like a certain someone, right?

Are you talking about me?

At Heinrichs words, I just smirked as I ate some bacon.

Why do you think so? Do you feel guilty about something?

How about we settle this now?

Heinrich seemed pretty confident about his skills because he had improved a bit, it was the same as before when he was completely drunk.

We probably needed to sort it out at some point.

Hey.

What?

I took a fork and stabbed it into a marbled steak.

After eating this, how about we go out for a bit to talk? Just the two of us.

I had been patient once or twice.

I didnt really feel like it, but I still thought that I should clean that mess, up after all.

* * *

I used to use rough words. I used to talk in confusing ways that were akin to poking the kids eyes.

However, my calm words that I wanted to talk to someone felt like a serious warning sign, so the others tried to stop me.

Im just going to talk.

Heinrich seemed to be confident in whatever he had learned, and after I finally shook everyone off, I left the mansion with Heinrich.

I went around the mansion, to a place where no one could see us, and then I faced Heinrich.

I had let that guy do whatever he wanted once or twice, badmouthing me and whatnot.

What? You want to try me? If you want to come, then come.

Heinrich didnt seem to be afraid. It looked like he had gained tremendous confidence in his improved ability, and he seemed to think that I wasnt anything big anymore because I had just bummed around in the Darklands.

Dont you know that Im being very considerate towards you?

What?

It was more than clear that I didnt really care for that brat, even when he accused me of things and bragged about being a noble, mostly because I had other things to worry about.

However, if one looked at it from a different perspective, I was acting very considerate towards that guy to the point of actually leaving him be.

Anyway, seeing that youre so confident, lets do it then.

As if he had been waiting for these words, he looked at me with shining eyes.

You might die, you know? I cant control my strength properly, after all.

He felt confident that hed be able to immediately bake me by just moving his hand. I sighed at him.

Unlike punching, Pyrokinesis wasnt something that could be used in an actual practice match.

He seemed very excited at the thought of finally paying me back for the humiliation he had suffered in the first semester.

Ill show you today that Im not the same as before.

Sigh

That guy focused his mind.

You fucking punk.

Fizz!

As I strengthened my body, I ran towards him while he was preoccupied with focusing.

-Baang!

I strongly kneed him in his stomach.

KuhUrg!

Did you think I just played around?

Why did that bastard think he grew stronger through?

KuhKuhuk! Huk! Huk!

He collapsed to the floor as I looked down on that disgusting idiot. He had already lost his concentration.

A kick to the abdomen

That was the end of it. There wasnt some flashy fight between supernatural power users.

There was just too big a gap between our levelsa gap between our basic physical abilities.

Just like youre not on the same level as a flint anymore, Im not the man I used to be either.

I stood before him until he came back to his senses again as he crouched there.

That guy who used to take about five seconds to focus his mind in order to create fire seemed to have reduced that time to about one second.

But a second was still pretty longit was enough time for me to tear him apart, so I couldnt possibly lose to Heinrich von Schwarz.

As things were, I could have crushed him and squeezed the life out of him in his exhausted state, but I didnt go that far. He staggered away from me and stared at me with a confused expression on his face.

We had been quite the distance away from each other, and yet he hadnt even seen me approaching him.

His supernatural power had gotten stronger, but I had gotten stronger as well.

Even I didnt think things would turn out like that. It was just one knee kick. He couldnt even avoid it.

If the others had seen this sight, how shameful would that have been?

I purposely did it in a place with no one around. If I had beaten him in front of the others, that surely would have been utterly humiliating. If I wanted to trample over his pride, I could have done that at any time.

However, I had kept it in, so I told Heinrich von Schwarz that I was being considerate towards him.

This is the last time Ill protect your pride.

And dont try to build some kind of rivalry with me. Im not interested in Grantz at all. Why are you so mad at me?

Wh-what?!

He seemed to feel greatly embarrassed when I said those things out of the blue. It looked like he didnt think Id know that he was interested in Liana de Grantz.

Wh-wh-whaaat do you mean? Wh-what are you talking about?

Dude, just looking at you fidgeting about is enough to figure that out. Whod believe you if you denied it, hm?

N-no. Its not like that, okay? Not at all, you know?

Really? Then why do you always look so upset when Grantz talks to me?

Th-thats Thats!

