Conquering The Novel

3.2.1 For Soreh Academy!

Cheers!—

With that, everyone began to drink the rare Elvish Ambrosia that Diana brought with her to celebrate our victory in the first match.

We were back in the hotel allocated for our Soreh Academy. As it was the opening ceremony, there was only one match scheduled for the day, but there would be two matches each day from the following day onwards.

And the students who had already participated in the first match wouldn't be able to participate in tomorrow's matches.

Everyone was celebrating our victory which created a huge 10 points difference between other academies. The atmosphere was light and good. I was seated alone on the couch while Livia was going around munching on whatever food was available.

"...."

"...So this is what your plan was, huh?" Ayla spoke up as she sat beside me.

"What do you mean?" I asked as I leaned back and took a sip of the Elvish Ambrosia.

"You participated in the first match to create a huge point difference and relieve the pressure from the other students in the upcoming matches," Ayla said.

"Well, you are not entirely wrong," I replied.

Yeah, she was right! I even risked the crystal being stolen just to get that extra five points from killing that boss monster.

It was a bold move, and if things hadn't gone as I planned, then it would have left us with only some meager points. It was like all or nothing...

Ayla asked, "Who do you plan on sending in for tomorrow's matches?"

"Let's wait and see what the matches entail before we make any decisions," I replied as I got up from the couch to leave.

Before I left, Ayla added, "You did a good job not killing the Cherry Blossom twins."

"...."

I just nodded my head and moved toward my room. It was no surprise that Ayla knew about my intentions. In fact, I liked the type of people to whom I didn't have to explain my moves to, and they could get my intentions right away without me even having to explain them.

'If only I could find some way that would help me control Ayla,' I pondered as I walked toward the corridor of the hotel and made my way toward my room.

...

However, as I stepped out of the elevator, I saw a girl with long red-purple hair and deep orchid-purple eyes in Cherry Blossom Academy's uniform moving around outside my room biting her nails nervously.

Seeing her, I couldn't help but smile inwardly as I immediately recognized who she was.

"Do you want something from me?" I asked her, but she was so lost in her thoughts that she didn't even notice me approaching her.

She jumped startled as she bumped into me, "A-Ah! A-Ares?" She muttered surprised as she held her head and backed away.

"Yes, it's me. Is everything okay?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.

"O-Oh, um, i-its nothing. S-Sorry, I was just passing by," she stammered, trying to hide her nervousness as she began to leave hurriedly.

"About the weapons I gave you, LIA," I said, drawing her attention. "When do you think you'll be able to finish repairing them?"

Lia's eyes widened in surprise, her long red-purple hair swaying as she slowly turned towards me, her whole body trembling. "H-How did you know it was me?" she asked, her eyes filled with confusion.

"I have a skill that can see through disguises," I explained, pointing to my right eye which began to glow gold as I activated my Hawkeye skill.

However, I already knew who she was from the moment we first met, without even relying on any skills.

Lia was left speechless, staring at me blankly as she processed the revelation.

"Oh," was all she managed to say, the shock still evident in her voice.

"Would you like to come in? We can continue our conversation inside," I suggested, gesturing towards my room and unlocking the door.

Lia's face turned red as she thought to herself, 'What? Is it normal for him to just invite girls to his room like this?' but she quickly shook off her inappropriate thoughts and cleared her throat.

"S-Sure, don't mind my intrusion," she said, hurrying past me into the room.

As Lia walked into the room, I turned my head towards the end of the corridor, furrowed my brow before shaking my head and following her inside.

Click—

As Ares and Lia entered the room, there was someone looming in the shadows, keeping an eye on them. However, as soon as they entered the room, the person disappeared.

***

As I sat on the sofa opposite Lia, she began to stammer out an apology. "Ares, I... I'm sorry. I didn't mean to deceive you. I just... I didn't know how to approach you."

I reached for the can of Elvish Ambrosia from my inventory and offered it to her, trying to reassure her. "Don't worry about it," I said. "Here, have a drink."

As Lia took the can, her eyes sparkled with excitement. "W-Whoa! Isn't this the famous Elvish Ambrosia drink? How did you get your hands on those?"

I smiled. "I have a future Elven Empress as my friend."

Lia stared at me in disbelief. 'Elven Empress as just a friend? There's no way she'd give these famous Elven drinks away to her friends, it's even coveted by their own race due to the ingredients...' She pondered inwardly.

