I Became the Villain’s Childhood Friend Chapter 39

 

What I was sure of, was that Gloria was strange today.

 

“But the tool making part was decided to be in charge of a Magic Engineering student… If it doesn’t turn out to be what I thought, I’ll just hand it over to you.”

 

“No. You’re much smarter than me, so I’ll do as you say.”

 

I wrote down small parts to fix in the corner of the blueprint.

 

It was vivid in my eyes how much I would get scolded later if I didn’t go as she said even if she told me so.

 

Gloria, who was looking at me blankly, carefully opened her mouth.

 

“…Have you tried making it yourself according to the blueprint?”

 

“Not yet.”

 

“Then, would you like to go to the production room and make it together…?”

 

At her words, I raised my head, wondering if I had heard wrong. Gloria flinched timidly at my reaction.

 

Something was clearly up with Gloria.

 

Her mood, which was always fierce, had calmed down a lot.

 

…Did something happen with Charis?

 

Filled with bewilderment, I suddenly nodded at her. Then Gloria’s face brightened in an instant.

 

She jumped up from her seat and even received permission from Professor Urien, even though no one told her to do so.

 

“Let’s go.”

 

“A-Alright.”

 

Seeing her like that felt strangely burdensome.

 

Gloria, who had been quietly watching me walk with her bright eyes, followed behind me. It’s really strange. Originally, it would have been up to me to follow behind her.

 

No way… Is this a new blood-draining technique?

 

I headed to the production room, thinking about all sorts of things in my mind.

 

The production room was divided according to the basic material of the magic tool. Among them, the place Gloria and I headed to was the glass room.

 

“Wow…”

 

A small exclamation burst out from Gloria when she saw the numerous tools that filled the glass room. It seemed that since she was studying magic, she had no reason to come to the production room.

 

I put gloves on my hands and first poured holy water into the container.

 

When the container was half full of holy water, I drew a magic circle with a pen on Grik (magic paper that can preserve magic circles).

 

Gloria, who was quietly watching me, muttered.

 

“…I don’t think the pen’s ink has any mana, though?”

 

“Ah, since the nature of mana power is different for each person, it may cause deformation of magic tools later. That’s why we have to use regular ink.”

 

Fearing that there might be a misunderstanding, I hurriedly explained.

 

“I see…!”

 

Gloria asked me who nodded her head.

 

“Is there anything I can help you with?”

 

“…Could you put the Griks in the bucket one by one? Just give me a little time and put them in the bucket.”

 

“Got it!”

 

Gloria began putting the Griks with the magic circle drawn on them into the container one by one.

 

The Griks, which were all white except for the magic circle drawn in black, began to melt as soon as they entered the container filled with holy water.

 

I took advantage of Gloria’s meltdown to go into the glass room warehouse and bring back the glass plates I had ordered in advance.

 

While I got the glass plate, Gloria dissolved all the Grik in holy water.

 

When Gloria saw the glass plate I brought, she seemed a little surprised and asked me questions.

 

“How can we make it the shape we want? And isn’t the board too thin?”

 

Everything I did seemed uneasy. Well, it’s true that I’m lacking.

 

I answered with the message that you can rest assured.

 

“Magic transformation occurs automatically, and the glass plate automatically changes into the shape we want. If it’s made with a thin plate, it’s easier to absorb the magic circle, so the transformation occurs easily.”

 

“Ah…”

 

I put about three glass plates into the container and moved the container into the crafting table. Then he locked the crafting table with a padlock.

 

“How many days will it take?”

 

“About three days, I think?”

 

Just like that, Gloria and I left the production room.

 

Gloria, who had been following behind me until she entered the production room, was now walking next to me.

 

I thought she didn’t want to walk next to me, who was stupid, that’s why she walked faster.

 

Did she change her mind because she thought I wasn’t as stupid as she thought?

 

But when things happened like this, the awkwardness doubled and it felt like my whole body was going to twist. It seemed better to walk while looking at the back of Gloria’s head.

 

In the end, I was the one who couldn’t overcome the awkwardness and opened my mouth first.

 

“Isn’t Senior coming today?”

 

Gloria blinked her eyes for a moment at my question.

 

“…Why are you asking me that?”

 

“Because he’s closer to you…?”

 

I was a little taken aback, as I never expected Gloria to respond like that.

 

I-Is this not it?

 

The moment Gloria, who had been staring at me, was about to open her mouth, I saw Reynold passing through the hallway window next to her.

 

As soon as I saw him, I reflexively lowered myself under the window.

 

But after hiding, I was embarrassed.

 

No, wait… Why did I hide?

 

“Danae?”

 

Gloria blinked her eyes, looking as embarrassed as I was. I quickly placed my index finger on my lips.

 

She looked like she didn’t know what was going on, but then slowly nodded her head. Then, as if she was being considerate of me, she naturally took her eyes off me.

 

After some time, I was about to ask Gloria about Reynold as I thought he had left.

 

“…What are you doing?”

 

Reynold’s voice was heard over my head.

 

Startled, I raised my head and saw Reynold peering down at me from behind the window.