He was stuttering with a completely flushed face. That bastard, even that arrogant, rude, idiot of a royal was ashamed of those sorts of things. He was still just a little kid.

Well. Anyway, Im not interested in her, so stop trying to mess with me. If you dont stop, dont blame me for trampling over you before the others. Im only willing to let these things go once or twice, ya hear?

I spoke those words in a low voice as I passed him.

And when you get back, apologize to the kids. If you dont do that, things will only get worse for you.

He didnt bother me anymore after that.

* * *

I reluctantly blessed Heinrich, who thought he had grown a bit stronger, with some True Education.

I could have handled that a lot more violently, but I didnt.

In the first place, we were classmates, so we should look out for each other a bit. I knew I couldnt get along with everyone, but I sure didnt want to make all of them enemies. In the first half of the semester, I had acted a bit over the top because I didnt want to get ignored, but I didnt have to do that anymore.

It wouldnt do me any good if I got on the bad side of my classmates to the point where they would end up stabbing me in the back.

Of course, that didnt mean that I saw Heinrich as any less of a bastard to the point that I wanted to help him in any way.

Well, Im sorry, everyone I was a little, a little rash.

Heinrich apologized for ruining the mood previously before Liana and the others as soon as he returned to the mansion.

He didnt remember what had happened the day before, but he believed that he made a mistake and he added that he was sorry.

The others had no idea what I did to make Heinrich apologize all of a sudden. They couldnt see any obvious injuries, so it didnt seem like I had hit him.

Its fine. Just dont do it again.

Ah, yes

Liana seemed to be trying to wrap the whole situation up. After saying that, she looked at me and Heinrich alternately.

By the way, you two didnt fight, right?

W-well

Heinrich seemed a little hesitant, then smiled awkwardly, hunched his back, and scratched his head a bit.

It wasnt like that, while we were talking, I just realized That I made a mistake.

I didnt think Heinrich would say something like that, so I, along with everyone else, was a little stunned.

Heinrich realized that he was no match for me.

I could have beaten him up in front of everyone, but didnt. I had only called him to a remote place so that he could confirm the gap between our skill levels.

Would he still resent me for beating him up, or did he actually realize that I was being pretty considerate?

Well, he didnt seem to appreciate it too much, because, in the end, I had still hit him suddenly.

However, it didnt seem that he really hated me.

He seemed to have noticed that I really limited myself a lot and that it wasnt for my sake but his.

Liana felt the subtle atmosphere around us and smiled.

Great. Then should we have a drink for your reconciliation today?

What?

Be careful, Heinrich, if you drink too much again like yesterday, Ill knock you out again.

That crazy alcoholic. She wanted to drink again?

Did she reach the level that she was using every little thing as an excuse to drink?

Kn-knock You knocked me out yesterday?

Heinrichs face grew pale because he had just found out that he didnt simply forget what happened and passed out but that Liana actually made him faint.

* * *

So far, Heinrich had been feeling a little out of place.

To be exact, he was so conscious of me that he wasnt able to play around properly.

He was only paying attention to what I was up to.

When I hit him, he seemed to have come to his senses and noticed that I was stronger than he thought. When I told him that I wasnt interested in Liana in the least, he also seemed to be able to act more comfortably as well.

Of course, it would be hard to revert that bad image the others had of him.

Anyway, Heinrich didnt try to mess with me anymore. Of course, I felt like he was looking at me with different eyes, but I wasnt that concerned about that.

In the end, Heinrich was able to fit in with the others much better because he cared less about me.

Liana, the owner of the mansion, said all was well, so nobody showed any dissatisfaction on the outside, although they still felt a bit skeptical. Ellen, well, she always had a neutral expression, so she didnt really show anything either.

And I found out another trait of Lianas that I had no prior knowledge about:

She was a heavy drinker.

In the end, we gathered up that night as well to drink under the pretext of celebrating our reconciliation. Heinrich didnt just drink his alcohol alone in the corner like before but chatted with us about this and that.

The situation was completely different.

You looked down on people with a normal background

I I did?

Yesh Hei-heinrich, I know that youre from a very big royal family, but Hearing what you said made me really sad

When Adelia got drunk, she told Heinrich what he had said before and made a fuss about it.

