As soon as I said it was the Ainsidel from our team, my friends all pressed themselves against the wall, holding their breath.

I don’t know what they’re doing when they could just warp back to their own rooms.

Slightly opening the door, the friend I saw during the day was right in front of me.

“…Heike.”

“So you knew my name.”

“Of course. We’re on the same team.”

Tsheringen was like that too; everyone assumes by default that I don’t know their names.

Actually, they’re right.

“So, what’s up?”

“It’s nothing special.”

‘Whether it’s special or not is for me to judge.’

It feels wrong to judge just by the surname, but knowing there’s a Pleroma in the family, I can’t treat him like other students.

The moment I raised my guard and looked at him, unexpected words came out.

“Want to go grab a drink together?”

“What?”

Since no one spoke after that, a moment of silence flowed.

This is the first time I’m talking to this person.

Moreover, this Class 1 Ainsidel himself didn’t seem particularly eager to drink with me. His face was expressionless, just like I saw during the day.

“…I’m abstaining, so I can’t. What’s this about all of a sudden? Did the others tell you to invite me too?”

“No. Just the two of us.”

“……”

Did I do something wrong?

Before I could ask why, the Class 1 Ainsidel quickly continued.

“A pity you’re abstaining. Then do you have time now?”

“Who knows. I was about to sleep.”

“Hmm, it is quite late. Then can you make time after training tomorrow?”

“Suddenly?”

“Yeah.”

No reason was given, and the Class 1 Ainsidel’s face still held no expression.

‘…What is this.’

After pondering for a moment, I nodded.

“Alright.”

Whatever it is, there’s no reason to refuse.

I need to find out why a character marked ‘Unconquerable’ approached me first and what he intends to say.

The Class 1 Ainsidel gave a faint smile, bid farewell, and left.

I quickly closed the door and looked at my friends.

They also seemed dumbfounded by this sudden conversation.

Leo asked.

“What was that. Are you two close?”

“This is the first time we’ve talked.”

“It’s the first time you’ve talked, and he suddenly asks just the two of you to go drinking…?”

“My thoughts exactly.”

Come to think of it, they don’t sell alcohol on campus, so how was he planning to drink?

Just then, Elias muttered.

“…Was he always like that? I didn’t know since he barely talks.”

“Ah, you guys must have known each other from the 3rd Academy.”

At Narce’s words, Leo shook his head.

“No. He didn’t attend the 3rd Academy.”

“Oh, really?”

“I didn’t even know a guy like that existed until this announcement. Looked into it, apparently he attended a regional magic school and only came here for high school.”

‘…Hmm.’

A situation with no information. No wonder they immediately plastered themselves to the wall when I said Ainsidel.

Elias was in the same Class 1 as Heike Ainsidel, but since he didn’t attend school often, it’s plausible he doesn’t know him well.

Anyway, since we agreed to meet, I’ll try to dig up some information then.

For now, I should check what’s going on with Elias’s team.

Holding Pai, I asked Elias, who had started observing him.

“So, Eli. What happened today.”

***

Elias just grabbed my clothes and whined, but returned to his room without explaining what had happened.

‘Group projects are usually nerve-wracking.’

Still, I need to hear what happened to help, but he just won’t tell me.

Sunday morning, the scheduled training time with our team ended.

As soon as training finished, Heike Ainsidel approached.

“Shall we go?”

I nodded and walked beside him, matching his pace.

During the entire lap around the school, neither of us spoke.

As I felt from his indifferent expression, the Class 1 Ainsidel was a man of extremely few words.

‘This won’t do.’

Just as I thought that, the bastard led me to the campus cafe.

Glancing at the tea placed before us, I asked him.

“So, why did you call me here?”

“There’s no special reason.”

He gestured whether I wanted sugar cubes, and I shook my head.

He added two lumps of sugar to his coffee and continued.

“Since we’re on the same team, let’s do well together.”

“Weren’t we doing well already?”

“That’s true.”

He thinks we were doing well, but still calls me out like this?

He shouldn’t just brush it off vaguely.

“Speak comfortably, Heike.”

“No. Really, there’s no problem. It’s just strangely…”

Heike Ainsidel said without blinking an eye.

“I just got this thought that I want to become friends with you.”

“……”

Smiling silently, I stared intently at his face.

‘Strangely got that thought’?

