Chapter 31

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Filina spotted a building not far away that looked like a dormitory and walked towards it.

Her hands, which were holding her bags, were slowly getting sore. She fixed her bags again so that it wouldn’t fall off and kept walking.

However, as soon as she turned the corner, she collided with a man walking from the other side.

Fortunately, Filina didn’t hit him hard, so she didn’t fall, but instead her two bags and longsword fell to the floor.

“I’m sorry.”

The man, who was considerably taller than her, was not the least bit disturbed by the collision with Filina.

He bent down and carefully picked up the bags she had dropped. It was only after he had picked up the two bags in turn and brushed them clean of dust that he attempted to pick up the longsword that was next to it.

“This sword……”

The man mumbled with a slightly surprised look on his face as he picked up the sword from the floor.

Filina looked at his face quietly.

His black hair frayed softly, revealing eyes that were even darker than that, and a mask that hid a suffocating glow around them.

It was Leon.

Looking at the long sword in his hand, Filina felt embarrassed.

She hadn’t yet thought of what words she would use to give the sword to Leon.

Also, she didn’t expect to see him so soon. It was a completely unexpected encounter.

Leon stared at the longsword in his hand, then quickly raised his head.

“…It’s a bit strange to call it a coincidence, isn’t it?”

Filina averted her gaze awkwardly at Leon’s words. Then he spoke in a lowered voice.

“I think I’ve seen you once before, at the last exam………..”

The voice sounded suspicious of her.

Certainly because a woman whose face he didn’t even know was holding the exact same longsword that he was using.

Filina sighed gloomily.

She didn’t make this sword to get misunderstood like this.………

It was a situation that wouldn’t have happened if his sword didn’t break in vain in the first place.

So the cause was all on Hugh Fieldman.

She cursed Hugh inwardly and decided to tell Leon honestly.

“Actually, the person who broke your sword is an acquaintance of mine.”

“What’s that……?”

“During the third practical exam, did you notice anything strange?”

At any given time, he was alert to the slightest movement in his surroundings.

At that time, students often noticed that the exam was different from usual. Therefore, Leon, with his keen senses, would have noticed the anomaly in the exam even earlier than anyone else.

“…You mean magic?”

His face was half hidden by the mask, so she couldn’t see what expression he had on his face, but she could see his voice lower than usual, and her eyes were drawn to his brows, which must have been slightly warped.

Filina lightly shrugged and replied.

“Yes. It was a prank committed by an acquaintance of mine who was jealous of you.”

Leon didn’t say anything, just stared into her red eyes.

After a few moments of staring at the awkward air, Filina took two of her bags from his hands.

The longsword she had made to give to Leon was still left in his hand.

Filina pointed to it with her chin and said blandly,

“So I’ll take it as a sign of apology.”

Leon asked, glancing down at the sword.

“Why do you take responsibility for other people’s faults?”

His question implied a nonverbal expression of whether it had anything to do with the wizard. Filina’s expression tightened.

“Don’t get me wrong. I just don’t like the fact that your sword was broken by the wizard’s trick.”

With that, Filina walked straight past Leon.

She purposely quickened her steps so he wouldn’t hold her back.

She knew she couldn’t convince him at all of what she had said. However, she couldn’t think of a good enough excuse to give Leon the longsword.

In the meantime, it was in his hands, and that was all that mattered.

Standing still in his original spot, Leon silently touched the longsword, which resembled his old sword.

It was a sword that had already been discontinued and was no longer available. However, the longsword that he was holding now was very light and sturdy, unlike what it looked like.

Rather, the patterns and colors on the blade looked too shabby compared to its function. Moreover, he wondered how she knew about this sword and how she had made it.

At best, all she could have done was watch him take the test from a distance…

Could she be that good at imitation? Leon quickly turned around and walked over to Filina, who had moved away from him.

“Wait a minute, Lady.”

He tried towards her with his long legs and took the bags from Filina’s hand. And the long sword he was holding was now in Filina’s hand. She stared at him with a curious expression, so Leon said in a polite voice.

“I cannot accept your sword.”

“….”

“Your bags are heavy, I’ll take it to the front of the dorm.”

