Vol 5. Chapter 33: Taking One Back?

As someone who had lived a whole lifetime on Blue Star, Vinny was very curious about what the so-called double-moon celestial phenomenon actually looked like. What was it like when two moons hung in the sky at the same time? Back on Blue Star, he had never seen a celestial marvel like that. After all, that place was not a magical world.

As for the principles behind it, the explanations in the records regarding the double-moon celestial phenomenon were a complete mess. There were all kinds of guesses and theories, but almost none that could be backed up with hard evidence. To this day, no one knew exactly why the double moons formed.

Many people viewed it as an auspicious sign, while many others regarded it as the omen of ill fortune. The Tyrelis Ancient Empire, meanwhile, had simply viewed it as a special celestial phenomenon, one that contained secrets unknown to humanity.

They believed that when the double moons hung in the sky at the same time, it was also the moment when the entrances to two worlds connected. At that special point in time, which might not occur even once in several decades, events happening on Tyrelis Continent might be observed by beings who did not belong to Tyrelis Continent.

The Tyrelis Ancient Empire believed that when the double moons hung overhead, the gazes of the gods would be projected directly upon Tyrelis Continent. Thus, at the empire’s Imperial Academy, where talent gathered in abundance—that is, Carillian Academy—they would hold a grand tournament to determine the one favored by the gods. This was also the main reason why the tournament was called the Chosen One Granted by God Tournament.

Over time, that custom had been passed down for a thousand years. Even after the Ancient Empire fell, Carillian Academy, a remnant of Ancient Empire influence, still inherited it. It was just that the rules had undergone quite a few changes compared to the past.

As Vinny pondered, he watched Shicodale’s match on the Training Field.

Shicodale’s opponents were a boy from their class who came from a minor noble family, and another boy from the neighboring first-year class whom Vinny did not know.

In the eyes of the people in their class, Shicodale was a fairly inconspicuous little transparent person and also Vinny’s little follower.

But Shicodale was still a fate heroine in the end. Even though Shicodale usually acted as if there were no desire to contend with anyone, even the weakest fate heroine was still a fate heroine. That was not someone any ordinary small fry could afford to challenge.

Vinny only swept a glance over the field before knowing that the boy from the minor noble family was done for. His presence lacked force. Defeat was only a matter of time.

Shicodale might have looked timid before the match, giving people the impression of an easy target who could be pushed around, but once actually on the field, Shicodale’s strength was completely overwhelming.

And because Shicodale usually kept such a low profile, even that male classmate had clearly never expected Shicodale to be this capable in a fight, or this difficult to handle.

As he watched Shicodale, Vinny suddenly remembered something. He took a letter out of his pocket.

The letter was beige. Its wax seal was a pink heart, decorated with an Ainolin floral pattern. Its meaning went without saying. Anyone could tell at a glance that it was an item commonly seen between adolescent boys and girls—a love letter.

The funny thing was, during the first semester of first year, because Shicodale’s public identity was male, combined with that delicate, pure, and timid appearance, Shicodale had always received love letters of unknown origin.

Vinny had seen several of them himself.

Most of them were sent by boys. A small portion were sent by girls.

That was really weird, you know??

Shicodale was an elven girl disguised as a boy, yet most of the people sending love letters were actually boys. Or rather, there were even some girls among them.

Whether it was the former or the latter, the whole thing was so full of points to mock that it felt strange no matter how you looked at it.

Whenever Shicodale received those letters and opened them, the result was usually utter confusion, with no idea what those letters were trying to express.

That was not strange either. After all, the way adolescent boys and girls expressed themselves often ran wild in every imaginable direction.

To put it bluntly, they wrote whatever came to mind and said whatever line they dreamed up. Some of the descriptions made even Vinny feel that probably only the person who had written the letter knew what the hell it was supposed to mean.

Afterward, Vinny had to translate them for Shicodale word by word, explaining the central idea and rough contents of each piece before Shicodale finally understood what was going on, then blushed all the way to the tips of those pointed ears.

Shicodale, of course, was unwilling to accept any of those love letters. With a pretty face flushed red, Shicodale said no, thinking from an elf’s perspective that such a method was far too careless. But there was also worry about hurting the other person, so Shicodale troubled Vinny to handle them instead.

Yes. Every love letter sent to Shicodale was handled and answered by Vinny.

In this field, Vinny was a professional.

