I Became The Academy’s Narrow-Eyes - Chapter 90: The Jacket Thief of Ain Academy

Clunk!

Phibian’s chair rocked.

Then, rustling sounds came from beside Phibian.

It seemed like someone had sprawled across the table—

“Is being caught with me by others truly so disagreeable to you?”

That stings.

But it’s okay.

I’m used to such treatment.

-Hey, your boyfriend Ceylon just walked past.

-Come on, don’t say that~

Ceylon, already surrounded by numerous girlfriends, wouldn’t be hurt by such things.

“What’s going on? I never imagined seeing you here.”

From a distance, Adryn and Mizu recognized me and approached my table, naturally pulling out chairs and sitting down.

Adryn sat directly across from me, and Mizu beside her.

Together, they took up the positions of 12 o’clock, 3 o’clock, and 6 o’clock.

If Phibian had been there, the spot at 9 o’clock would have been filled, completing a geographically perfect layout.

“Hey loner. What are you doing here all by yourself?”

Mizu teased me while flaunting her association with Adryn.

“When you come to a dessert café, what else is there to do?”

I pointed to the empty dishes and tea cups on the table.

“What, you idiot. Did you come to this café all by yourself?”

Adryn and Mizu faced each other and giggled behind their hands.

When did those two become so close?

Speaking of which—

“Is there a problem? You both seem to enjoy yourselves.”

“No, it’s not a problem but—”

Adryn and Mizu looked around the café and then laughed again, looking at each other.

“Just funny to think of you coming to a place like this alone.”

“Doing something difficult, I see.”

Indeed.

The name of the café was Pink Sunshine.

As the name suggests, the café was pretty and lively, with pink highlights throughout its interior.

-This establishment prohibits the entry of that kind of thing.

It wasn’t exactly a women-only zone, but it was a challenging place for a guy to enter alone for tea time.

If it weren’t for my meeting with Phibian, I wouldn’t have even considered coming here.

Anyway.

It seems the people who had been laughing at me, sitting on the terrace, thought I was spending time here alone.

‘Phibian, what have you done to me…!’

The shame caught up with me belatedly.

Without exaggeration, this moment felt more embarrassing than the time I was bullied in the entrance exam, even though I was just a commoner.

“But then, it’s somehow fitting for you, being the fool that you are. Do you get the feeling?”

“Oh yes, definitely.”

Adryn and Mizu delighted in finding my weakness and teasing me.

“Ahem. Anyway, you both have errands on this street too, I assume.”

I quickly changed the topic.

“Yeah! Mizu had mentioned that there were places she wanted to visit on the street yesterday, and I happened to want to go to the same places, so we decided to go together.”

“I never thought I’d come here with someone else…”

Mizu muttered with a look full of deep emotion.

Come to think of it.

Mizu had the goal of making friends at the academy and spending her youth with them.

“Should someone like Bauer even be allowed to enjoy this happiness…?”

Of course, you should!

Why would you say something like that!

This was the timing for Adryn and me to join in the agreement, but we were stuck because of the constant Bauer-bashing.

In the end, Adryn and I just looked at each other and gave a bitter laugh.

“Eh? What the? Bauer—”

Just then, Adryn tilted her head in confusion while looking at me.

“Why are you dressed like that?”

“My clothes?”

“In this cold weather, just a shirt with a vest. Where’s your jacket? You’ll catch a cold.”

“Did you get robbed or something?”

Clunk!

At that moment, there was a sound of tables and chairs rocking from behind.

“Oh, about that… Yesterday, I saw someone shivering from the cold, so I lent my jacket to them for a while.”

“And? You took it off for them?”

Adryn leaned forward, fully engaged, listening to my story.

“But then, can you believe it? That person just ran off with my jacket!”

Clunk!

“What!? So what happened next!?”

“Did you just let them get away with it?”

“I lost them in the blink of an eye and couldn’t do anything about it.”

“What in the world? What kind of weirdo does that!?”

