The battle on the lake was more like a farce than expected.
Glintstone Dragon Smarag looked clumsy and ridiculous in the face of Kiro’s unreasonable “luck.”
Not long after the battle began, Smarag was struck directly in the wing during a diving breath attack by a massive boulder that fell from the sky.
According to Patches’ later investigation, it had been a boulder launched by a trebuchet from Caria Manor, only for it to veer off course.
Smarag’s enormous body lost its balance and crashed headfirst into the cold lake water.
Then, in water that was not even deep enough to cover the top of its feet, Smarag flailed a few times and stopped moving.
“Did it choke to death?”
Kiro stood on the shore, looking at the huge dragon head foaming at the mouth. Her face showed a bored expression.
“How lame. I thought we’d get to play a little longer.”
Loran silently walked forward and picked up the Academy Glintstone Key beside the dragon’s corpse.
The deviation of the worldline had already reached a point that left him numb.
He did not even have the energy to analyze exactly how low the probability was for that boulder to “just so happen” to fall from the sky.
The group walked along the slope leading toward the main gate of Raya Lucaria Academy.
Looking at the magnificent magic academy, Kiro had no other words to describe it.
“Whoa. Awesome!”
Kiro’s eyes glittered with excitement at the thought of opening up a new market.
“We can definitely sell clothes here for a good price!”
Patches followed behind her, rubbing his hands together and muttering to himself.
“Good location, plenty of customers, lots of room for hype… Good! What a good place!”
Boc nervously hugged the robe he was using as a “sample.”
Every step he took was extremely careful, as if he were afraid that an uneven stone slab underfoot might trip him.
Roderika stayed close beside Loran, curiously looking around at everything.
But Loran’s heart was not as relaxed as theirs.
One established plot after another had collapsed.
His basic understanding of this world had begun to waver.
If Gostoc could fall to his death, if Irina could live, if Roderika could change jobs, then what about Raya Lucaria Academy?
This academic institution, which was hostile to outsiders in the game, might also change because of his arrival.
Because of his Intelligence stat, which was as high as 99.
Would the guards at the gate treat him as one of their own, the way Sellen had, rather than as an intruder?
He held onto a faint unease.
Loran saw two figures.
Two sorcerers wearing glintstone crowns stood like statues on either side of the gate.
Their posture and aura were exactly the same as in the game.
The appearance of Loran’s group startled them.
The two sorcerers turned their heads at the same time.
Under their headpieces, no expression could be seen.
They did not take out their staffs.
Nor did they begin chanting spells.
One of the sorcerers actually stepped forward and came to meet them.
The other followed closely behind.
Loran’s nerves tightened.
He even felt a trace of sick anticipation.
Let these two people be like they were in the game.
Let them cast Glintstone Pebble at him without saying a word.
Let them become pure “enemies” who only needed to be solved through combat.
That way, at least he would not have to worry about what to say, what to do, or how to deal with that damn Affection system and its confession options.
Combat had instead become the simplest and easiest option.
The two sorcerers stopped three steps away from them.
Then, in perfect unison, they bowed deeply toward Loran.
“We… sensed a powerful light of reason.”
The sorcerer on the left spoke first.
His voice was muffled through the glintstone crown, but the respect in his tone was completely undisguised.
“Like the full moon hanging high in the night sky, pure and profound.”
The one on the right continued.
His voice was sharper, carrying a trace of irrepressible excitement.
“You must be… the esteemed… Master?”
In Loran’s vision, two identical panels appeared above their heads at the same time.
[Name: Academy Sorcerer]
[Identity: Raya Lucaria Gatekeeper]
[Affection: +30 toward Loran]
[Status: Flattering / Awed / Admiring]
Loran’s head started to hurt again.
“Master?”
Kiro was the first one who could not hold it in.
She looked at the two bowing sorcerers, then looked at Loran beside her, whose expression resembled a man suffering from constipation.
Her face was filled with the words, “What is going on?”
Patches’ tiny eyes darted rapidly between Loran and the two sorcerers, as if evaluating exactly how much value this man called “Master” could be exploited for.
Roderika, on the other hand, looked as if this was only natural.
In her eyes, it was perfectly normal for Mr. Loran to be respected this much by the guards of the magic academy.
“Please… rise.”
In the end, Loran squeezed these words out from between his teeth.
He knew that his Intelligence stat of 99 had once again pushed him into an even more complicated social swamp.
“Thank you, Master!”
The two sorcerers straightened, but they still maintained humble postures, not daring to look directly at Loran.
“We are merely the lowest-ranking guards of the academy,” the sorcerer on the left continued. “Our duty is to stop those ignorant fools who attempt to force their way into the academy with brute strength.”
“However, our glintstone crowns allow us to instinctively sense powerful wisdom.”
“Someone like you… a reason as radiant as the stars… We have not felt such a presence in years. No, perhaps decades.”
“Might we ask what brings you to the academy, Master?”
The sorcerer on the right asked carefully.
“Have you come to visit the Full Moon Queen, or… to inspect our studies?”
Loran felt his temples throbbing.
How was he supposed to answer?
Say that he had come to sell clothes?
That was completely incompatible with the “Master” image they had imagined.
If he said it out loud, the 30 Affection they had just built up would probably reset to zero in an instant, or even turn negative.
He glanced at Kiro beside him.
She was staring at him with the eyes of someone watching a show, and the corner of her mouth carried a gloating smile.
Loran took a deep breath.
“I…”
Just as he was about to make up some excuse like “visiting an old friend” to get through this—
“We,” a loud, full-bodied voice sounded from behind Loran, “are here to bring warmth into your lives!”
It was Patches.
He puffed out his chest, wearing an expression of sorrow for the world and pity for mankind.
In a tone like a stage performer delivering an aria, he spoke to the two utterly bewildered sorcerers.
“My children, look at yourselves! Look at what you are wearing! Then look at what is on your heads!”
He pointed at the two sorcerers with an expression of deep grief.
“These dull gray robes! These headpieces that cover you so completely you can barely even see the road! Is this your pursuit? Is this your attitude toward life?”
“Your wisdom is like the radiant stars! Yet your bodies are imprisoned inside these dim, lifeless uniforms!”
“Do you not feel that this is… a kind of blasphemy?”
“A blasphemy against beauty!”
“A blasphemy against your own value!”
The two sorcerers were completely stunned by this speech.
Loran was also stunned.
“And we—”
Patches suddenly changed direction.
He grabbed Boc’s hand and pulled him forward, like a salesman presenting his most expensive product.
“We are here to liberate you from this prison of aesthetics!”
“Do you see him? Do you see the robe in his hands?”
He pointed at The Queen’s New Clothes.
“This! This is what you should pursue!”
“This! This is what is worthy of your noble wisdom!”
“This! This is the future of Raya Lucaria!”
Patches’ voice echoed for a long time along the slope.