Chapter 25: Admission Preparation

Let’s recap the situation.

As always, during breakfast, a letter suddenly arrived.

Well, it’s only natural, but it was none other than the Academy’s acceptance letter.

Honestly, it would be stranger if I didn’t get accepted. If they rejected me, they’d have to reject the children of the Five Great Families as well.

From the moment my opponent was a child of the Gold family, one of the Five Great Families, my acceptance was practically guaranteed.

After easily finishing my preparations to go out, I left the house to find the nearest clothing store.

After walking for a while, I found a clothing store that looked decent and went inside…

“We meet again, Aria!”

“See you again, Aria?”

“…”

Why are they here?

My reaction immediately followed, despite my complicated thoughts.

“It’s been a while.”

A calm reply, as always, came from my carefully crafted expressionless face, hiding even my own emotions.

“Are you here to get your uniform, Aria?”

“Well, yes.”

“So you were accepted?”

“Yes, I just received the letter this morning.”

While casually chatting with Lena, two people approached me.

They were none other than Lucia and Alicia.

“Are you Aria?”

“Yes. May I ask who you are?”

“Oh, come to think of it, I didn’t introduce myself last time because I was in a hurry.”

Alicia spoke as if she just remembered, in response to my question.

“I’m Alicia, the Saint’s escort.”

“Is that so?”

“…You aren’t surprised?”

“Should I be?”

Since I was a little taller, Alicia raised her head to meet my gaze.

For some reason, her expression held a faint suspicion directed at me.

“Usually, when the Saint is mentioned, most people are surprised. I seem to have been momentarily taken aback by your unexpected reaction.”

“I don’t usually express my emotions much. It’s understandable that you might misunderstand.”

“Are you here to get your uniform fitted?”

“As I said, I was accepted into the Academy…”

As expected of her, the one who was most loyal to the Saint’s well-being in the original story.

Even in light questions that others might perceive as mere curiosity, she consistently delves into the core.

She’s probably trying to see if I’m approaching Lucia with ulterior motives.

Although her face is smiling as she faces me, I can sense her constantly assessing me from her eyes.

Of course, I’m not careless enough to fall for these tactics.

“Excuse me, but I’d like to go home and rest. May I pass?”

“Oh. O-of course… I apologize if I was intruding. Especially if you were in a hurry.”

Alicia seemed flustered, perhaps because I continued to show no interest in Lucia.

She quickly regained her composure before anyone else noticed, but well…

I have no intention of approaching the Saint now, though I might later. Even then, I’ll only go as far as establishing a certain level of trust, as the Demon King ordered. I have no intention of getting any closer than that.

“Hello, are you here for your uniform fitting?”

“Yes, I’d like two sets, please.”

“We need to take your measurements first, so please come this way.”

Wait, measurements?

Before I could fully understand, I was pulled by a staff member and led inside.

“Just what kind of person is she…?”

“Hmm? Alicia? Did you call me?”

“It’s nothing.”

“You don’t need to be so formal in this setting.”

“…Okay.”

Lucia called out to Alicia, who was muttering to herself.

Knowing that it was difficult to refuse Lucia’s request to drop the formalities, Alicia decided there was no need to expend energy on maintaining polite speech.

‘What exactly is her purpose?’

Instead, she was currently focusing on figuring out the intentions of that woman.

‘So you couldn’t find anything?’

‘I’ve searched through the information the Church has, but we couldn’t find anything.’

‘Is that even possible? There’s no information at all in the Church about such a strong individual who looks exactly like the Saint?’

‘We also care deeply for the Saint’s safety, but…’

Not long ago, she requested an investigation into the woman named Aria, but this was the response she received.

Even though this concerned the safety of Lucia, the Saint, such a response meant one of two things.

Either the information was beyond her authority to access.

Or.

‘There really is no information about her.’

Either way, she couldn’t deny that it continued to bother her.

Even today, she deliberately came to a store far from their lodging to avoid unnecessary attention, but somehow, she ran into her again.

At first, she thought Aria might be targeting Lucia, but it seemed Lucia was outside her area of interest.

Except for the initial moment they entered, Aria hadn’t even glanced at Lucia, instead focusing her conversation on the Elena sisters, making her purpose even harder to discern.

‘Just who are you…?’

A powerful individual whose identity, let alone purpose, remained unknown.

At the same time, she bore an uncanny resemblance to Lucia.

