Senior, I've Come to Visit - Chapter 28

“The first-year beginning-of-term exam this time was swept by some commoner girl. Looks like she’s going to be top of the class.”

“I thought Levard would take first, that’s unexpected. Who is she? Is she good at magic?”

“Of course she’s good, that’s why she’s top. Her name’s Eloise, have you heard of her?”

“No, first I’ve heard of her. Is she pretty?”

“Yeah, she was the prettiest among the new students.”

“At that level, she’s not just the prettiest freshman, she’s the prettiest in the whole academy.”

From the upperclassmen to the ones who had just enrolled, everyone chattered about the new freshman.

Eloise was someone who had appeared like a comet. Until then, no one had known who she was, but after entering the academy, she suddenly became famous. She became known for her genius talent in magic and her pretty looks, so for a full year before he even enrolled at the academy, whenever the stories about her were about to be forgotten, Nardi would hear about her again.

For him, he couldn’t really take an interest in someone he’d never seen and only heard about secondhand. It was also a period when he had no interest in the opposite sex at all, to the point that he even found the guys who frequently brought her up pathetic. To him, Eloise was nothing more than the subject of a boring story he didn’t really know.

However, when he first saw her at the entrance ceremony, Nardi felt a momentary shock, and his heart started to pound.

“See that platinum-blond hair up front? Apparently, she’s that second-year commoner top student.”

“She’s really as pretty as the rumors say, isn’t she?”

Even before his classmates started whispering, Nardi had already sensed that she was Eloise. If there was anyone in the academy who was the prettiest, it had to be her.

At the front of the great hall where the entrance ceremony was underway, she stood facing this way, welcoming the new students.

Eloise was not just simply pretty; she was so beautiful she seemed almost mysterious. He thought that the forest fairies that supposedly existed long ago must have looked like that.

Her platinum-blond hair was tied up in one, her small white face was tiny, her large light-blue eyes and small high nose, her prim red lips. Her pretty features and peach-colored cheeks made her look cute and lovable, yet her expression was thoroughly emotionless. In her neat school uniform, Eloise stood still without giving her gaze to anyone.

She had an aura completely different from what he’d vaguely expected. Eloise was not only far prettier than he had imagined, she also seemed indifferent and quiet in temperament. She looked as if she were trying not to draw people’s eyes, yet of course she was receiving countless stares. His own gaze kept going to Eloise too, and all his attention was drawn to where she stood.

After she left an unforgettable, intense impression on him at the entrance ceremony, Nardi’s eyes naturally searched for and followed Eloise around the academy.

Her actions were as mysterious as her looks.

Nardi saw several times how Eloise spent time alone or, as if avoiding people, went walking in the quiet gardens that few people visited. It was a stark contrast to the other students, who mostly moved around in groups. Eloise was indifferent to others and often spent time alone reading a book or lost in thought.

Yet she didn’t look the least bit lonely or isolated; she just seemed free and independent. There were plenty of people who wanted to get close to her, but it seemed Eloise herself didn’t want to get close to anyone. Not only toward other people but toward the big and small happenings at the academy as well, she was indifferent, so she felt as if she stayed within her own world, wrapped in a thin, invisible protective barrier.

The only time such an Eloise would step forward was when it was to help someone.

People called her, behind her back, the “commoner top student,” and “guardian of commoners.”

Guardian of commoners.

Wherever many people gathered there were always pathetic types, and among the boys in particular things childishly split into strong and weak. It was the same among the seniors one year above him, Eloise’s year, where there was a group of noble students who bullied the particularly weak commoner wizards.

Avoiding the professors’ eyes, the nobles shifted their targets and carried on a constant, subtle bullying. They took turns using magic to steal belongings from somewhat clumsy commoner boys whose mana had manifested but wasn’t strong, or they humiliated them in front of crowds.

When other students looked on disapprovingly yet couldn’t easily step in, the one who stood up every time was Eloise. With magic so strong the nobles couldn’t even stand against it, she retrieved the belongings taken from the commoner boys and returned them, and cast protective barriers around them. She was, literally, a “guardian of commoners.”

“What, is it Eloise again?”

“Eloise, if you keep doing this, it’s going to be a problem.”

The noble group didn’t dare bully Eloise, who repeatedly forced them to stop what, for them, was just a game. Funnily enough, they did have eyes; in fact, there were several among them who liked Eloise. On the rare occasion someone disliked her, they still couldn’t do her any harm.

If they ever did try to harm her, Nardi intended to step in himself, but before it ever came to that, the genius wizard had already taken care of things in an instant. With her outstanding skill in magic, Eloise easily brushed off the group of nobles.

Because of that, nothing too serious ever happened, but during a practical magic combat session, trouble finally broke out.

He quite liked the day each month when all the students gathered at the large training ground. It was a day when he could watch Eloise all day from a relatively close distance. Since they were in different years, it was hard to take the same classes, so aside from the library, the training grounds, the gardens, and other spots around the academy, this was a precious chance to be in the same space as her.

Eloise’s magic was pretty and mysterious, just like her.

She mainly used magic that shone with silvery-white light and finished her battles in a short time. Gracefully yet simply, she defeated her opponents without leaving them with so much as a scratch, then quietly watched the other students’ matches. Wanting it to be over quickly, she sometimes showed a bored expression, but for the most part she remained expressionless.

Then a particularly fierce match began.

Battle opponents were chosen at random within each year, and in her year, Jerome Hartman, second son of Count Hartman, was matched against a commoner wizard named Miles. Nardi already knew about the two boys and their relationship, having seen many times how Jerome Hartman frequently bullied Miles and how Eloise would step in to save him.

Boom, boom!

With repeated thunderous crashes and flashes of light, a one-sided assault unfolded.

Seizing the chance to torment Miles without any interference, Jerome Hartman didn’t let it slip. He enjoyed having an audience and, while flaunting his paltry skills, drove Miles into a corner. Wearing a nasty smile, he unleashed attack after attack and shattered the defense Miles had barely managed to maintain.

When he fired an attack straight at him, Miles was helplessly pushed back and fell. As Miles struggled to raise a hand to signal his surrender, unable even to cry out properly, Jerome Hartman fired one last powerful blow.

Boom.

All around, students let out cries of shock and sprang to their feet.

As the lingering smoke cleared, Miles’s figure appeared, his upper body gravely wounded.

“What do we do…!”

“Isn’t he dead?!”

At once, the professors halted the battle and rushed to Miles. In particular, the healing magic professors who had been standing by surrounded Miles and began treating him, but through the gaps between them, it was clear they were failing to stop the severe bleeding and he was on the verge of hemorrhaging. As the situation grew urgent, in that moment Eloise sprang up onto the platform and headed toward Miles in the blink of an eye.

Pushing in between the professors, she placed her hand over Miles’s injured area and cast a healing spell. Holy silvery-white light flickered, illuminating the surroundings and her focused face.

“….”

Feeling his heart pound wildly, he stood there blankly, staring at her beautiful profile.