Let’s Block the Ruined Route in Advance Chapter 59

After greeting the Baroness, they followed Rolloa’s lead and surveyed the estate and its facilities. Where the young Suyin children slept and played. Where they studied. Rolloa even showed them the restrooms, so it wasn’t hard for Laquerta to make up his mind.

 

But goodbye was not.

 

Laquerta was afraid, afraid that this parting would hurt the children again, afraid that they would think they had been abandoned, afraid that he could not bear it.

 

It was Lua’s small hand that pulled him to his feet as he spoke, feeling like a sinner.

 

“We’ll be fine.”

 

“Are you really… going to be okay?”

 

“You said you’d come, you said you’d keep coming during vacations and after graduation, so we’re fine.”

 

Kids are surprisingly perceptive.

 

Even if adults don’t explain much, children have the ability to read situations from facial expressions and moods, so Lua and Moa understood.

 

“Because you like us, just like we like you. Lua knows it. We can bear it because we’re only separated for a little while, and you’ll come back to see us.”

 

Lua, who had been holding back tears to sound dignified, finally burst into tears. All three knew that Laquerta would come back to them, that they were still family, even if they were separated for a while, but that didn’t stop the tears from falling at the moment.

 

Lua cried, and Moa burst into tears as well, and they clung to each other.

 

The three of them cried for a long time. The person who came to bring them their meals quietly left, and Eileen, who came afterward, went back into the room.

 

After a night of uninterrupted tears, the children left.

 

“Laquerta, are you okay?”

 

Eileen asks Laquerta as he walks into the dining room, and he nods.

 

“I’m fine. I decided to continue with the letter. I have summer vacation, and the estate isn’t far away, so maybe I’ll visit on the weekends.”

 

He said it nonchalantly, but his eyes were puffy and pained. Eileen patted him on the back without saying a word. It was one of those days when it was slowly getting hotter.

 

 

 

 * * *

 

 

 

“Midterms?”

 

Eileen sat up in her seat, shocked. The blackboard was covered with test scope.

 

“Exams! I wasn’t even thinking about it!”

 

Watching the original story and being in such a hurry to prevent future tragedies had cost her dearly, putting school on the back burner.

 

“No, that’s too much scope!”

 

Cordelia and Laquerta said to Eileen, who was horrified by the scope of the tongue-in-cheek comment.

 

“Is it a lot? If it’s just verbatim from class, it shouldn’t be too hard.”

 

“It would be easier if you just memorized it verbatim, Eileen.”

 

Betrayal washed over Eileen’s face. She couldn’t believe that two people were telling her to just memorize the scope, which was hundreds of pages in total.

 

“Traitors!”

 

That day, club time was replaced by self-study. As Eileen wrapped her head around memorizing the components of magic, she looked around in boredom. As was typical for a Verotanis, most of them were concentrating on solving problems with little effort.

 

“Wait. Am I the only one who can’t study?”

 

Eileen glanced around. She knew that Felix and Lucian were at the top of the second-year class. She even remembered receiving a letter telling her that Felix had won the top spot.

 

Eileen covered her face with her hands as she remembered that Andrew and Neumann, her fellow first-year members, had also been first and second in their entrance exams.

 

“I’m the only one who can’t study.”

 

Even though studying wasn’t everything in life, she felt a little depressed and was rolling around in a pit of shock.

 

“Ugh.”

 

A tiny, folded paper doll waddled up to Eileen’s desk and stood tall and proud. Eileen reflexively turned her head toward Felix.

 

Felix, who had been covering his face with one arm, chuckled and gestured for her to look at her desk. As Eileen lowered her head, the paper doll disintegrated, revealing what he was hiding inside.

 

[Can I see you alone at the garden table when you’re done? I’ll pass on my secret talking points notes].

 

Eileen’s eyes lit up at the thought of giving away something so valuable. When she shooed Laquerta, Cordelia, and Lucian out of the way, she finds Felix waiting for her in the garden.

 

“Welcome.”

 

He waved as he sat down at a small picnic table made of wood under a giant zelkova tree. As Eileen sat down across from him, he pulled out a notebook and waved it playfully.

 

“Tsk. Felix’s tabular notes summarizing first year Potions majors and the gist of the whole thing-. Do you want to have it?”

 

“Yes!!!”

 

A desperate Eileen shouted, and a smiling Felix held out the notes.

 

“Then I’ll just briefly explain the parts that often appear on the exam.”

