Editor : Amethyst00



Around half a day had passed since the sightseeing had begun.

"Leo-oppa."

"What?"

"Today, for the first time, I feel respect for Carl."

At Chelsea’s words, Leo burst into laughter.

"Seriously, how does that guy manage to get things or secure lodging without any money?"

In their first year, they had been in the same class.

And even after moving to different dorms in the second year, they were still in the same department.

Chelsea and Carl had often formed parties together for missions or when raiding the Hero's World.

Carl’s skills especially shined when dealing with the Hero's World.

The Hero's World presented many different situations.

Students from noble or prestigious families would experience hardships they normally wouldn’t, due to lack of money in those scenarios.

That’s when having Carl in the party made things easier.

Thanks to his smooth talk and sociability, Carl would quickly make friends and easily get what he needed in exchange for small tasks.

Most students who teamed up with Carl just thought, “Well, that’s convenient.”

Rarely did anyone actually admire Carl’s negotiation skills.

Even Chelsea, Carl’s close friend, hadn’t thought much of it before.

But now—

Chelsea was finally realizing how incredible Carl’s skills really were.

"Things always look easier when you're watching from the side."

"Ugh."

Chelsea grimaced at that.

Leo added, "Well, for starters, you two come from very different backgrounds."

Chelsea, a direct descendant of a prestigious Hero family who had been pampered since birth, couldn’t possibly replicate what Carl—who grew up in a commoner alchemist family and was used to shop work—could do.

‘Carl’s case goes beyond being used to it. It’s like he’s naturally built for that sort of thing.’

Even Leo, who had experienced all sorts of things in his previous life as a mercenary, had to admit Carl’s resourcefulness was impressive.

‘I underestimated this.’

Not being able to reveal their identities or use magic was a far more serious handicap than she’d expected.

And before they had split up, Leo had confiscated anything of value, including accessories they could sell.

They even had to change into plain, unremarkable clothing anyone could find anywhere.

Of course, it wasn’t like no one had offered help.

But every single one of those people had ulterior motives.

Anyone who approached with lecherous intent had been immediately punished by Chelsea.

Grrrr—

Her stomach rumbled.

Mealtime had long passed.

Leo glanced her way after hearing the sound, and Chelsea’s face turned a little red.

‘What do I do now?’

Her main goal had been to secure a place to stay.

But it wasn’t going well.

Letin, being a tourist city, had high accommodation costs no matter where you went.

She had tried offering to do odd jobs in exchange for lodging like Carl did, but no one had accepted.

‘Labor alone isn’t enough. What would Carl have done?’

Chelsea tried to recall the things Carl had done.

‘How did you get food from a shop with no money?’

‘I pretended to be pitiful.’

‘Pretended to be pitiful?’

‘Yeah. I said my little sister hadn’t eaten for days because we were broke.’

‘You lied without even blinking.’

‘It wasn’t a total lie. She really was hungry.’

Chelsea remembered a conversation she'd had with Carl in the Hero’s World.

‘I’m not good at that kind of lie.’

She might joke or pull pranks, but acting pitiful was something she wasn’t confident about.

This sort of thing required the right atmosphere, and Chelsea couldn’t pull off the same kind of vibe Carl could.

As she agonized over it—

“I told you we have to go this way!”

“Don’t be ridiculous! We need to go that way!”

Familiar voices rang out in the middle of the street.

Murmurs began to rise as a crowd gathered.

When Leo and Chelsea approached, they found Niel and Marcel arguing—again.

“Oh no, not again.”

Chelsea covered her face with her hands.

She glanced at Leo, concerned about how he’d react to the two of them bickering.

He had made it clear before that he wouldn’t tolerate fighting.

“That’s just a difference of opinion.”

Chelsea let out a small sigh of relief.

Marcel had looked after Chelsea and Abad since they were little.

Chelsea didn’t enjoy seeing Marcel in a bad light.

Watching the two of them squabble, Chelsea sighed again.

“Geez, seeing them like that makes me feel guilty. Like it’s our fault.”

“Why? Their families are vassals to rival houses—Zerdinger and Lewellin. It’s only natural they don’t get along.”

“Yeah, that’s true. But… I think Marcel-oppa’s first love was Niel-sunbae.”

“What?”

Leo blinked, baffled by the unexpected revelation.

“They actually dated before entering Lumene.”

Leo stared at them in disbelief.

“Those two were a couple?”

“Yup.”

“How?”

“Before entering Lumene, Marcel attended the Lordren Imperial Academy.”

While Lumene was the top academy, there were other prestigious ones in human society.

The most notable were the three elite academies: the knight academy Icott, the magic academy Emerald, and the summoning academy Skarn.

