Marigold

"What was all of that about?" After getting back to their room, Lilith asked Nayari about what happened back then.

"It does not concern you."

"Eh? Why?"

"..."

"Please tell me!" She pressed him, only to meet his anger once again.

"Listen here, woman. Just because I helped you doesn't mean I've completely trusted you yet. I don't know why you are here in the first place, but don't get your hope up." He said, then proceed to exit the room once more.

Lilith realised that she had been getting ahead of herself, and that she had taken his help for granted. For the rest of the day, she just sit in the room to reflect on herself.

----

After searching around for some information, he learned that the two most popular girls in this academy were Hildagea and the blonde girl he saw before, Mari Marigold.

Hildagea is popular because of her friendly personality, always trying to help everyone, not to mention her beauty as well.

And speaking of her combat abilities, she is said to be the strongest in terms of close combat.

Her chosen weapons are a pair of knifes.

He listened to the information with a bit of admiration.

Like him who has taken up the spear, she has taken in dual knifes and somehow became really strong without him knowing.

So it wasn't just him who had changed, Hilda as well.

Despite her saying that she had forgiven him, he still avoid meeting her out of grief and anger directed toward himself, as he knew the thing he had done was unforgivable.

At least, if he ever come across her again, he will greet her.

And next on the list is Maria Marigold.

Marigold.

He had heard that name when he was traveling throughout the country.

The third most influencial family in the three largest families, after Aconite and Scarlet.

But the name Maria in particular gave him a sense of familiarity.

Had he heard it somewhere before?

He tried to search back his memory, but to no avail.

One of the things he's most confident about is his memorizing ability.

He is able to view back his memory anytime he wants, any parts he like without afraiding it ever disappear, so forgetting isn't a thing for him.

But there's a door at the end of his hall of memories, and as much as he tried to pry it open, it never worked and remained shut tight.

He wondered what stored in there.

Back to Maria, she's said to be the strongest mage in the limited number of mages in this academy, and one of the best students in terms of scores.

She always ranked first in every kinds of test.

One of the students said that she is trying to become the best mage in this entire country.

She is also said to have a personality as cold as ice, but her radiance shines as bright as the sun itself.

She detached herself from others, and almost never talked to anyone.

He somehow felt sympathy with her, as he had once been like her, refusing to interract with the outside world after the incident, holeing up inside the forest.

----

After that, he went to the library to search for some books to read.

The library's size was twice as large as the one in his village.

When he arrived there, he noticed the blonde girl, Maria Marigold, was searching for something.

When she found what she needed, she noticed Nayari and quickly put the book back into its original place and hurriedly walking out of the library, passing by him.

Questioning her action, he went to the place where she put the book and took it out to see.

He noticed it was written about types of illness, and ways to treat/cure it.

The same book he read when he was trying to find a cure for his mother's illness.

He remembered that when she was passing by him, he could feel a trace of sadness coming from her eyes, like they were pleading for help.

The same feeling of helplessness he once had.

He realized he and her might have more in common than he thought.

He had thought that she was a hard-to-approach person, as his first periods of lesson, she did not utter a single word, and no one dared to approach her.

Like back then, he suddenly had the urge to help her, because she was so much like him in the past.

But he did not know how.

A part of him did not want to help her due to...various reasons.

He went back to his room, ignoring Lilith who was sitting silently on her bed and went to sleep.

Before he went to sleep, he thought that he might have went a bit overboard on her.