Ring (3)

"So let me get this straight. The magic weapon you gained from defeating the demon was compatible with that stalker friend, so you gave it to her?"

"Correct."

"And it's only effective when worn on the left ring finger?"

"That's also correct."

Practicing what I had learned about elemental magic today during class, I told Dorothy the whole story. After all, I didn't have anything to hide from her.

It was also easier to explain it to Dorothy as she knew the most about my secret.

In the first place, it was impossible to lie to her when she had the ability to read emotions.

"Luce will be helpful during the battle against the Evil God. Increasing her strength is extremely important."

"I know. You told me before. Well… It wasn't that interesting of a story then."

Dorothy responded with indifference.

I slowly turned my eyes to the side and glimpsed at her, leaning against the tree.

Her eyes were trained on the book opened in her lap. Starlight mana floating around her like lights lit up her bored expression.

"…"

I didn't really have anything more to say.

Usually, Dorothy would bring up a different topic and continue the conversation, but there seemed to be an awkward air between us today.

That feeling when the atmosphere fell heavily. It was uncomfortable. There hadn't been a case before where the atmosphere was this heavy while I was with Dorothy.

Then, Dorothy closed her book. I sensed it from the quiet 'tuk' sound that came from the action.

'What's happening.'

I turned my head to Dorothy.

She stood up from her seat, brushed where her dress had been in contact with the tree, and gazed at me with a playful smile.

"Hey, President, I'm going to be heading out now, bye~."

Already?

"Ah… Alright. Have a safe walk back."

"Keep up the hard work!"

Walking away, Dorothy waved lightly to me.

"…"

It felt uncanny.

Cold sweat that I hadn't even noticed slid down my cheek.

I stared dazedly at Dorothy's figure fading into the distance between the trees.

In my memory, there hadn't been a day where Dorothy was this under the weather.

* * *

"Neugahhh…"

In Charles Hall, the dorm for top-ranked students.

With only the light from the moon shining through the window to brighten the room, Dorothy collapsed onto her bed without changing. A strange groan came out of her mouth.

Ella, her white cat familiar sitting on top of the shelf, smirked and flicked her tail from side to side.

[I'll predict Dorothy's current thoughts, 'I wasn't the only one that President had. I let my guard down with him saying he's my fan and all.']

"Be quiet, you cat."

['Luce, she should only wear that magic weapon when necessary. Why is she showing it off like that? And she's staring at it all the time like it's going to disappear at any moment, knowing very well with her exceptional memory that it won't.']

"Guhhh…"

Dorothy couldn't make a single retort.

"Hey, Ella."

Dorothy turned her head to the side and peered at Ella. Her cheek was squished onto the bed like a steamed bun.

Whenever she thought about Luce and what she saw today, her heart felt tight. She felt horrible.

"I can understand with my head what the President said, you know? But I feel frustrated for some reason. This is the first time I've felt like this. The chicken doesn't feel like it's being digested either, and I just feel irritated…"

[Why don't you cut down on the chicken then?]

Ella scolded Dorothy, then barely managed to keep down her twitching mouth.

Finally, a conflict that could excite Dorothy's dull love life had come.

Luce Eltania. The second-year top seat of the Magic Department. She had established a relationship with Isaac since the first year and was undoubtedly an elegant beauty.

Now, every time Dorothy saw the ring on her left ring finger, she would feel her stomach flip.

Thanks to that, Dorothy was now aware of her love rival, Luce, and had gone on high alert.

Then, today, she even had a realization.

Thinking about it, Luce and Isaac tended to be bold with physical contact. Whether that was placing their chin on each other's shoulder and forehead or wrapping their arms around one another…

Moreover, they sometimes acted as lovers would.

The way they treated one another as friends and peers felt quite close.

On the other hand, how did Dorothy and Isaac treat each other?

Because she was his senior, Isaac still spoke politely to Dorothy. It meant that no matter how close they were, it wasn't as close as he was with Luce.

It was that sort of realization.

[You envy Luce Eltania, don't you?]

"…No comment."

Ella leaped down from the shelf and landed on the bed.

Then Ella sat in front of Dorothy's face, looking down at her.