Is that something I should hear from someone with -2 Favorability?

Of course, since I raised the Charm trait, it’s 0 now.

Heike Ainsidel

Favorability 0 [Unconquerable]

‘Still Unconquerable.’

Then, did the Favorability rise because I leveled up the trait, causing him to mistake his own thoughts?

‘No way. At 0 points, it’s not a level where one would feel like becoming friends.’

That’s what I’ve felt observing students at school so far.

Minus values definitely correspond to a feeling of ‘dislike,’ while 0 points is like seeing someone as air, having no thoughts about them at all.

If negative feelings were hindering team activities, it would make sense to clear up misunderstandings and build rapport, but in a situation where that’s not the case, why would he want to befriend air?

‘And usually, if someone wants to be friends, they naturally try to create more points of contact, not just blurt it out like this.’

Just then, Ainsidel smiled and said.

“Was that too sudden? Sorry if I startled you.”

‘…Damn, I was only focused on figuring things out from my side…’

I didn’t expect to be in a position where I, the one trying to conquer, might be conquered by an unconquerable target.

Let’s see how this plays out.

“Yeah. It’d be good to be friends.”

The moment I answered lightly, Heike Ainsidel smiled and asked.

“That’s a relief. Lucas, want to have lunch together later too?”

***

Lunch, my ass; I was stuck with him until dinner.

I could only part ways with Heike Ainsidel after finishing training.

‘Still, I gathered quite a bit of information.’

Though I couldn’t get his true intentions.

Of course, I didn’t expect to find that out on the first day.

He was born as the nephew of the current Ainsidel head and was adopted into the direct line due to his large amount of Magic Power.

Meaning he will become the next head of the Ainsidel family.

‘Direct line.’

Although his blood is from a collateral branch, consequently, the risk factor is high.

Of course, most students who come to the Imperial Second Academy are from direct lines anyway.

And, one more thing I found out.

‘Said he wanted to be friends?’

I spent the whole day with him, yet his Favorability didn’t increase by a single point.

Especially since he was the one who said he wanted to be friends first, one would expect at least 1 point just from finding the time spent together satisfactory.

Didn’t even Philip give 2 points just from the persuasiveness trait?

I returned to my room.

My friends had all gathered in my room as if by appointment.

Today too, Elias was crouched on my bed, despairing, while Narce and Leo, after glancing nervously at Elias, now greeted me.

Instead of a greeting, I immediately brought up what Leo and Narce would be curious about.

“You heard everything through the artifact, right? Nothing special happened. He just wants to be friends with me.”

Though I said that, it’s not exactly a situation where nothing special happened.

But since I can’t tell them he’s an unconquerable target whose Favorability was negative until recently, my friends will probably think it’s no big deal.

Just then, Leo shook his head suspiciously.

“He holds onto you all day just because he wants to be friends? Of course, you accepted all requests to observe him, Lucas, but who on earth tries to stick together from morning till night?”

Hmm, he caught that it was something special in this way.

He’s right.

Perhaps because I couldn’t train with Leo today due to being with Heike Ainsidel, he’s become quite sharp.

The moment I opened my mouth to talk more about Ainsidel, Elias muttered.

“Biting power is a tremendous force.”

“Hmm?”

“My grip strength sucks in the morning since my hands have no power when I wake up. Still, the fact that I can chew food normally makes me think molars are the only thing I can rely on.”

At the continuous molar remarks since yesterday, Leo added expressionlessly.

“Really? My grip is stronger in the morning.”

“How much strength do you drain during the day? Trying to handle politics while attending school must be draining your stamina.”

‘…?’

My eyes met Leo’s and Narce’s simultaneously.

Elias didn’t take the joke lightly and responded seriously?

He should have reacted with something like ‘Yeah, must be nice’ by now.

Judging by his expression, Leo also seemed to sense the gravity of the situation.

Regardless, Elias started retreating into his own world again.

“…If you happen to pick a bottle with a really tight cap, you just burn your palm trying to open it. It makes you think about just breaking the bottle and drinking from that part, but in such cases, you can dent the cap with your teeth. Also, if you want to drink wine quickly but there’s no servant nearby and no opener, you can pull the cork out with your teeth.”

“Write a thesis on it.”

“It opens with molars?”

It shouldn’t, right? What kind of mouth does he have?

It’s amazing his molars haven’t broken.

