Don't you think it's fate?

Still unable to believe what was happening, Aelorian struggled to tear her gaze away from the list of pairs and slowly shifted her gaze to the teacher. 

'Is this woman crazy? What kind of thanks is she talking about??

Today was the first day Aelorian had met people, but she already felt like every single person was trying to humiliate her. First it was Rain, now this woman. In her heart, her impression of people dropped a few more points.

Due to the fact that the new student was still standing like a stumbling block, the teacher had to hurry her up.

"You can go to your partner."

Aelorian, still not coming to her senses, staggered toward the main culprit of what was happening.

She didn't try to yell at the teacher or ask for another partner because even though she had lived her whole life in the Great Forest and this was her first time at the academy, due to her good education, she knew a lot about this place.

This academy realized that sometimes it is difficult to achieve good results alone, and in addition to assessing the personal strength of students, they also tested how well they can work in a team. That is why some tests, such as the one to be held today, were done in pairs.

The main problem was that once a pair of participants were listed, they couldn't be changed so easily. Even as a princess, she was powerless the moment her name appeared on the list next to Rain. Because changing a partner would require seeking personal permission from the principal, and even if she did it right now, it would take a couple days at best to change anything. 

And that meant she'd have to go through the test with this bastard!

She reached and reluctantly sat down next to Rain, still keeping some distance.

Seeing her demeanor, Rain smiled even wider.

"Don't you think our meeting is fate?"

'Fate, my ass!'

She really wanted to punch that handsome face right now, but she held back, focusing on the positives.

'At the very least, I now know his identity. Perhaps at the test I'll have a chance...'

But she quickly banished those thoughts from her mind.

Although she had strong negative feelings for him, Aelorian decided to let them go for the time being and not act rashly. After all, the test played a big part and she didn't want to fail it.

When she pushed aside her emotions and looked at him again, she had to admit that he was perfectly built and truly handsome, especially his piercing blood red eyes that seemed to be able to look into her soul.

[Lust: 4]

At this time, Rain was looking at the elf, assessing her with the Eyes of Lust.

'Pretty sparse to begin with.'

He summarized.

Is it because, unlike a milf, she doesn't have such a high libido?

Aelorian was also looking at Rain, assessing him, though in other aspects. 

She had no particular desire to socialize, but she wanted to know how useful Rain would be during the test, so she moved a little closer and asked with a hint of sarcasm in her voice.

"I hope a long tongue isn't all you've got."

"Of course, I have something longer."

"Longer? Are you a swordsman?"

Aelorian asked in bewilderment.

"Something like that."

With a meaningful smile, Rain replied.

'Argh, never mind, I'll find out soon enough anyway.'

Aelorian was confused by his vague answer, but decided not to pursue the subject further.

Rain noticed Cale's envious look and grinned to himself.

'Get used to it, from now on this will happen all the time~'

Cale's mind was in chaos at this point. He had felt humiliated and insulted before when his plan to get close to Eliana had failed, but he was still supporting himself with the thought that a bigger event awaited him today.

After all, it was the day the elf princess he had often spent time with as a child was due to transfer to the academy.

'Hell, I even had to get rid of my former partner for a chance to be paired with her!'

When he saw her enter the classroom, he realized how much more beautiful she had become and decided to get her by all means.

However, watching her walk past him without noticing him, heading towards Rain, all his hopes crumbled. His sense of loss was even stronger when he saw them chatting sweetly.

While the hero was preoccupied with his feelings, Rain thought about today's test. There were two stages to it.

The first stage of the test was conducted in pairs and was designed to test teamwork. For this purpose, pairs of students were randomly thrown into the rift in order to survive and earn as many points as possible.

Rifts are one of the phenomena of this world in which the unstable energy of the surrounding space forms a separate space, most often filled with monsters. The size of the space created and the power level of the monsters inside was mainly determined by the quantity and quality of the energy used to form it.

Rifts have existed since the birth of this world, so after countless years of study, humans learned how to create them artificially.

Today they were to enter a D-rank artificial rift whose difficulty was high for students of their years, but for the Elite Class, it was considered the norm.

The second stage evaluated the personal strength of those students who managed to score a passing number of points during the first stage. The method of evaluation was very simple - elimination duels were held. It was there that Rain was scheduled to fight Gray.

'Hmm, should I earn more steal points before the test start? But who should I target?

Aelorian, Olivia, and that strict teacher in the tight skirt were great targets, but even with Eyes of Lust, they couldn't be gotten in such a short period of time.

There was also Eliana and Liana, but with the former Rain decided to wait until she had lost her bet and her pride had broken, as for Liana, he still remembered the crazy feelings she had for him the last time they met and given her immense power, he would rather wait for a better opportunity.

As Rain pondered his new source of steal points, the class had already come to an end.

"Student Rain, the principal wants to see you."

A steady voice echoed through their classroom, whereupon Rain turned around and noticed the man who had just addressed him standing on the doorstep of their classroom.

After a few seconds of thought, Rain leisurely stood up and walked towards him. As he approached him, the man turned around and said.

"Follow me."

At that moment, Cale, who had been keeping his eyes on them the entire class, realized how lucky he was.

'This is my chance!'

Standing up from his seat he walked to the lone seated Aelorian, along the way wondering what expression she would make when she finally met her childhood friend.

With anticipation, he approached her, speaking in a soft voice.

"I missed you, Ael."

The elf raised her head, glaring at him.

"Who are you?"

***

Thanks for reading, everyone!