[Dorothy. All Isaac did was give a magic weapon to Luce. Of course, that would have definitely given an enormous boost of progress to their relationship.]

"…What's your point?"

[Are you just going to stay put like this?]

"…"

Dorothy raised herself and sat with her legs crossed, then, in turn, looked down at Ella.

"What would you do?"

[I would make progress. You have to make Isaac look at you.]

Ella responded coyly.

'Progress', you say.

With a short 'hm', Dorothy fell into deep thought.

Though she had no such thing as relationship experience, she mustered up the courage to do some stuff to Isaac.

Recalling those memories, Dorothy straightened her back and placed her hand on her chest. It was her confident pose, one that she always maintained.

"I don't think you're aware, but I've done everything I can with the President. We held hands and even kissed. We've already made all the progress we can."

[You two kissed when Isaac was unconscious. He doesn't even know it happened… I didn't know about you two holding hands, but you would have obviously made up an excuse to do it.]

"W-well, that is true…"

[Not only that, but you usually don't even go near Isaac. You have to be bolder sometimes. Do something foxy, Dorothy.]

"Foxy? How?"

[For example, try putting your hand on his leg like this.]

Ella placed her front paw on Dorothy's thigh.

[And you can try putting your chin on Isaac's shoulder like Luce Eltania.]

Ella jumped onto Dorothy's back and stuck her face out next to her shoulder.

[Then like this.]

"Huah…!"

Ella nibbled on Dorothy's ear with her moist lips, which reflexively caused her to flinch and moan.

It was an electrifying sensation.

When Dorothy hurriedly turned her head away and covered her ear protectively, Ella hopped down from her and landed back on the bed.

At some point, Dorothy's face had turned a bright red.

[Try acting a little 'playful'.]

"You…"

[You know, just pressing those big lumps of fat against him will make Isaac go mad.]

"Lumps of fat?"

Ella thrust her chin towards Dorothy's thoracic region.

Dorothy glared back at Ella with horror.

[Let's do this, Dorothy. Claim Isaac as yours. I like him. I wouldn't mind giving away Dorothy if it's to him.]

"I don't know who's supposed to be the familiar anymore…"

Ella's bright smile was quite annoying.

But eventually, Dorothy held her chin with the tips of her fingers and contemplated deeply.

Following Ella's advice and using this chance to make some progress with Isaac and make him fall for her… Didn't sound like too bad of an idea.

* * *

Daytime. In the corner of the Butterfly Garden.

Even though today was supposed to be a rest day, I planned to spend the entire day training.

Due to the elemental magic that I had been using, a thick layer of frost covered the grass. I didn't need to worry about the grass since recovery magic was casted on top of it, causing it to be fully regrown unless it was uprooted.

I left the area I was using to train and looked into the book under the tree's shade.

My current goal was written in that book.

'[Frost Wave] and [Frost Glitter].'

I planned to master both of these 6-star spells.

However, the difficulty of learning leveled spells increased exponentially starting from 6-stars.

Of course, compared to the spike in difficulty, my learning rate had become much faster.

At least, it was much easier than when I practiced [Frost Explosion], which gave me countless bloody noses.

When [Hunter] was activated, my skill tree expanded instantaneously. For reference, the skills I obtained from Frostscythe and the Obsidian Blade were separate and unrelated to that expansion.

Anyway, the skill tree was designed with a UI of a tree with extending roots.

Numbers unrelated to the skills were embedded inside a square block on the right side of the screen.

When the skill tree expanded because of [vs. Race Combat Power], that number was used as the reference.

Out of those, 7-star spells and 9-star spells had a difference of 10.

Since that number increased by 10 when [Hunter] was activated, I could use 9-star ice spells against demons once I could use 7-star magic.

Which meant.

'I'll be able to use [Cocytus].'

[Cocytus] was a 9-star ice spell that transformed the surrounding area into a frozen, desolate land of death.

Because it was world-ending magic, it wasn't appropriate to use in the academy.

But there would be enemies in the future who would be able to create their own domains, like Leafa the Illusive, who used [Fictional Hell]. Such a spell could be a hard counter to that.

Anyhow, in the end, my objective was to roughly learn at least one 7-star spell like [Icebolt] or [Eternal Snow] during Year 2 Semester 1.