More importantly, if he really can’t stand it, can’t he just open it with magic?

Sitting down next to him, I asked calmly.

“So, Eli. Why do you keep talking about molars?”

“I want to bite everything! Uwaaaaaahk!”

“……”

“Ah, so that’s what it was~”

Narce clapped his hands as if he had gathered one more piece of data on Elias.

Leo, finally understanding the situation, looked disgusted.

“Good grief…. It’s about your teammates, right? What are they really like? Are they all annoying you?”

“No.”

“Are they constantly angering you? Like, not answering when you talk to them.”

If it were that bad, Elias would probably grab them by the collar to get an answer.

“No…”

Elias made a pained sound, then lifted his head sharply, his eyes blazing.

“Just let even one Class 1 person enter Team 1. Team 1 must be filled entirely with six people from Class 2.”

“I also wish Team 1 was just six people from Class 2~”

Narce agreed.

Narce is closer to the Class 2 students, so he’d naturally think that way.

Elias ground his teeth and said.

“No, let me correct that. Team 2 and Team 3 should also be all Class 2. Not a single person from Class 1 should be allowed.”

“You’re having a really hard time.”

Does it make sense for not a single one out of 18 people to be from Class 1?

I don’t know what those guys did to Elias that he can’t even respond and can only curse them.

At that moment, Elias slammed his head into my back.

“…Can I even pass…”

I couldn’t answer that.

Narce and Leo also fell silent.

If Elias himself thinks he’ll fail, just what level is it?

At this point, aren’t the Class 1 students committing suicide?

Leo opened his mouth.

“Tomorrow is the joint training day, but your team was the only one that didn’t submit an application.”

“Didn’t submit? Knew it.”

Elias let out a weak laugh.

“They probably couldn’t. I don’t understand these guys’ way of thinking either. What on earth are they planning…”

Elias got up wearily and put on the shoes he had taken off near the entrance. He said in a listless voice.

“I’m going back to sleep now.”

“……”

Narce watched the spot where Elias disappeared with a worried expression.

Leo, surprisingly, looked annoyed. He said firmly.

“Tomorrow, we’ll make their team participate too.”

“You said they didn’t submit an application, is it possible?”

“The student council has the training ground ledger. And this training is actively encouraged by the school too. There’s plenty of leverage to push Team 8. So…”

Leo continued coldly.

“We have to watch how things unfold. I need to see what the Team 8 guys are doing to make Elias act like that.”

“You’re not just going to watch, right?”

Leo turned to me at my smiling question.

Understanding my meaning, he quickly smiled.

***

The joint training proceeds in two stages.

In the first stage, each team’s training is conducted openly for others to watch.

And, in the second stage, team members are swapped between teams.

It was truly an activity solely for checking the skills of other teams.

The next day, Elias, alongside the Team 8 students, looked surprisingly normal.

He only seemed to whine when he was with us.

Just then, the Class 1 student acting as Team 8’s leader drew a lot to determine the order and sighed. Now that I see him, this Class 1 team leader was one of the Class 1 students who participated in the Potion Competition with us.

“Ah, we’re first.”

He looked around at his teammates and whispered quietly.

“Guys, this time, please just follow instructions…”

Even though he spoke quietly, the place was silent, so it carried clearly.

Everyone seemed too busy being wary of other teams to chat.

“Okay.”

“……”

Only Elias answered calmly; the rest of the students, excluding him, didn’t reply.

“…Hmm~”

Narce let out a dry laugh, sensing the strange atmosphere.

The outline is already emerging slightly.

It seems that team leader can’t lead his teammates.

Team 8 entered the exam site, and soon the Mimesis start sound was heard.

[3, 2, 1. Begin.]

This time, like a real exam, another team designates the field and sets the time limit.

The field given to Team 8 by the team acting as the proctor was a forest.

[…A Vitriol incident has been reported at coordinates 98:121:452. Citizens are advised to maintain order and promptly move to an open area where black smoke is not visible or to an evacuation facility.]

The guidance announcement connected to the Team 8 leader’s artifact was broadcast clearly to the outside.

‘It’s just the beginning now… I’ll have to wait a bit until the Class 1 guys start causing problems.’

The moment I crossed my arms, sat back comfortably, and looked at the broadcast screen, bewildered questions popped up from everywhere.

“What are they doing?”

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