This time he passed Filina first. But he didn’t walk fast as if he wanted Filina to follow him.

Filina looked at the longsword in her hand and gave a small sigh, then quickly followed after Leon. His terribly black hair was neatly organized. Perhaps having already settled in his dormitory, Leon was wearing his school uniform.

A small laugh escaped from between Filina’s lips. She had never seen Leon so elaborately dressed before. When he was in the guild, always running away from the eyes of the Imperial Palace, he couldn’t wear a single decent piece of clothing.

As Laura had said before, nowadays many guilds had disappeared due to the development of industry, and even those that remained were mostly dying out due to lack of people. Despite this, there were guilds that dreamed of rebelling against the power of the Emperor of the Alvar Empire.

They actually made their presence known by attacking the people of the Imperial Palace, which angered the Crown Prince, who later even formed the Imperial Guard team to capture them himself.

However, it was not easy to catch them as they moved from place to place every day.

In the end, the Imperial Palace even arranged a large bounty and put up flyers with their information everywhere.

And it was only when Filina happened to pass by and saw the posters that she learned of Leon’s existence for the first time.

That was her third lifetime.

Perhaps the reason why Leon was wearing the mask now was also to hide his identity.

They were already working little by little to imprint their existence on the Imperial Palace.

She couldn’t even imagine what would happen if Leon were to be found out at the Swordsmanship Academy that he was the one who wanted to rebel against the Alvar Empire.

He was someone who shouldn’t have been here.

He shouldn’t have been a student at the academy, the closest place to the Imperial Palace.

Such an act was like committing suicide.

It wasn’t enough for him to hide himself right now and run away, he had to enter the academy….

What the hell was he thinking?

“You can heck the list of new students posted outside for your dormitory room assignment.’

He spoke in an elaborate voice, giving Filina her bags back.

He then walked straight out of the dormitory without her having a chance to stop him.

In the end, she couldn’t give Leon the sword.

Filina stared blankly at his back as he walked away, but soon she turned her head away.

As Leon had said, there was a room assignment chart posted at the entrance of the building.

After checking her name, Filina took her steps and entered the dormitory building.

Perhaps out of consideration, her room was placed on the top floor, where ordinary knights could not enter or leave without permission.

Seeing that there were four gates, it seemed that the room was used by high-ranking Knights. One of the rooms was Filina’s room.

Moving with her bags in her hands, she spotted a door slightly opened and paused.

Filina raised her hand and slowly turned the doorknob.

As she entered the room, she saw a bag that had been placed properly in the doorway, as if someone had already arrived.

Filina looked around.

Perhaps because it was a room built for the high ranking knights, the spacious room was neatly organized and cleaned without a grain of dust.

As she stepped inside, her gaze met someone’s at just the right moment.

“Huh?”

The person looked at Filina, and said with a happy face.

“You’re Filina, right? We met during the practical exam!”

Bessie smiled happily and approached Filina. As she did so, she saw the bags in Filina’s hands and asked with a surprised look on her face,

“Why did you bring so much stuff?”

Filina replied with an awkward smile.

“…for some reason.”

Bessie tilted her head in wonder, her lips quickly lifting in a thin line as she said,

“I was really curious about who my roommate will be, and I’m really glad to see you again.”

“Yes, let’s get along well.”

Filina answered Bessie’s words with a nod.

The spacious room had desks and beds sfor the two of them to use separately.

The school uniform, which she should wear until she gets tired of in the future, was also neatly ironed and hung in the closet.

The dark uniform had constant lines under the buttons with painted eagles and beautiful golden patches on the shoulders.

Bessie looked at Filina and opened her mouth.

“First, change your clothes. The military academy is quite strict, they give me a lot of hints when I walk around in my normal clothes.”

“….We haven’t even had an entrance ceremony yet.”

Filina said with a slight distortion of her eyebrows. Bessie had already changed into her uniform.

“’We don’t question such things here. We’re all the same students from the moment we entered the academy.”

Filina turned her head and looked at the uniform hanging in the closet, and the neatly ironed clothes without wrinkles looked too solemn unlike the first time she saw it.

A small sigh escaped from between her lips.