“It’s shocking. Taking advantage of someone’s kindness and stealing from them is something not even a Bauer would do. It’s appalling to think there are worse people than Bauers in this world.”

Adryn and Mizu were fuming as if it was a personal insult.

“Ceylon! Was that person an academy student!?”

“Uh? Yes? I guess?”

Overwhelmed by Adryn’s momentum, I ended up responding reflexively.

Clunk!

In that instant, Phibian’s table behind us shook violently.

“A fellow academy student!? What does that mean? It’s just stealing a uniform, right!? It’s bullying!?”

“Ooh… I wouldn’t have guessed that the top position for being bullied could be taken from the Bauers. You truly are my apprentice.”

“A senior!? It was a senior, wasn’t it!? It must be a senior! There can’t be many first-year students who would dare to mess with you! Ceylon, anything you remember about the person who took your jacket – spout it out!”

Adryn exploded with rage as if it was her own battle to fight.

It’s Phibian.

What would happen if I told Adryn the truth now?

While I found the possibility amusing and part of me wanted to see how it would unfold, I managed to hold back and said,

“Now, now. Adryn. Let’s calm down. I actually just met the person recently.”

“What? You met them? And what did you do? Please tell me! You scolded them, right!?”

Adryn swung her arms in frustration.

Okay okay, put those spicy heavy punches away, Adryn.

It was good I didn’t mention it was Phibian.

I almost caused a spicy heavy punch — a punch that punishes mages — to claim another victim.

“Rather than scolding, I managed to resolve the issue amicably, let’s say. When I asked when they would return my jacket, they gave me money and told me to buy a new jacket with it.”

“What!?”

“Are they rich?”

“Rich, my foot! That’s just being rude! That’s merely discourteous, pathetic, lacking manners, and strange! No matter how much money they have, no matter how high and mighty they are, what gives them the right to act that way!? I assure you, that person is neither rich nor noble, nothing – just a nobody!?”

“…”

I felt the trembling from Phibian in the back.

This must be the most humiliating moment in Phibian Leolalian’s life.

“Adryn, is it really okay for you to speak so crudely? What if that person is from a very prestigious family, say from a great house?”

“What, what?! A great house!?”

“A state of emergency.”

Adryn froze like a statue for a moment.

A snicker escaped me.

“Could such a weird, rude, despicable person really be from a great house? How proud they are of their lineage. Would they really commit such an act? Think about it. You, imagine Miss Drin doing something like this. Does it even make sense?”

“It doesn’t.”

“Kasha Hanahan acting this way, does it seem possible?”

“Uh… no…?”

“Even the splendid and dignified Phibian Leolalian you sparred with yesterday! You, do you really think he would do something so shameful and wretched?”

“Uh…”

Absolutely possible.

And because I couldn’t respond immediately—

Tremble tremble tremble.

A tremendous vibration was felt from the back.

“Exactly! It’s unthinkable! Ceylon, you can’t even joke about calling such a person a member of the great houses. Got it!?”

“Um… is it not allowed?”

“Never!”

Suddenly, I could not refer to a great house member as a member of the great house, as if I were under some silent rule.

“But really, that person. Did they pay you properly? I can’t bear it – no, I won’t! – if they gave you enough money to buy just a single piece of bread and told you to go buy a uniform with it!”

“Can’t bear it~”

Mizu and Bauer shouted in cheer.

“Calm down, please, Adryn. That person—”

“That person?”

“Yes?”

“Why would you use honorifics for such a lowly individual!? Don’t use them!”

“Uh… So that person is…?”

“That’s right.”

“Correct. Well done.”

Both of them nodded their heads in satisfaction, like parents proud of teaching their child.

“Well… Since that person paid the correct amount, please calm down you two.”

“Really? Well, that’s a relief. As Mizu said, he may be a nobody, but it seems he had enough money to spare.”

“Bauer doesn’t even have money, might be something to envy.”

Phew.

Adryn had been spitting venom for quite some time.

Whether all her anger had finally been spent or not, she took a deep breath and calmed herself down.

Then, she looked around and her gaze landed on me.