Alicia couldn’t shake the feeling that this woman might be more dangerous than the individuals on her watch list.

“Are you finished?”

“Whew… I’m exhausted…”

While her thoughts were tangled, Aria emerged from the fitting room.

Elena greeted her, but Aria didn’t reply, seemingly quite tired.

“Thanks to the customer, I was satisfied for the first time in a while.”

The staff member emerged from behind her, wearing a completely opposite expression.

‘Don’t tell me she has that kind of…’

“Sigh… Please step away.”

The staff member whispered something to Aria, but since most people present possessed hearing far beyond ordinary levels, it was clearly audible.

At the same time, three gazes converged on one spot.

‘Are they that big?’

Indeed, at a glance, their size was extraordinary.

Alicia considered herself to have a figure that wasn’t lacking compared to others, but this was on a different level.

Perhaps Lucia was comparable? Even then, Aria’s seemed slightly larger.

“Is something the matter? Is there something on my face?”

“N-no, nothing.”

Perhaps sensing their gazes, Aria turned to look at them.

Embarrassed, they all blushed and turned away, but the strange atmosphere lingered.

“Where should we send them when they’re ready?”

“Please send them to this address.”

Aria wrote down the address on the paper the staff member handed her and turned around.

“Are you leaving already?”

“I’m finished here. I have other things to prepare.”

“We need to prepare too. Do you want to go together?”

“Thank you for the offer, but… I prefer being alone.”

“I see…”

With those words, Aria walked out.

The door closed behind her.

She walked for a while, then stopped.

“You can come out now.”

Her voice, now devoid of emotion, had turned coldly indifferent, as if she had become a different person.

“You can come out now.”

“I’d heard the rumors, but as expected of Lucifer-nim.”

A man materialized out of thin air.

An ordinary person would have been startled by this sudden appearance, but I wasn’t.

“It’s Aria, right now. If anyone overhears, you’ll pay with your life.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.”

The man bowed his head at my words.

“So, what’s the reason for seeking me out?”

“You get straight to the point.”

“We’re not in a situation where we can afford a long conversation.”

Judging by Alicia’s look earlier, I’m already under suspicion by the Church.

He seemed to have put up a barrier around us as soon as he appeared, but it wouldn’t last long.

“The purpose of my visit is to inform you of the future meeting place.”

Come to think of it, he did say he’d let me know when the time was right.

“If you come to the location written here, our side will make the necessary preparations.”

He said, handing me a piece of paper.

I took the paper and turned around without hesitation.

“Oh, by the way, it seems you’ve already built some rapport with the Hero’s party members. As expected, you’re impressive.”

“It was nothing special.”

“There’s no need to be so modest. It’s quite an achievement, no matter who looks at it.”

“I suppose.”

As I was about to leave the barrier, he spoke to me.

However, what he said next wasn’t something I could easily ignore.

“I hear you’re related to the current Saint.”

I paused.

“Did you investigate me?”

“It was unavoidable.”

“Hmph, what a load of bull.”

“Although I doubt it will happen, I hope you won’t let personal feelings interfere with your mission.”

“…Is that all you have to say?”

A silent affirmation.

However, the smile on his face, as if his task was complete, irritated me even more.

Squeeze

“What the…!”

My hand shot out, seizing his throat as if to crush it, and slammed him against the alley wall.

A bizarre scene unfolded: a woman between 170 and 180cm tall lifted a man, at least 10cm taller than her, with one hand.

“Are you doubting me, someone trusted by the Demon King? You, who aren’t even a Legion Commander?”

“Gah, ugh… I apologize if… I offended you…”

“You’re good with words, aren’t you? Makes me want to kill you even more.”

My hand continued to tighten around his throat, his face turning whiter as he lost oxygen.

I wanted to kill him right here and now, just to get rid of this unpleasant feeling.

But I knew it wouldn’t do me any good, so I refrained.

Thud

“Gasp… Gasp…”

“This is a one-time warning.”

“I’ll… keep it in mind…”

The man collapsed to one knee as my grip loosened.

I watched him clutch his throat and gasp for air, then spoke.

“You. What’s your name?”

“It’s Fluver.”

“Fluver…”

I didn’t like it, but…

“I’ll remember it.”

“…It’s an honor.”

“I didn’t mean it in a good way.”

With that, we both stepped out of the barrier.

A moment later, the barrier vanished, and the place became quiet, as if nothing had happened.