 

“Thank you, Master!”

 

Eileen thanked him coldly, then focused on Felix’s explanation. Geniuses were supposed to be bad at teaching, but she was impressed with how well Felix explained things.

 

“Felix, seriously, I think you could be a professor.”

 

“Then student number one would be you, Eileen.”

 

“Of course.”

 

They had just finished a crash course in one of the liberal arts and were taking a break to chat and pass the time. A gentle breeze rustled the zelkova trees, and a fallen leaf landed on Felix’s head.

 

“Oh, wait.”

 

Eileen leaned over the table and reached out to brush it off.

 

“There.”

 

Eileen brushed it off his head and was about to pull her hand back when Felix grabbed her hand and pulled it back up to his own head.

 

“What is it?”

 

A puzzled Eileen asked, and he smiled wryly, his eyes narrowing.

 

“Just for old times’ sake, I did something nice, and you’re not going to give me a pat on the back?”

 

He chuckled mischievously and gave Eileen a short flick under the palm of her hand. The silky hair bristled and tickled her palm.

 

Eileen, whose face had heated up a bit, either from the feel of his hair or from the heat, gave a small, defeated laugh.

 

“What kind of professor gets compliments from a student?”

 

“Then I can’t be your professor.”

 

With that, Eileen stroked Felix’s smiling head. The hair felt dizzyingly soft between her fingers.

 

Time flew by and the exam was over. Eileen’s grade was exactly 30th in the back. 

 

First club period after the exam. Felix looked at Eileen’s disastrous report card and asked, “Did you get the gist notes wrong?”

 

“No, the notes were correct, it’s just my brain that got it wrong.”

 

Eileen laughed hysterically. Clearly, she didn’t have a brain.

 

“I wish we had a botanical garden.”

 

With a sigh of relief, Eileen glanced back at Laquerta and Cordelia, both of whom had felt betrayed by the news that their undergraduate grades were in the top ten, but it hadn’t taken long for their feelings of betrayal to be replaced by a sense of pride as they watched her work hard in class.

 

“I wonder who the head of the Defense Against the Dark Arts department is.”

 

“I heard it was Neumann.”

 

With a grimace, Laquerta returned to the newspaper, which he was cataloging the major tourist destinations in the Empire that he hoped to visit one day with his loved ones.

 

“I see you’re still good at studying.”

 

Despite his reputation as a nerdy kid who was often criticized for his behavior in clubs, he still managed to excel academically.

 

“The valedictorian is Andrew again.”

 

Cordelia said, unscrewing the lid of the pool bucket. 

 

The Academy released the grades of the top three students in the faculty and the top ten students in the entire grade, and once again, Andrew was at the top of the class.

 

Eileen marveled at his steadfastness as she looked at his vacant seat, how he’d gone from matriculation head to grade head. Today, Andrew was not present, having chosen to go out on a weekday as a prefect’s prerogative.

 

“I wonder if he’s real.”

 

Eileen could only bite her lip, unsure if her shabby report card was going to be idolized in the future.

 

Lucian spoke up, trying not to let her feel too bad.

 

“Life isn’t all about studying.”

 

“You’re the worst.”

 

At that, they all smirked and continued scrapping, until the old door swung open and a man walked in.

 

It was Neumann, looking like a screw was missing somewhere.

 

“Sorry I’m late.”

 

He staggered to his seat, looking like a fly on the wall, even though he was supposed to be the top of the Defense Against the Dark Arts class. His eyes were wide as if he’d been in shock, and he looked different from his usual deadpan demeanor.

 

“Hey, Neumann, are you okay? If you’re sick, you can take a break from this activity.”

 

George spoke to him with concern, but Neumann seemed to be fine and opened his scrapbook, which was filled with articles about the doings of the Transcendents, especially his sister Bella Kamar.

 

Neumann flinched as he tried to cut the newspaper into pasteable pieces.

 

[Bella Kamar has never missed the top of her class since her days at Verotanis…]

 

After a moment’s pause, Neumann’s hands were busy again. There were anxious eyes watching him as he cut and pasted, cut and pasted, cut and pasted, over and over again.

 

It was Jessie, sitting diagonally across from Neumann, his expression and hands clearly visible.

 

“Are you sure that’s okay?”

 

Jesse watched Neumann’s hand continue to tremble slightly and Jessie sighed and turned her head away.

 

In her experience, worrying about nobles was the most futile of worries.