‘I’m getting chilled to the bone myself.’

She seemed to say this with a face full of concern.

“Aren’t you cold?”

“Had I been on the brink of freezing, maybe one warm worry from you, Adryn, would’ve been enough to thaw me instantly.”

“Geez, what nonsense you spout.”

It looks like Adryn had finally cooled off.

Despite the sass, she offered a pleasant smile.

Creak—

Creak—

Adryn pulled a chair closer to me.

“So, did you meet that person here in the cafe and negotiated? You were planning to buy a jacket afterward?”

“Oh, yes. Something like that.”

“Then, shall we go together? I heard there’s a famous tailor around the street.”

I was just about to reply when—

Tap.

Tap.

A slight vibration through the chair reached my body.

Phibian, seated behind me, seemed to have knocked the chair with her legs.

I roughly figured out what she meant.

“I truly appreciate your concern, but I cannot let you waste your precious time on such matters. Please, both of you, enjoy your intended purpose.”

“Ceylon…”

“Phew. I was partly worried you’d take the offer.”

“Were you two planning to stop by this cafe, by any chance? It’s great you did. Why not have a seat before you leave—”

Adryn shook her head.

“No. It wouldn’t be proper to make others wait in line while we take our time.”

“Is that so?”

“Mizu!”

“Decency? Propriety? Bauer. Laughter.”

“Enough with the nonsense. Let’s leave!”

“Ahh~~~”

Mizu, who had been clinging to the table, was now being led away by Adryn’s hand.

“Fool, see you later~”

“Take care.”

With those words, they waved goodbye to me and disappeared, leaving me and Phibian alone.

“Pfft.”

I couldn’t help but laugh recalling the previous situation.

That prompted an elbow filled with Phibian’s suppressed anger to strike my chair hard.

***

“Oh, Phibian, where are you off to in such a disheveled state?”

“I’ll come back to report when I’m ready.”

I wonder if Teln’s fiery and weighty punch, which was included in the discussion just now, was a bit too provocative.

Phibian, who had vowed to drag me around like a servant, left me there and went her way, looking all tattered.

‘There goes my sweet part-time job…!’

I regretted missing out on that lucrative part-time job Phibian had promised, but it was time to do my own thing.

‘Let’s see—’

The level of an adventurer’s guild usually correlated to the size of the city it was located in.

In that context, the caliber of the two adventurer’s guilds in Arienne would certainly be among the best on the continent.

But to find a trustworthy (important) five-star adventurer in Arienne’s prestigious academy to aid in conquering a fifth-grade dungeon was no simple task.

Fortunately, there was one candidate that came to mind.

‘The Upright Swordsman Daltasian.’

Known for his righteousness to a degree considered foolish among many pragmatic adventurers, this quirky character had incredible talent enough to reach the fifth-star rank at a young age. His reputation amongst adventurers was impeccable.

A celebrated hero among the adventuring ranks, and—

To my knowledge, Daltasian was also a character that frequently appeared till the late game.

What did this signify?

It meant he was a vetted individual with no concerns of betrayal.

If there was one drawback to an adventurer as close to perfection as Daltasian, it would be his employment fee because of his overwhelming trust and skill.

‘But who cares?’

It wasn’t my money after all.

I checked the purse that Phibian had given me.

‘Oh wow.’

True to her being born with a diamond spoon, she had given generously.

With this, I could afford to hire Daltasian and still have enough left over to have my school jacket tailored by the best craftsman on the continent.

So money? Check.

Daltasian? According to my knowledge, he ought to be in Arienne around this time.

‘Perfect.’

Without further delay, I headed to the 3rd district adventurer’s guild to which Daltasian belonged.

***

Before long, I had arrived at the building of the 3rd district adventurer’s guild.

But something was off.

The atmosphere of the building was not quite right.

I soon understood why.

“Daltasian has disappeared!!!”

At the counter on the first floor.

A woman was there, grabbing the clerk by the collar and screaming.

‘What now?’

Not this again.

The disconnect between the game and reality.