Sitting before his own desk and looking at the stack of envelopes beside him, all wrapped in various styles, Vinny looked like he was doing office work. He would open one letter, sweep his pen grandly across the page, and write the few large words that killed a youth’s first stirring of love: “I’m sorry. You’re a good person.”

Generally speaking, words of that level were enough. But some feelings were expressed far too intensely, so Vinny felt heavy medicine was required. Otherwise, it would only treat the symptoms, not the root.

For that sort, Vinny would directly write something like, “I’m sorry, I already have someone I like. You came one step too late. We were fated to meet, but not to be together.”

Back and forth like that, he spent his days as if he were grading homework.

That said, every now and then, he would still run into extremely stubborn hard-liners. For example, even though Vinny had clearly written back already, the person would actually show up the next day, brace themselves, and come looking for Shicodale. To put it plainly, they were pestering relentlessly.

Vinny still remembered watching from not far away as Shicodale blushed and could not help saying, “But I’m a boy,” only for the other person to cling on like a piece of taffy and declare, “That’s fine! I’m a boy too. Doesn’t that make it perfect??”

In a situation like that, it was time for Vinny, the notorious young master, to step forward, activate that notorious-young-master aura of his, and scare away those blue-eyed types in Orange Games who liked little femboys.

Of course, they were not all blue-eyes, strictly speaking. This was an Orange Game, after all. Those who knew, knew. It was just that the girls who came up to confess to Shicodale had no idea what Shicodale’s true sex was, and knew even less that their orientation had already bent without them realizing it.

Yes. Among the groups who were unwilling to accept rejection after their love letters to Shicodale were turned down, quite a few were girls as well. Based on Vinny’s observations, nearly ninety percent of the girls who liked Shicodale so much that they came to confess in person or demand an explanation even after their love letters were rejected were the big-sister type. Some of them were even taller than Vinny, a boy.

The moment they arrived, they would perform deep affection live on-site, saying how attractive Shicodale was, how Shicodale was exactly their type, and how well they would treat Shicodale in the future.

Mm. Watching from the side, Vinny felt that if Shicodale had not truly been a girl, this probably would have been an extremely subtle scene.

In any case, during the first semester of first year, Vinny had pretty much answered all of Shicodale’s confession letters. Things improved a lot in the second semester, and there were almost no more people sending Shicodale love letters.

Vinny had thought he would never run into this sort of thing again. In the end, well, he still had.

He had no idea who had sent this love letter to Shicodale, but Shicodale still followed the old pattern and chose to let Vinny handle it.

Vinny looked left and right. After confirming that no one was nearby, he opened the letter.

“Tsk, tsk, tsk.” Looking at the tender, sentimental words on the letter, Vinny clicked his tongue a few times. But after years of reading Shicodale’s love letters, he had already become immune to these unbearably saccharine lines.

Although he mocked them for being mushy, if the target had been him, perhaps they would not have been mushy at all.

Most importantly, Shicodale was a girl, yet there were girls willing to be this mushy toward Shicodale. Meanwhile, no one was willing to be mushy toward him.

Tch! I’m not jealous. What does this even count for? It’s not like I can’t live without it, right??

Vinny thought that as he took out the little charcoal pencil he carried with him, preparing to mark the student’s homework.

Judging by the handwriting and the delicacy of the wording, it was definitely a girl. Vinny did not even need to think to know this was surely another big-sister type chasing after a young Moon Elf boy.

I swear.

“It really is full of affection.”

“Full of affection? Tsk, more like disgustingly mushy, okay? It’s spring, and everywhere reeks of the sour stink of romance.” Like someone who had just bitten into a lemon, Vinny replied subconsciously, then immediately realized something was wrong.

While he was thinking about how to answer this love letter, a wisp of cool breeze appeared by his ear. By the time he looked over, dreamlike silver strands, carrying the cold fragrance of roses, brushed across his cheek.

“Holy crap??” Vinny was startled so badly his body tilted, shifting half a body-length in an instant.

“Wait, what??” Vinny was alarmed and uncertain. Before opening the letter, he had looked left and right to prevent anyone else from seeing it, and had only opened it after confirming no one was there.

But there really had been no one just now.

This was miraculous. Did this nut ball wriggle without making any sound?

No, wait. It seemed nut balls wriggling without sound was perfectly normal to begin with.

“You, do you just like tracking this young master’s movements and peeping on me that much? Always running up in front of me without a sound to scare me??” Vinny said in a bad mood.