 

Thanks to this, I hit my butt on the floor. Gloria, who was standing next to me, let out a short sigh, then helped me up and brushed off my skirt.

 

Even though she didn’t do anything wrong, I glanced at Gloria and asked him.

 

“What are… you doing?”

 

“I came to see if you were dead because you suddenly disappeared from the window. Enough?”

 

“…”

 

Gloria’s gaze staring at us was more stinging than I expected.

 

“…No way, are you avoiding me?”

 

Reynold asked me with a distorted face. In response to his question, I just kept my mouth shut and shook my head.

 

There were some really bad rumors going on at school, though. 

 

He clearly didn’t know about our rumors.

 

Does this mean I really can’t date?

 

This is all done for us to have a win-win solution, but there was no other way to explain why I was doing this.

 

My relationship with Reynold was clearly going to be a huge barrier to both of us.

 

“Y-You saw that I wasn’t dead, so it’s fine, right? G-Go quickly!”

 

“Your temper…”

 

Reynold clicked his tongue and shook his head. Then he slowly moved away from the window.

 

As his figure disappeared before my eyes, Gloria, who was looking between the two of us, asked me carefully.

 

“Danae, are you…”

 

I shook my head urgently.

 

“Nonono, we’re definitely not dating.”

 

“That’s not it… Did you two have a fight?”

 

I guess this is why people say you should listen to the end. I bit my lip tightly.

 

“Hey!”

 

At that time, something flew out of the window along with Reynold’s voice. I accidentally caught something he threw.

 

“What if I missed it…”

 

Just as I was about to sigh in relief and raise my voice at Reynold, I noticed what he had thrown.

 

What he threw was moisturizing ointment.

 

“Why this…”

 

I muttered shakily and quietly looked down at the ointment in my hand. Behind the ointment, I could see my hands that were sore from touching so much water as I was practicing blooming.

 

“…”

 

My eyes shook without realizing it. I quickly stuffed the ointment into my skirt pocket and turned to Gloria.

 

Gloria, who was quietly staring at us, tilted her head and asked me.

 

“Why are you suddenly using moisturizing ointment?”

 

“…I guess he no longer needed it.”

 

Gloria, who was listening to me, seemed surprised.

 

“So he threw the trash on you?”

 

…Is that how the story goes?

 

Is it better for her to think like that?

 

“I think so, let’s go back quickly.”

 

I agreed with Gloria’s words and quickened my pace.

 

***

 

“A competition assistant?”

 

In response to my question, Senior Rosie nodded his head.

 

“Our club has an awkward number of people to run a booth during the festival, right?”

 

“Yes, indeed…”

 

“But the seniors are busy because it’s graduation season to submit their work for the festival in the second semester.”

 

Senior Oscar quietly nodded his head next to her as if he agreed with what Senior Rosie said.

 

“So, along with an appropriate activity report, I decided to act as an assistant for the students in various competitions that will be held at the martial arts center during the festival. The students are probably quite nervous right before the competition, right? I help them relax and do various chores.”

 

Each department that uses the martial arts center building holds competitions that take advantage of the department’s characteristics.

 

Typically, the Archery Department holds an archery competition, and the Swordsmanship Department holds a Swordsmanship Competition. Those were the two most famous competitions at the Martial Arts Academy.

 

“To sum it up, during competitions we mostly do chores.”

 

Senior Oscar summarized Senior Rosie’s long explanation in one line.

 

“I like it.”

 

“I will submit the activity report on my own, so I think you just need to know that.”

 

Senior Rosie asked Senior Oscar as she sat down at her desk.

 

“Senior, are you also participating in this year’s competition?”

 

“…I plan to.”

 

Senior Oscar answered, wrapping a blanket around his body.

 

“You’re participating? You said you don’t like crowds of people.”

 

“I need to do something before I graduate.”

 

Contrary to his words, Senior Oscar was leaning back in his chair, preparing to sleep.

 

Seeing that, Senior Rosie frowned at him.

 

In an instant, she quietly spoke to me, looking at Senior Oscar, who was snoring and falling into a deep sleep.

 

“You shouldn’t be like that.”

 

“Haha…”

 

I didn’t know what to answer, so I just smiled shyly.

 

I felt the need to quickly change the subject.

 

“I heard that the Academy Festival season and the Village Festival also overlap?”

 

“…Almost.”

 

Tellen Academy is located in Munit, quite far from the empire’s capital, Harchen. An advantage was that you could eat seafood cheaply because it was close to the sea.

 

Since I only lived in the dormitory, I didn’t know anything about Munit. I couldn’t stop my mouth from getting itchy and called Senior Rosie.

 

“Senior,”

 

“Hey.”

 

She put the pen down with a thud on the desk and glanced at me.

 

“Let’s stay quiet for a while.”

 

“…S-Sorry.”

 

I immediately crouched by her sharp words and carefully took out the assignment I had brought. After looking at her for a while, I slowly opened my mouth again.

 

“If so,”

 

As soon as I could get my words out, Senior Rosie cut me off with a stern voice.

 

“Quiet.”

 

“Yes, ma’am.”