Chapter 10

Logia glared straight ahead as if he were standing right in front of her. Then, with a feeble motion, she pulled out her pocket watch to check the time. Ten minutes to one. It was about time to get moving. If she was even a little late, there was no telling what harsh words she’d have to endure.

She brushed a bit of dust off the hem of her light-green skirt, where she had been leaning against the wall, and passed through the gate. As a flash of white light illuminated her field of vision, the familiar panoramic view of Sunflower Hall came into view.

Because Xenios was famously known as a city that was a single school, its academic department buildings were scattered all over the place. She had heard that the city, in cooperation with the school, had installed teleportation gates in various locations specifically for the students’ convenience.

Take Alina, for example, who took the “Basic Physical Combat” liberal arts class—a mandatory course for all freshmen offered by the Swordsmanship Department. It would be quite a hassle to ride a shared carriage across the city every time to attend a class in another department.

While seniors in the Magic Department learned teleportation in their “Advanced Practical Magic” class, throwing magic around carelessly in daily life wasn’t exactly encouraged. Besides, they also had to consider students from other departments who had nothing to do with magic.

In a way, it was unique to Xenios. People always said that the Royal Orthen Academy had a dedicated campus, so there was no need to worry about the distance between buildings. Instead, these small gates within the city strictly connected only to school buildings. Even if someone stood in front of one and wished to go to Orthen, they would simply end up right back where they started.

To travel outside the city, one had to pay the proper fare and use the Teleportation Gate Management Bureau. Expensive as it was, wasting weeks transferring between carriages was out of the question… Doing that would wipe out half of her vacation.

Of course, Logia knew how to use teleportation magic herself. But because it drained so much stamina, traveling long distances required resting for days, and the fact that she couldn’t teleport to places she had never been to before was often quite a nuisance.

Furthermore, arriving home like that would guarantee she’d spend a day or two bedridden… Under the circumstances, simply taking the gates obediently was the better option. She wouldn’t even be able to go home unless it was during vacation anyway.

And this year, she was stuck in Xenios idly all the way through winter. She planned to give up her summer vacation and stay at school to prepare for her graduation exams. Ah, she was getting depressed for no reason.

Turning her back on Sunflower Hall and the library, Logia crossed the wide carriage-way and stepped into a narrow alleyway nestled between buildings.

It was a well-known shortcut among students; passing through it took less than two minutes to reach the Central Plaza. However, because the stone pavement was cracked and broken in many places, a moment of carelessness usually resulted in a tumble.

Moreover, the stairs in the middle were quite steep, and intoxicated students had more than once nearly said an early farewell to this world after missing their step. She lifted the hem of her skirt slightly and carefully placed one foot down at a time. As the alleyway ended, the Xenios Central Plaza unfolded before her eyes. It was a completely different world from the relatively quiet Sunflower Hall.

The plaza was overflowing with people out to enjoy a pleasant weekend and the vibrant energy they radiated. A child holding their parent’s hand pointed somewhere and giggled. When she turned her head in that direction on impulse, she saw soap bubbles shimmering in five colors under the sunlight.

A group of children had gathered underneath them, stretching their hands toward the bubbles drifting lazily in the breeze and jumping up and down in place.

An elderly couple sitting on a bench next to a waffle cart smiled warmly at the sight. The sweet smell of batter mixed in the air was so tempting that her mouth began to water.

A young couple, sharing a waffle drizzled heavily with chocolate syrup, looked around and settled on a spot in front of the fountain located right in the center of the plaza. Thanks to magic, the fountain remained unfrozen even in winter and was a point of pride for the Xenios Central Plaza.

People could be heard admiring the three mermaids delicately sculpted from marble. The water gushing from the basins in their hands trickled down their curved bodies and pooled at their feet.

Among the onlookers standing before it was Senior Heyworth. Logia caught herself stopping and staring at him fixedly. Somehow, he looked utterly surreal.

A breeze blowing from somewhere gently ruffled his hair, which resembled the night sky. Sunlight streaming across his straight forehead traced down the sharp bridge of his nose and settled on the tip of his chin. His stubbornly closed lips were a vivid crimson.

Rare good looks aside, he stood out even more because he was a head taller than the people around him. Her worries about how she would ever find him in this massive crowd had been completely unfounded.

He’d be perfect if he’d just keep his mouth shut, she muttered discontentedly. Indeed, there were no shortage of women stealing glances at him as he stood there with his arms crossed, staring into empty space. Groups of them would nudge each other’s shoulders and giggle, casting lingering looks, but lacking the courage, they would change direction and vanish to the other side of the plaza.

At that moment, the clock tower chimes rang out to signal the top of one o’clock. As if on cue, her eyes locked with the senior’s. It gave her a strange feeling. Right at that exact moment, Alina’s teasing words from earlier flashed through her mind.

“You see, ‘understanding others’—well, when you’ve only met up like proper people inside the school and then start going outside? That’s precisely when it starts. There’s something about it that makes you see each other differently. That’s how I met my first boyfriend, you know.”

“Is this your first time at the plaza? Why are you standing there staring off into space like some airhead?”