Its not like Im calling you a jerk, but what you said to Reinhardt hurt me as well, so I got sad.

It was a variation of that.

Th-thatI-I did that? Im Im sorry, Adelia.

When Heinrich heard how much alcohol he had been drinking and what he had said, his face turned completely red. He didnt know what to do.

He seemed to understand why Liana wanted him to apologize.

But Reinhardt sure was amazing yesterday. Normally, he should have punched you black and blue in that situation, but he kept holding it in.

At Lianas words, he continued to stare at meeven while he was apologizing to Adelia. He didnt seem to be able to believe it. Judging by the quick temper I had shown up until then, I should have let my fists fly immediately after hearing what he had said, but I had kept holding it in.

Of course, I had only stayed still because that was the quickest way to screw that guy over.

However, Heinrich seemed to realize how much consideration I had given him.

Even though he had said things like that, I hadnt punched him.

He realized that I really had been holding it in a lot.

Ah, erm Im sorry, Reinhardt.

Eventually, he even apologized to me.

As long as you know it.

I wasnt that picky, after all.

Of course, no one told him that Ellen had actually tried to kill Heinrich or what had really happened in the Darklands.

Fortunately, no one got so drunk that they ended up making a scene that day. Before that happened again, Liana would knock them out cold.

Before I went to bed, I walked to the beach in the middle of the night to cool off my head.

It was similar to the one on the uninhabited island, and yet a little different. Just as I sat down on the beach, someone came to sit next to me.

Arent you sleeping?

In a little while I will.

Ellen sat down next to me as if it was natural.

And then, again, as if it was natural, she placed her head on my shoulder. I was used to that by then.

For a while, we just stared blankly at the waves crashing on the beach over and over.

Are you feeling better now?

Yes.

I felt relieved that some of her pain could be lifted by confiding in the other kids.

I didnt have nightmares yesterday.

It could be because of the alcohol.

Is that so?

Alcohol or not, Im glad that you didnt have any nightmares.

I didnt care whether it was because she drank too much or because had she told the others. Ellen hadnt suffered from the nightmares that had been torturing her for all that time.

Maybe because she had drunk quite a bit of alcohol, I could feel Ellens breathing become a little softer. Just how tired was she?

Are you sleeping?

No, you cant sleep like this.

Ellen suddenly fell asleep while leaning on my shoulder.

* * *

Harriet was getting ready to go to sleep in her room.

She felt dizzy, probably because she was drunk, so she felt like shed immediately fall asleep if she lay down anywhere.

After she changed into her pajamas, she went to close the curtains in front of the window because the moonlight shining through it was too bright.

One had a good view of the beach through said window; it was an absolutely beautiful sight. Although it didnt look much different from what they had seen on the uninhabited island, they were in a much calmer environment.

She didnt have to worry about the heat, staying hydrated, and survivingunlike on that deserted islandso she was able to purely enjoy the scenery with a clean smile on her face.

But Harriet didnt actually dislike her memories of that time.

She should have hated them, in fact, they should have been the worst memories of her life, but she thought they werent necessarily all that bad.

Harriet looked out of the window into the night. She saw someone walking towards the beach, quietly sitting down, and starting to gaze upon the sea.

Reinhardt

She could tell that it was Reinhardt just by seeing his back. Was he unable to sleep? Should she also go out and talk to him a bit?

Harriet stood before the window, pondering for a moment.

However, after some time, she could see another person heading onto the beach.

It was Ellen.

She sat down beside Reinhardt as if it was natural and placed her head on Reinhardts shoulder.

Reinhardt didnt react as if he was familiar with that.

She didnt know what they were talking about.

But she knew

The fact that those two were very close. And after going through such terrible experiences, she knew that it was only natural that they grew to rely on each other, hence growing even closer to each other.

It was inevitable.

Seeing Ellen get angry on Reinhardts behalf as if it was her who had been insulted, she had already noticed that their relationship had undergone a slight change.

She knew, but it was still painful to see it happening before her own eyes.

-Charaan!

Harriet couldnt bear to watch that scene any longer, so she closed the curtains.

If she had gone with them, things would have been different.

Harriet felt miserable.

Her memories of the uninhabited island should have been the worst, but they werent.

She wished to make her best memories in that mansion.

But she couldnt seem to accomplish that.