Chapter 130: Coincidental

LEO

Just as I finished showing my Hoffberg picture to Dimitri and Alexis, who gave some encouraging words (“You are actually good at something, Leo!” by Dimitri), Briant finished talking to Blanche and came over to us.

“Eh? So quick?” I asked.

Briant didn’t say anything and just asked me,

“So what is this picture about? Is this Hoffberg?”

“Yes! I’m glad you could recognize—”

Then I noticed Blanche was waving me over.

“Oh, sorry, I’ll go check with Blanche for a bit.”

With that, I walked over to Blanche, leaving Alexis to explain the picture to Briant. I overheard him starting to repeat what I had said earlier in the exact words, almost impersonating me, which made Dimitri and Briant laugh. Alexis could be funny like that sometimes.

“So what’s up?” I asked Blanche.

“I didn’t know you were friends with Briant,” she said.

“Heh, it’s nice to meet an old ‘friend,’ isn’t it?”

Blanche looked at me, tilted her head, then suddenly reached out and pulled my ear.

“Don’t get any silly ideas, Cheese Boy.”

“Ouch, let me go.”

She then laughed and let go of my poor ear.

“So what’s up?” I asked again, rubbing my ear this time.

“What kind of ‘operation’ were you involved in last night?” she asked.

“I’m sorry. It’s coincidential.”

“You mean confidential.”

“Oh yeah, that’s what Briant said. He’s very smart, isn’t he?”

I got another pull on my ear.

“Just spit it out. I couldn’t care less what’s supposed to be confidential.”

“Aw, but it’s true! I was told not to tell anybody about it.”

“By who?”

“Mathias.”

Then she let go of my ear.

“Falken sent you on a mission?”

“Yeah.”

“What for?”

“To stop the bad guys, of course.”

“And how exactly did you do that?”

“That’s the coinci—confidential part.”

I instinctively dodged another attack from Blanche on my ear. I wasn’t going to let that happen for the third time.

“Our Cheese Boy is growing up fast,” she said.

I puffed out my chest and pointed at the badge.

“And I have this to prove it.”

Blanche said nothing. She leaned forward a little, brought her face close to my badge, examined it carefully, and said,

“Tell me about what happened, Leo. I won’t tell anyone.”

Blanche didn’t sound curious. She sounded like it was something actually important to her. I looked around and saw that there was no one nearby, with Briant, Dimitri, and Alexis still standing by my picture, Liesel occupied with showing her painting to some other visiting students, and Fabian eating a beef patty bun in a corner (although Blanche clearly told us we shouldn’t bring food into the exhibition hall!).

“Do you really promise?”

“Yes.”

I knew I could trust Blanche. She was always so cheeky, but I knew she had a good heart and wouldn’t betray her friends.

“Okay, here’s the thing, Blanche, but… erm… you really can’t tell anyone, okay?”

“Trust me.”

“I don’t remember.”

Blanche blinked and said,

“What?”

“I really don’t remember what happened… apparently I fainted during the mission… please don’t tell anyone! Everyone’s going to be so disappointed…”

Blanche didn’t laugh. She looked a little surprised, if anything, then cupped her chin with her hand and looked straight into my eyes for a long time, then said,

“And they gave you a badge for it.”

“Ye… yes.”

Blanche just kept staring at me. I was starting to feel a little uncomfortable. Then I thoughtlessly blurted out,

“Should I… take it off?”

Blanche looked taken aback, but she quickly composed herself and tugged on my sleeve, leading me to a corner of the room, further away from everyone.

“That’s not what I meant, Leo. But this tells me something.”

“What… is it?”

“Nobody gets a badge for nothing. You did something there last night. And that must be why they sent you there in the first place. It is very important you find out what that was.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Tell me how you ended up at the Academy.”

“I… got lucky.”

“Is this also supposed to be confidential?”

“I don’t know. I really don’t!”

I wasn’t annoyed. I knew Blanche wasn’t doing this to me to be mean. But I really didn’t know what I could say and what I couldn’t. I didn’t like that. I didn’t want to be hiding or lying about anything. But things… just happened the way they did, and somehow I was here and receiving a badge for it. I was proud. I felt great. But I was also unsure.

“Leo. I won’t ask you any more questions. I’m sorry,” Blanche said.

“It… it’s okay. I wish I could answer well… I just can’t.”

“I’ll tell you something instead.”

“Okay…”

“I can’t use magic.”

“Er… really?”

“I can’t use swords.”

“You don’t look like you can.”

“Ha! You are right, I can’t. And you know what? No professor or instructor here cares about that.”

“What do you mean?”

“Everyone in my class—my year—thinks I don’t deserve to be at the Academy. What the hell am I doing at the Royal Knights Academy when I can’t use magic and can’t hold a sword?”

“Sounds… sounds like me, actually?! But… I can make small fire and water balls… though…”

“I can’t even do that.”

I was surprised.

I always assumed Blanche would at least be some sort of mage in training. But now that she said all this, it really didn’t make sense why she was at the Academy.

“I joined because I was ‘invited’ to join—not that my family could decline it. And all I did for the past years was sleep and draw, sleep and draw.”

That sounded like a good life, but probably that wasn’t the point.

“Leo, listen carefully.”

I kept my mouth shut and listened.

“You need to get out of this place.”

“Eh?”

“I don’t claim to understand what’s happening with you. But I KNOW you must get out of here. It’s for your sake, Leo.”

Then Blanche saw something across the room and winced. I turned to look.

It was Mario, who had just entered the exhibition hall.

I looked back at Blanche and told her,

“Blanche… I think you are telling me all this to help me… I’m so grateful for that…”

Blanche shook her head.

I said one thing I knew for certain.

“But I want to be here.”