Chapter 107: Juice

Sigh.

The entire cafeteria was crowded, as students rushed to fill their plates.

I had been lucky to arrive earlier.

The seating arrangement was simple, with long tables spread out throughout the dining hall.

Taking my plate, I made my way towards the end of the hall.

As the students were still trying to get their plates, the table was empty.

I took a seat at the right corner, adjacent to the wall, leaving a chair empty on my right. I liked sitting in quiet places, not attaching myself to the walls.

The students would mostly occupy the other tables, and as this one was at the end, few would come here.

Looking at my plate, I couldn’t help but marvel at the skills of the academy’s chefs.

The meal was simple but elegant. Though the instructor had said it would be something special, I didn’t find it to be of the luxurious type.

I might have been biased in my opinion, but the food looked like an everyday thing.

The meat was grilled thoroughly and arranged in pieces. Looking at the size of the meat, I could tell it was some sort of monster meat.

Not that the academy would provide anything ordinary.

Then there were some vegetables as a side dish, accompanied by some creamy desserts.

I had never been a picky eater.

As I took the first bite, I sensed people approaching me.

“You never have the habit of waiting for someone, do you?”

Amelia sat across from me, in her own refined way. She had become quite casual with me over the days.

Giving her a short glance, I continued to eat, only for John to sit beside me.

“Don’t ignore me.”

Amelia’s voice reached my ears, though I decided to ignore her for the time being. Honestly, I wasn’t being disrespectful. My hunger was real!

“Did you pass?”

But on second thought, I decided to give the girl at least some face value.

After all, she had some real value for me.

At my question, Amelia’s face turned a little darker.

Hm?

“You might have been some big shot in the test, but that doesn’t mean others are shit!”

Huh?

What was this crude language?

Did all the main characters have some secret fetish for such rough things? I had observed the same behaviour in Vienna too.

Even John was surprised by her words.

“Cough… Let’s finish the food before it gets cold.”

Seemingly realizing her mistake, Amelia kept her head down for the time being.

“Can we join you?”

I had to raise my head from the plate before me once more, as Diana had approached us.

Looking at her, I could see that she wasn’t alone.

Alicia, Kevin, and… Noah were behind her. Though none of them seemed pleased with Diana’s decision to dine with me.

I mean, Kevin and Alicia certainly didn’t have positive expressions. As for Noah, he had his regular smile plastered over his face.

Not finding any reason to be dramatic, I just nodded my head.

Seeing my confirmation, Diana moved closer to me and sat just beside me on my right.

I was now sandwiched between John and Diana, while the other three sat beside Amelia on the opposite side.

An awkward silence ensued.

I didn’t try to correct it, as I was more focused on the meal before me.

“You really are something else. Scoring all the points by yourself. I am starting to feel that we were pretty useless at the practical.”

Diana spoke in a low voice, closer to a whisper.

Haa…

Though I found the current development of events favourable for my goals, I didn’t like these kinds of situations.

Sitting and eating with the main characters of the game, some of them being my biological siblings.

For the entirety of the time, I had never even acknowledged the presence of Alicia and Kevin, let alone spoken to them.

After all, they had no real value in my eyes.

But—

She had!

“The monsters were weak.”

I kept my answer short.

Though I had no desire to go through an interview, I had to at least give Diana some reply. There was no point in being extremely distant with her.

Still, that didn’t mean I had to act all buddy-buddy with the Veltran princess.

“Is that so?”

Diana kept looking at me for a few seconds before shifting her focus to the food before her.

As she was sitting close to me, I could smell her perfume.

She seemed to have washed her hair, as the fragrance of her shampoo filled my senses.

There was a long silence before—

“Are you evolving soon?”

Noah asked me, his eyes never leaving my face.

Though his question felt like a natural thing to ask, I could sense the underlying jealousy in it.

“There’s still time for that.”

I didn’t even look into his eyes while replying.

But Noah, as always, had his bright persona on full display.

“You are strong, man! Maybe I could get a tip or two… Hahaha.”

Weird.

That was the only thought in my mind.

If he wanted to act, couldn’t he make himself sound more believable?

Even John, with his little brain, could see the sarcasm in Noah’s tone.

Amelia had been surprisingly quiet the entire time.

Was she shy?

I didn’t react to Noah’s provocation, but I could feel the slight gaze that Diana had fixed on him.

But the protagonist, being oblivious to his own remarks, munched down the meat, drinking some juice along with it.

Huh?

How could someone have juice with meat?

These commoners…

Though I wasn’t looking at him, I could picturize his actions using my mana sense. And that was what made it possible for me to notice the subtle glances from Kevin and Alicia.

The Frost siblings found themselves left out of the conversation.

Even Diana didn’t try to amend anything between us.

I mean, how could she, when even the two of us had barely talked since the test?

Following Noah’s weird remarks, along with some of John’s antics, the dinner concluded in silence.

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