“Sometimes this young master even wonders whether you like me. Otherwise, why are you always chasing after me?” Perhaps Vinny had grown too used to making gross-loser remarks at Aesphyra, because the sentence came straight out before he even thought about it.

“Oh? So what you mean, Vinny, is that you don’t like me being like this?” Aesphyra was bright and dazzling, her words filled with teasing as she asked back, “Or are you saying I’m still not proactive enough, not enough to make you feel that I like you~?”

“I.” That question choked Vinny at once. His mouth opened, instinctively about to say something like, “Who would like you?” the way he usually did, yet for some reason, by some miracle, he could not get it out.

“Tsk! You really are.” Vinny stammered for a long while, but not a single sentence came out. “Don’t say weird stuff like that. This is a public place, okay?”

“Oh? Are you hinting that I should say it in private?” Aesphyra said with a smiling expression. “You’re hiding it so tightly, Vinny. Is it because I’m getting in the way of your good time by doing this in public?”

“What good time of mine? What are you talking about?” Vinny asked, puzzled.

“Vinny, you really don’t understand romance. Some things are enough as long as you understand them in your heart. Saying them out loud makes them far less beautiful.” As she spoke, Aesphyra cast a meaningful glance at the opened envelope in Vinny’s hand.

“It really is full of affection. Are you planning to answer this letter, Vinny? How will you answer it? Do you need me to give you a little advice~?”

“Uh, uh.” Vinny opened his mouth and shrank his neck.

For some reason, he always felt that when Aesphyra said those words, the surrounding air cooled by several degrees, making his neck feel chilly. Even his usual teasing and stubborn retorts were gone.

So your affinity with the ice element is actually [Shackle-Breaking], huh? Even one breath from you is this cold.

“I’m saying, you’re not hinting at this letter, are you?” Vinny pursed his lips.

“Huh? Hinting? What hinting?” Aesphyra crossed her beautiful black-stockinged legs and tilted her head, like a white ragdoll cat that knew nothing of the world. “Why would you suddenly say that, Vinny? Or do you think I have a reason to hint at you?”

“Tsk, tsk.” Vinny glanced at Aesphyra and sniffed at the reaction. “Then why do your eyes keep drifting toward the contents of this letter?”

“No reason. I was worried that you don’t have much experience receiving love letters, Vinny, so I came over to teach you how to reply~” Aesphyra said with a smiling expression.

She made it sound as if she had truly come over in complete sincerity to teach Vinny how to reply.

If Vinny had not seen the change in [Virtue], he might really have been fooled by the flawless acting of this rotten player queen.

[Virtue +150.]

[Current Virtue: 12139.]

Yes. Only now did Vinny notice that his [Virtue] had already increased just now.

“Oh, then that’s true. My experience in this field is indeed far beneath a certain player queen’s.” Hearing that, Vinny also spoke in an extremely sour tone, though who exactly he was sour about was unclear.

“You’ve got some nerve talking about me. The love letters a certain someone has received could probably be stacked higher than the Teaching Hall, enough to pile up into several mountains, and you’re still accusing me.” Vinny muttered.

“Several mountains? I wouldn’t know about that. I don’t have the habit of collecting other people’s love letters. No matter how many I receive, I return them untouched.” Aesphyra raised an eyebrow.

“Oh, so you’ve never opened a single one? Then you still said you had rich experience in replying to love letters and wanted to guide me on how to reply?” Vinny instantly discovered the flaw in Aesphyra’s words, and the corner of his mouth hooked up.

“......” As soon as he said that, Aesphyra actually fell silent for a moment, rare as that was.

[Virtue +60.]

[Current Virtue: 12199.]

Whoa??

Seeing the change in [Virtue], Vinny’s eyes widened slightly.

He had not seen wrong, had he?

Aesphyra’s [Virtue] changed during a verbal battle with him??

In other words?

After that fight at the new-student welcome banquet, he had finally won one back??

Vinny could not believe it, and as he looked at Aesphyra, the smile in his eyes deepened as well.

For some reason, this woman’s thinking had actually regressed, allowing him to take back a round.

“All right, bullying a little nuthead isn’t interesting at all. This young master won’t tease you anymore. This letter isn’t a love letter for me. I’m only answering it on someone else’s behalf.” Although making Aesphyra suffer a setback and teasing her really was fun, Vinny did not use this matter to keep her hanging. He quickly explained.