Yeah, definitely not. Inside or outside the school, a senior was still a senior. Logia narrowed her eyes and glared as he strode up to her. Seeing him differently, my foot.

“Ah, am I not even allowed to look around for a bit since I haven’t been out in a while? It’s not like I’m late.”

“Look around at what? Don’t tell me, that?”

He gestured toward the soap bubbles with his chin. His trademark malicious sneer hung at the corner of his lips. The man was unbelievable—did he take her for a five-year-old?

“What are you talking about? How old do you think I am? I just had a birthday last month and became an adult!”

“You? You’re eighteen and why are you so tiny? Are you stunted?”

He looked her up and down as if estimating her height, then scoffed. The peaceful mood vanished instantly, replaced by a surge of annoyance. It was already depressing enough to be dragged out on a golden weekend just for a group project, so why was he picking a fight the moment they met?

“It’s not that I’m small, it’s that you’re huge. Do you see anyone taller than you in this plaza?”

“Well, let’s say that’s true.”

After giving a perfunctory glance around following her nervous hand gestures, he muttered indifferently and walked right past her. Utterly dumbfounded, Logia glared at his back, but when he kept walking away without even looking back once, she hurried after him with brisk, small steps, fearing she might actually lose him.

“So, where are we going?”

“If I told you where, would you even know?”

“How do you know I wouldn’t?”

Even when she muttered discontentedly loud enough for him to hear, the senior remained tight-lipped as usual. Well, she hadn’t expected him to tell her willingly anyway. At most, he was probably going to buy parts for his magical tool research.

After all, it wasn’t like the senior would visit a cute cafe or novelty shop. And even if he secretly had such tastes, he would go alone rather than drag her along.

Yet, contrary to her expectations, the place he headed to was the Eltross Family’s potion ingredient shop. Huh? This is the place I was planning to drop by on our way back after the group project today.

Logia wore a bewildered expression as she watched the senior push open the door without hesitation. Just yesterday, he had warned her that they would start making the “Floating Potion” next week, so she needed to secure a laboratory and finish preparing the materials. That was why she had planned to buy the ingredients while she was already out.

Upon entering the shop, a scent of dried grass mingled with a musty odor hit the air. It was a familiar smell. The senior had already approached a clerk organizing boxes in the back.

“Fifteen grams each of swamp dragonfly wings and moonflower powder, please.”

Wait, aren’t those the exact ingredients I was planning to buy today? Her hazelnut-brown eyes widened in shock. Not that much! If I buy that much, I’ll go bankrupt! A gaze filled with alarm and worry turned toward him. Of course, the senior completely ignored her, acting as if she wasn’t there. He simply stood there indifferently, watching the clerk climb a ladder and rifle through a drawer containing the ingredients.

How much were swamp dragonfly wings again? Wasn’t it a silver coin for every three or five grams? Moonflower, which could only be harvested on nights when a full moon was out, was bound to be even more expensive. Ah, I can practically hear my allowance melting away.

Oh well… She’d be too busy studying for exams this year anyway, so when would she even have a chance to spend money? At least she could console herself by thinking it was going toward her studies…

With a heavy sigh, Logia trudged over to the checkout counter behind the clerk. While the clerk weighed the materials and meticulously wrapped them in brown paper and twine, she rummaged through her bag to pull out her wallet.

“Step aside.”

Annoyed by her attempts to scrape together whatever coins she had, the senior shoved her aside and handed the clerk a gold coin and a few copper ones. Furthermore, he even reserved a couple of expensive ingredients needed for the next potion-making session.

Logia looked up at him with a dazed face. Soon, her eyes narrowed with suspicion. What’s his game? Is he going to make me pay him back double later? The thought that “Senior Heyworth”—of all people—would cover the cost for a junior out of mere goodwill was a bit… difficult to believe. There had to be a reason.

“I have money, too! Should I just give you half? Huh?”

She blocked the senior’s path as he exited the shop and shook her wallet in front of him. The sound of clinking coins rang out noisily. An expression of instant annoyance washed over his blank face.

“Hey. Shut up.”

“Hold this.” He dumped two paper bags containing the freshly purchased ingredients into her hands and resumed walking. Logia stared blankly at his retreating figure, then brought one hand up to cover her mouth. No way… did he actually buy them just like that? Worried about a junior’s tight budget? That senior has a human side like this…?

“Senior, Senior, Senior Heyworth.”

“What.”

Perhaps finding her clinging to his side and calling out to him utterly tiresome, a blunt reply came after a few rounds of silence. Despite that, a thoroughly excited Logia didn’t mind and broke into a beaming smile.

“Um, thanks a lot.”

“I’ll really study hard from now on.” The senior glanced down at her and turned his head away without a word. Even though her heartfelt expression of gratitude was ignored, she felt in a remarkably good mood. Just as she was clutching the bags tightly to her chest and trotting along behind him,

“Oh, it really is Noah Heyworth! Hey, Noah!”

As soon as that booming voice rang out, the senior’s brow furrowed in an ominous way. Logia instinctively turned around. A burly man with bright brown hair was waving enthusiastically in their direction.

Wait, who are you?