Celebration

"No...no...we can discuss this again," David paled. At first, he was dissatisfied with his nephew and only got an A-class. He should be in S-Class and he tried to make trouble for the one who created the system, which was the dean. But all of it had backfired at him.

"And the one who recommended Alex to the academy was the king himself!" the dean casually said.

Hearing this, David's face turned dark. 'Damn you, bastard nephew! Do you want to destroy Tekuis House?', he could only secretly curse Garu in front of everyone because he was the source of the problem.

Originally, he planned for Alex to take all the blame. If the referee said he could block Garu's attack, then he could blame Alex for his reckless action. The king was known as impartial and he was so sure that even Alex would be punished even if he was the dean's student. It never crossed his mind that the king was the one who recommended Alex to the academy.

He had this braveness because Alex could still be disqualified from the competition, even though he was the dean's student. That was the reason why he also wanted to do that. If he could make Alex take all the blame, it would be the same as slapping the dean. If he succeeded in his wick plan, his name would be famous and he would be satisfied after successfully carrying out his plan. He thought the dean wouldn't move his hand in front of people.

As he said, the dean didn't do anything and the referee sealed his fate. 

Wanting to kill a princess can result in the extermination of the family, especially Princess Alicia. The king only had a son which was the crown prince. But his brother, the current grand duke of Rizertia house, had three daughters. The first daughter was aloof and proud. The second daughter was genius but clumsy and didn't talk a lot, and the third daughter was cheerful and easy to get along with. That was why he doted on Alicia a lot, even though he was impartial, the only exception was the matter concerning the crown prince and Alicia.

Now, not only Garu charged at the Princess that the king cherished the most, his escape path was cut when he knew Alex was recommended by the king. In addition, he was the dean's only successor.

"We...we can discuss again," David pleaded.

"Hmph, I will let His Majesty decide on this matter,"

"Young...young master Alexander, we.." David started pleading to Alex.

Alex ignored him and he left to see Alicia, Firia followed him too.

"Hehe... Alex, thank you for helping me just now," Alicia's heart was sweet, even when he distanced himself from her all this time. Alex still cared for her, though she was disappointed about him calling her Princess. She recalled in their journey, Alex loved to go out to kill monsters, and she often sneaked out to follow Alex.

There was a time when she got surrounded by dozens of star wolves, and the wolf leader was a rank 3, she thought she would die at that moment. However, Alex came right at the perfect time to save her. He killed all the star wolves and eventually killed the wolf leader with great effort. He was heavily injured as a result. She remembered it very well and she recalled.

--

<Many months ago>

"Alex, I'm sorry this is my fault. If...if I do not..."

"Alicia, this time, it is really your fault for sneaking out like this," hearing this, Alicia cried. 

Alex continued, "Next time, you need to tell me first if you want to follow me. So it won't be your fault anymore," Alex then smiled at her.

"I...I..." She cried

"Hehe...your tears got in my clothes, so you need to reimburse me. Ten gold coins for this cloth," Alex teased her.

"What do you mean by ten gold coins? This cloth only worth ten copper coins and you want ten thousand times for it?" she snapped out of reflex.

After that, they quarreled for an hour, but the atmosphere was not sad anymore but cheerful.

--

<Back to the present>

"As long as you are alright."

"Hehe... How is it Firia? Do you see my power just now?" Alicia said smugly.

"You....hmph," Firia snorted

"There there...since the match has ended, how about we celebrate it?" Alex tried to change the topic, he was uncomfortable in this kind of situation.

"I'm in!" Alicia happily agreed. She continued, "I want to order my favorite in extra portions."

"Yes yes...since I didn't go out yesterday, we will have all the meat stored in the box."

Alicia cheered and Firia could only get confused, "Meat in the box? Are we going to celebrate this in the cafeteria?"

The room didn't have any cooking utensils, so the food only came from the cafeteria.

"Alex can cook you know, and they are very delicious," Alicia bragged about Alex's cooking skills.

"But we don't have any cooking utensils in our room."

"Alex bought them, don't need to worry about that. We can't waste our time anymore. Alex, let's go!" Alicia can't wait to devour her favorite food. She forgot the fact that she and Alex were a roommate.

They came back to their room and they arrived, Firia said, "Wow... Alicia, this is your room? Your room was a special single room, I'm envious," Firia claimed.

"No, this is also Alex's room," she casually said.

Hearing this, Alex facepalmed and Firia just froze there. After a while, looking at the two, Alicia realized what just she said. She blushed after realizing what she said.

"This...I..."

Alex sighed then he heard Firia said, "You two are roommates? Alicia, how about we change places?" 

Firia was envious and she hoped Alicia would agree. 

In this world, you need strength so that you won't be controlled by others. Even when Alex's face was a bit above average, but Alex's advantage was his strength, he was very strong.

So if she joined with Alex, no one would complain to her. Alex was kind to boot. If she and Alex became a couple, Alex would take care of her a lot. Imagining that, Firia was getting more envious of Alicia.

Now she knew, the royal family and grand duke wanted to tie Alex with marriage. But she was puzzled about what made them choose to tie Alex with Alicia. Alex's strength as a rank 3 was not that prestigious, high nobles family can make them easily if needed. 'Is it because he is the dean's successor?' she thought, she still wanted to think about this but.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Alicia shouted.

