Advent of the Three Calamities

430  Aoife's Will [1]

Two days passed since the incident. In the final two days, I found myself confined to the medical ward, subjected to an array of pills and various medical ointments.

The injuries were a lot more severe than anticipated but thankfully with the magical properties of this world, even such injuries healed up rather quickly. 'I guess today is my last day here.' Blankly staring at the white ceiling above me, I sighed in relief. This place was starting to feel quite stuffy. I couldn't wait to get out of this place. Plus, I really just wanted to go back to normal classes. Anything but here. I had already been bedridden for too long. Clank— n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

As the door to the ward creaked open, a haggard-looking Leon stepped inside, visible black circles appearing beneath his eyes. "What the..." His appearance threw me off. "Did you miss me that much?" "No." A cut-straight 'no'. Not a single trace of hesitation in his voice. I... almost felt hurt. 'Something worse.'

'Worse? Wait...'

'You'll see soon when you go back.'

Without realizing it, we were both speaking with our eyes. Leon's shoulders also seemed to relax a little when he saw that. However, he didn't appear relaxed for very long. Sitting down, Leon leaned forward and held onto his forehead while mumbling, 'It hurts. It hurts so much. I want to die...'

Wow. All of a sudden, I didn't feel like going back. Leon was a rather patient person if I had to say so myself. For something to render him into this state... All I felt were goosebumps. "Is this your stuff?" Leon pointed towards a small bag where my clothes were. I shook my head. "No." "Nice." He bent over and picked it up. "Tell me when you're ready to go." "...I'm still sick." "That's fine, you can rest in your dorms." "No, but—" "They won't let you stay here any longer. You have to go back." The more Leon spoke the less I wanted to go back. There was something about his gaze that made me feel reluctant. It screamed, 'Come. You must suffer with me. You have to. You have no choice but to. Come. If I die you die.'

What kind of knight was this? He was supposed to protect me from danger not bring me to it! "You're fired." "You can't do that." "You're for sale." "....I'll cut off my hand." "Fuck you." "Fuck you." "Arkgh!"  I ruffled my hair into a mess. He had an answer for everything I threw at him. "Ah, you know..." "Do you want me to call the doctor?" "Fine." I ruffled my hair again. On second thought, how bad could it be? Either way, Leon was usually the type to exaggerate over simple things. And even if it was bad, I could probably lock myself into my room and avoid all the chaos. 'Yeah, I'll just do that.' "Hmm." Helping myself off the bed, my face winced a little. The lingering pain from my injuries had yet to subside. "You're still hurt? How heavy were your injuries?" "Enough to keep me here for several days." "Right." Leon nodded faintly. "You look like your usual self. It seems like you managed to resolve everything with him?" "Temporarily." He was still stuck in the ring, but who knew how long it would take for him to free himself from it? I had to get my hands on the mirror.

"...I'm going to be fine for now. I can't say for the future." "Mhm. You can figure things out later, but I'm not sure if getting this injured is worth it." "That's a different matter." From the very start, I had planned on getting injured. That was so I could force Julien into using the ring. The only problem was that I never planned on getting this injured. My opponent ended up being a lot stronger than anticipated and I had almost lost my life in the process. 'Thankfully, I managed to survive and even escaped the grasp of the man in white.' Yeah, that was all that mattered. For a moment I thought that the situation had turned sour, but everything resolved itself in the end. I still wasn't sure why Delilah had delayed things for so long but she must've had her own reasons. Whatever they were... 'What matters is that everything is resolved. Since that's the case I can now wait for my quest reward to come.' It could be today or tomorrow or even next week but I was sure it was coming. The rewards that would push me to the fifth tier. I couldn't wait. Creaak—

Overhearing the sound of the door opening, I raised my head to see Leon looking at me. "Let's go." "...Yes." Lowering my head, I nodded my head and left. It was finally time to leave the medical ward. *** Dorms, Common Room. "Holy shit. Does this thing not have a stomach?" "...Guys, help me out over here." "Clean your mouth." Aoife dabbed the little girl's mouth with a tissue as she clenched the spoon tightly, shoveling cereal into her mouth.