I chuckled seeing her expression. "Diana is a generous future Elven Empress. She brought them to celebrate our first match victory." I explained.

However, I remembered what Diana had told me when I asked to buy more of the Elvish Ambrosia from her.

[You know it's not a drink that you can buy with money! But ...you're in luck that I, the future Elven Empress, am a generous person and couldn't ignore the request of someone I love--A-Ahem, someone I found to be a worthy competitor. So you can have them.] Is what she said.

And I was surprised when she took out a mana fridge full of drink cans from her storage ring and handed it over to me without even taking any money.

As Lia sipped the Elvish Ambrosia, her eyes widened in ecstasy.

"Tahh--" she made a sound of pure satisfaction, and muttered, "This...is amazing!"

"O-Oh, I see. Now that I think about it, I forgot to congratulate you on your victory, right? Congrats! I really enjoyed watching the match, and the end of the match the most where your whole team collaborated," she said, her attention now divided between the drink and our conversation.

"Thanks, your academy was not bad as well!" I replied, bringing her back to the topic at hand.

Suddenly, Lia inquired, "Ah, right. Why did you not eliminate the twins when you had the chance? Everyone on our team was confused and thinks that something fishy is going on between the twins and you."

I smiled upon hearing her words, but quickly regained my composure as I responded, "Because they are from your academy."

"E-Eh?" Lia looked at me, her expression betraying her confusion.

"You didn't eliminate them because of me?" she asked, stuttering slightly.

"Yes, it would have made you sad seeing your fellow students getting eliminated by your friend, right?" I said with a smile.

Lia turned her head away, embarrassed, "What are you on about, hmph! Y-You should have said so sooner that you saw through my disguise. I now feel like an idiot wearing disguise every time while talking to you."

"...."

"I just thought you were a shy type of person, so I decided not to point it out," I said.

"I-I see, but we are in a competition so you should not think about hurting any of your friend's feelings and give your all to win. I won't be sad or mad at you because, as the saying goes, everything is fair in family and friends," Lia said.

'Did she mean, everything is fair in love and war?' I mused to myself, but I decided not to correct her.

"...Yeah, everything is fair in family and friends. I will keep that in mind and won't repeat the same mistake again," I replied, shaking my head.

Her tendency to get easily distracted in conversations was just as I had read in the novel. Lia was proving to be a difficult woman to talk with. While she was able to communicate well on the phone, she struggled to express herself properly in real life, especially when she was feeling nervous.

"...."

Lia's eyes widened in surprise. "W-Well, I won't mind if you go easy on me when we meet against each other in the tournament," she said hurriedly.

'Did I just say something stupid again? What if he takes my words seriously and beats me like that shield guy when we met because of what I said!' Lia thought to herself in panic.

"Don't worry, I'll take it easy on you," I assured her. "Anyway, did you start repairing the weapons that I gave you?"

"No, didn't I tell you that I can only finish them after the tournament?" Lia asked, a little confused.

"Ah, yes, you did remind me. Sorry, I had forgotten about that. I'm just really eager to start using them. And don't worry about the money, use whatever materials will make them more durable," I said, making a tired face and yawning.

I let out a yawn and stretched my arms.

"Don't worry, I'll use the best materials available to repair them. And if I need more money, I'll contact you again," Lia said, before getting up from the sofa.

"You seem tired, Ares. I think I should excuse myself now and give you time to rest," she added.

I nodded, grateful, "Yeah, sorry about that. I'm really tired due to the intense match," I said, also getting up.

"Don't worry, I understand," Lia said with a smile.

"Thanks for understanding," I replied, before guiding her outside.

"Alright, bye Ares! See you tomorrow," Lia said as she exited the room.

"Bye," I waved my hand at her, smiling.

As soon as the door closed, I let out a deep sigh. "She is quite difficult to talk to, huh?" I said to myself.

"I couldn't agree more," Irethiel chimed in.

I nodded in agreement before calling out for Meira. She appeared from the shadows, bowing down on one knee.

"How may I help you, master?" she asked.

"Did you find out who was that person keeping an eye on me?" I inquired.

"Yes, it was a student from the Shadow Academy," Meira stated.

"I see, just as I expected," I muttered with a small grin.

Although Lia's presence outside my room was unexpected, everything worked out well in the end. I invited her in, partly to let the stalker see a student from a cherry blossom academy entering my room.

"The news will likely spread by tomorrow, which should make my work somewhat easier," I muttered to myself.