"I can give you many benefits as long as we can exchange places."

"NOO!" Alicia's eyes now looked like a mother wolf protecting her child.

Firia turned to Alex, "Then how about you, Alex? How about moving in..."

Before Firia finished her sentence, Alex ran away from the conversation, "I will start cooking now," he hurriedly replied and escaped.

Alicia and Firia could only glare at each other.

Alex cooked many dishes. When cooking, his sweat continued raining down on his back. Alicia and Firia were still glaring at each other, not even speaking anything. The atmosphere was tense and Alex could feel that they would fight at any moment.

Suddenly, a nice fragrant scent filled the room, "Mmm, what is this aroma? So seducing," Firia immersed with the aroma.

"Alex, are you done?" Alicia hurriedly asked.

"A bit more, Princess," Alex replied.

"Hurry up, hurry up!" Alicia was impatient because the aroma just now was the aroma of Alicia's favorite food, Karaage. Alex deliberately cooked the Karaage last so that Alicia won't make a scene.

After a while, Alex had finished his cooking. He brought the dishes to the table.

Alicia was trying to snatch one of the karaage, but her hand was slapped by Alex. She looked at Alex angrily.

"Wash your hands first!" Alex said.

"Fine..." She looked like she was wronged. Alicia went to wash her hand, while Firia was still immersed in the aroma.

"You too, Miss Firia."

Firia snapped, "Ah..umm, I will go then," she awkwardly stood up and washed her hand.

When they came back, their eyes were sparkling like stars. They couldn't wait to taste Alex's food and they looked at him expectantly.

Alex sighed and he couldn't keep these wolves any longer, "Please eat."

Alicia immediately savored the Karaage since it was Alicia's favorite, Firia wanted to try it too.

Firia was nervous, what kind of food that Alex made to have this kind of seducing aroma. She bit a little, her eyes immediately widened, 'It's….Delicious.'

Now, Firia became like Alicia, a hungry wolf who had not eaten anything for a few days.

Alex looked at Firia, he secretly thought, 'Is she going to be another foodie too?'

The foodie in his word was absolutely Alicia. Usually, Alex never snatched Alicia's food, especially when they were eating Karaage. But now, Firia was also eating the Karaage deliciously, Alicia and Firia started competing with each other.

Watching this scene, Alex smiled. He then brought their drink, but just as he placed them on the table, he noticed all the food was gone being eaten by these two.

Alicia's expression was blissful, while Firia was in ecstasy. It was obvious that Firia now became a natural seductress. If an ordinary person were in front of her just now, they would push her down immediately. Unfortunately, the one who saw her was Alex. He still had a lot of unhealed trauma over things that Sandra did to him. When Alex saw her like this, he was surprised a bit, but that was all. No thought or whatsoever.

"These are your drinks ladies."

The two snapped and both of them were embarrassed. They realized Alex didn't take a single bite, and they had finished all the food.

"Alex...This"

"Alex..."

Seeing Alicia and Firia's expression, he smiled and said, "I'm glad you like it. I can make it again later." Alex was in the Qi gathering stage, so even though he didn't eat for a day, he won't get hungry. He ate just to shut Alicia up. 

"I will wash the dishes," Alex said.

"I will help," Firia asked.

"I will too," Alicia didn't want to lose

"It's alright, you two can drink first and chat a bit," he said.

Alicia and Firia always treated like a princess either at home or outside, they never washed the dishes, especially Alicia. Alicia tried to wash two plates, but the result was a mess. One was a failure and the other was broken. Alex is secretly worried the plate will break again and if that happened he had to buy them in town. So he turned them down.

After finishing all the dishes, Alex came back to where Alicia and Firia were. The atmosphere around the two became tense again as they started glaring at each other once more.

Noticing Alex come, Firia asked, "Alex, you are such a good cook...how about you become my chef? You can get a big salary, three meals a day, and a beautiful wife, me," Firia teased him.

Alex and Alicia were stunned. But before he replied, Alicia cut in.

"NOO! Alex is mine!"

"Alex is yours? I don't see any tag symbolizing he is yours?" Firia glared at her.

"You..." Alicia glared at her, 'He is my fiance!' she wanted to shout this, but of course she couldn't, she already agreed to keep this secret. She had blabbered their secret about Alex who became her roommates, she didn't want to make the same mistake. Especially in front of Firia.

"If Miss Firia wants, I can cook it on another occasion," Alex tried to break the ice.

"Alright, how about your other promise?"

"We can practice for an hour after class, after that, I need to see my teacher."

Satisfied with Alex's promise, Firia gave in to what he said. Then, they chatted for a while before Firia left to get back to her room.

"Alex... don't fall for any trick made by that seductress, okay?" Alicia gave him a threatening glare.

"I..." Alex didn't know what to reply, so he just nodded.

Alicia was grinning happily after seeing Alex's response, he just sighed and cultivated again. Although it was bothersome, he didn't mind since he got someone he could talk to. At least, it would help him to start trusting other people again. At least that was what he believed in.

The next day after class was over, "Let's go to the dean's office, I will borrow his courtyard to practice magic," Alex said.

"We... can we really use the dean's courtyard?" Firia asked timidly. The dean was her idol, he was a rank 8 fire mage. They had the same element, so Firia chose him as her role model.