Milk spilled all over the desk. "Fuck, I'm not cleaning up. I'm done." Kiera threw the wet towel in her hand. "Haik!" Only for it to directly hit Evelyn in the head. "Oh, shit." "....Why did you do that?" Pulling the towel away, Evelyn glared at Kiera who took a step back. "Ah, shit... Ehr. I didn't mean to do that. I was aiming for Aoife." "Uh?" Aoife turned back to look at Kiera. "You were aiming for me?" "Ehr..." Kiera's face twitched. Fuck, I wasn't supposed to say that... Seeing that the situation was turning out for the worse for her, Kiera's eyes fell on the little girl they were taking care of and shifted the topic towards her. "Anyways, why is she still here? Did you not find her parents yet? It's been two days! We can't be taking care of her forever. Especially not when all she does is eat!" "Hey, keep your voice down." Aoife glared at Kiera while trying to dab the mouth of the little girl who moved her head away. "Umm!" "Stop, your mouth is dirty." "....!" Aoife held the girl by the head and spread the tissue all over her face. "Hwelp!" Despite her protests, Aoife continued to wipe her face. "Mwo!" "Wow, shit." Kiera looked rather impressed by the sight. "Domestic abuse right here." Aoife didn't even entertain her words. Shaking her head, she looked around helplessly. The situation was rather weird. Two days had passed since they had found the little girl. For some reason, Aoife felt a strange affinity with the little girl. She felt connected to her, making it impossible for her to leave her alone. Furthermore, she was also adorable. The little girl was simply adorable, with her soft, plump cheeks, wavy blonde hair that framed her face, and gentle blue eyes that sparkled with innocence, she looked like the cutest thing in the world. Enough to even appeal to Kiera who was usually indifferent to such things. ...The only thing Aoife found weird was her hair color which would change from time to time. It used to be red but now it was blonde. Regardless, she was cute in whatever hair color she had. Of course, just because she was cute didn't mean that she could keep her. She probably had parents who were looking for her. ....It was just that they couldn't find them. Whenever they tried asking where her parents were, she would just look at them with a blank look. "....?" The fact that the Academy couldn't find anything spoke volumes to the situation. It couldn't be that she just popped into the Academy from out of nowhere, right? 'What am I supposed to do?' Aoife looked at the table which was filled with all sorts of snacks. From chocolates to cereals and all the stuff they could get from the Academy store. Normally this wouldn't be a big issue, but... 'How much does she eat?'

Over the past few days, they had bought so much from the store that they were now limited from buying certain goods. The little girl was like an endless hole that sucked all the food that was given to her. 'Where does the food even go?' ...All she seemed to be capable of doing was eating. Her appetite was so big it was giving everyone massive headaches. "Wait, I have an idea." Evelyn, who had been helping the entire time, had a sudden thought. Looking around, she dashed to her room before coming back a few minutes later. Holding onto a small rectangular device, she waved it in the air. "What if the only reason she eats so much is because she has nothing else to do?" "Eh?" "....Oh?" Kiera and Aoife both turned to look at her. "Hear me out." Evelyn pressed onto the device. "What if she's too distracted to eat? Wouldn't that maybe solve the situation?" Ding Ding~ A low chime rang out from the device. —Fighter of evil, fighter of love! With the power of friendship, here comes Justice Man~ "The hell...?" Staring at the device, Kiera held onto her arms while rubbing them. "You, I didn't know you were into that shit." "... I'm not." Evelyn ignored Kiera and handed the device to the little girl. "Here, have a look." "...?" Initially, the little girl didn't appear interested at all. However, after the initial confusion, her big eyes widened.

Tossing the food in her hand she went on to grasp the device. —All evil shall be eradicated from this world! For Justice Man will save us all! As she blinked her big eyes, she became absorbed in whatever was being displayed on the device. —Justice Man leaves no evil behind!

"....." Her big watery eyes flicked as they reflected the projection coming from the device. The three girls looked at each other in shock and surprise. "It worked."

"Holy crap." "....You're a genius." Kiera and Aoife both looked at Evelyn as though she was their savior. Coughing, she turned her head. She looked a bit shy. Click! It was then that the door of the dorms opened and two figures walked in. Upon staring at the entrance, the girls all tilted their heads as they saw Julien appear. He looked somewhat battered. "The hell happened to you?" Kiera was the first one to speak as her eyes squinted. "Did you fall down the stairs? Is that why you were gone for the past few days?" Glancing at them Julien was just about to answer when he suddenly froze on the spot. His eye fell on the little girl. As if sensing his gaze, the little girl's eyes quivered before she lifted her head. She stared back at him. Her big eyes blinked and soon a smile blossomed on her face. Before anyone could process the situation, she spoke, "Fake daddy." The atmosphere froze over. All eyes fell on Julien.