And because 6-star spells were closely and integrally associated with 7-star spells, I was first trying to master 6-star spells.

'Anyway…'

While I was reading the book, a thought that had been worrying me swelled up in the corner of my mind.

It was Dorothy. She seemed down yesterday.

Usually, I would have immediately ran to her side and tried to make her smile again, but since I could roughly assume the reason for what happened yesterday, I couldn't bring myself to do so.

'But I'm not sure if it's jealousy.'

Unlike in the past, I often felt that Dorothy was now treating me like a man.

She would show slight signs of blushing, so I couldn't guarantee that she had no feelings for me.

Then, was Dorothy jealous that I gave Luce a ring to wear on her left ring finger?

I gave her an honest explanation as to why I did that.

I didn't have anything more I could say to Dorothy. In the end, it was how she interpreted it that was important.

'Though, that was supposed to be the case…'

However.

I couldn't help but feel worried because I felt that Dorothy had been hurt.

"Haa. Dorothy…"

A sigh escaped my mouth.

Just then.

A lively voice popped up from behind my shoulder as if she had been waiting.

"Boo!"

"Hu…!"

My shout stopped after the first breath. That was because I had forgotten how to breathe.

My favorite character with light purple hair had stooped down next to me and positioned her face right next to my shoulder. Even under the tree's shade, her beauty shone brightly.

It looked like she had been hiding behind the tree, waiting for the right time, then popped out.

That surprised the hell out of me…

"Nihihi, President. Don't forget to breathe."

Only after Dorothy slapped my shoulder did I remember how to breathe.

"Senior…"

"I didn't think you would think about me while alone~ You must really need me after all, don't you?"

Raising both of her hands to point at me, Dorothy teased me playfully.

I only responded with narrowed eyes, complaining silently to her for surprising me.

"What's this book? Oh, 6-star spells! Ah, the memories!"

Dorothy sat beside me, then leaned closer towards me to read the book.

But isn't she a little too close?

The alluring scent coming from Dorothy's hair and nape tickled my nose.

"You know, I learned 6-star spells back when I was 12. Isn't that amazing? You can call me a genius, alright!"

"Ah, yes… That is amazing. You're a genius, Senior."

"Nihihi."

Though she did seem like her usual self, like how she was boasting about herself confidently…

'Why is it…'

For some reason, she felt different today.

First of all, Dorothy had placed her hand on top of my thigh.

And how she set her chin on my shoulder was another thing. This was the first time I had been this close to her after the day I defeated the Floating Island.

It wasn't common for her to act like this.

"If you find something hard to understand, ask me. Though I don't have the ice element, I've seen plenty enough to help!"

"Thank you. I'll do that."

…However, different questions came to mind after I was finally able to concentrate on the contents of the book.

'How can I concentrate when you're doing this to me…?'

But I couldn't say anything when I thought about what happened yesterday. I guess I just had to endure it for now.

I could vaguely see Dorothy's face at the edge of my vision. Even that was enough to acknowledge her beauty.

…Well, because [Learning Efficiency] was maxed, it unexpectedly didn't affect my ability to read the book much. It felt like the words were effortlessly entering my brain.

Suddenly…

"…Hup."

Dorothy's unexpected action caused even my maxed [Learning Efficiency] to crumble.

"Euht…!"

A gentle and moist feeling suddenly slipped onto the tip of my ear.

My eyes shot open. An ecstatic pleasure raced through me like a bolt of lightning, making my body flinch.

I swung my head to the side to stare at Dorothy, in which she then hurriedly removed her lips from my ear and leaned away from me.

"Haa…"

A small sigh left Dorothy's mouth.

Had she become flustered after realizing what she had done? Her face had become a deep red.

She let out an awkward cough.

"Uh, Senior? What did you just…?"

"My teasing's gone a little too far, didn't it? Sorry, President…"

Avoiding my eyes, Dorothy slowly scooted away from me.

I touched the ear that she had nibbled on with her lips. A small amount of saliva was left on my fingers.

When I looked back at Dorothy, her face was turned away from me, attempting to hide its scarlet blush.

An uncomfortable silence existed between us.

"…"

Really.

What is the matter with her today…?