Students who were expelled from Lumene or preparing for transfer often passed through these schools.

Even Princess Shasha of the Lordren Empire had attended Skarn before transferring to Lumene.

The Lordren Imperial Academy, though not quite on par with the other three, was still top-tier, training the best of the Empire.

Unlike the specialized three, the Lordren Academy, like Lumene, hosted students from all disciplines.

A major advantage was that it allowed for commuting from home.

“Marcel passed the Emerald entrance exam but chose the Lordren Academy instead, saying he needed to stay close to support my brother and me. He became top of the magic class there.”

Chelsea shook her head, recalling the past.

“Since being from a Lewellin vassal family would’ve earned him favouritism, Marcel hid his identity.”

He attended as a countryside noble and rose to the top entirely on his own.

“Then one day he came home and said he’d lost a duel against the honor student of the knight course in his year.”

Marcel was a traditional mage.

In one-on-one fights, mages had a disadvantage against knights.

Still, both Abad and Chelsea had been surprised he lost to someone his own age.

“But he didn’t seem upset—he looked happy.”

‘Miss, Young Master. She’s from a countryside noble family like me. She became top of the knight course on her own merit. She’s outstanding, noble, and full of spirit. Of course I lost. But I won’t next time.’

“You mean that knight student was Niel-sunbae?”

“Yeah.”

Niel had also entered the Lordren Academy for the same reasons.

“They seemed to get along really well.”

Both had been looked down on for being country bumpkins from provincial noble houses.

That brought them together, and they quickly grew close.

Apparently, they found they had a lot in common during conversations.

“They said they both served someone from a high-status family and had similar experiences. He talked about Niel all the time.”

‘Young Master! Miss! That girl, you see!’

‘I absolutely must introduce her to you!’

‘Young Master! Miss! I’ve started dating her!’

Just entering the age of romantic curiosity, Niel and Marcel quickly became a couple.

“He even said she might be the one—someone whose heart matched his completely.”

“They may fight like cats and dogs now, but yeah, they’re two peas in a pod.”

Leo clicked his tongue.

“Then they took the Lumene entrance exam and only then discovered each other’s true identities.”

“So? What happened?”

Chelsea sighed.

“What do you think happened? Total chaos.”

They both passed the entrance exam.

But once they learned each other’s identities, they were shocked.

“In the end, they fought, saying they didn’t want to enter the same year, and Niel-sunbae gave up on enrolling. She said she didn’t want to attend Lumene at all. But the Zerdinger family persuaded her for a year, and she eventually enrolled as a year below Marcel-oppa.”

Neither had ever taken the relationship lightly.

But both had strong senses of responsibility and deep loyalty to their houses, so they broke up.

“You’ve always been like this!”

“That’s my line!”

As the two began rehashing old memories, murmurs grew among the spectators.

“Is this a couple’s spat?”

“Looks like it.”

“They must be newlyweds. Ah, young love.”

Seeing a young man and woman arguing on the street, people assumed they were a married couple fighting.

As bystanders watched the ‘sweet’ scene—

“If you had just been honest, we wouldn’t have even gotten tangled up!”

“Hmph! Well, we broke up anyway!”

The warm mood vanished in an instant.

Watching the two grow increasingly emotional, Leo spoke up.

“If we leave them any longer, it’s going to get ugly.”

“Oh! I just got a great idea!”

“Huh?”

Leo looked at Chelsea, puzzled.

bl

“And so… because of me, the family trip turned into a disaster.”

Chelsea slumped her shoulders.

“I’m sorry, oppa, unnie. I ruined our family trip.”

“Oh dear… that’s so unfortunate.”

The innkeeper looked at her with sympathy.

Chelsea’s setup was simple.

A younger sister who lost all their travel money while trying to get her constantly bickering older brother and his wife to reconcile on a trip.

Thanks to Niel and Marcel’s dramatic public fight, all the nearby innkeepers had seen the spectacle.

So Chelsea’s story sounded very convincing, and the innkeeper fell for it.

Leo’s role was Niel’s younger brother.

“You two, your little sister is sincerely apologizing. Why not forgive her?”

At that, Marcel, who had been scowling, couldn’t take it anymore and began,

“I’ll just tell the truth. We’re—”

But then he made eye contact with Chelsea, whose wide-eyed glare froze him mid-sentence.

“…Yes, let’s calm down.”

Niel, too, was about to say something but shut her mouth after hearing Leo.

“Wife, your little brother’s right. Let’s not fight. Marriage is sacred—it shouldn’t be easily torn apart. Don’t worry, you can all stay here for the night. I happen to have two rooms available.”

The innkeeper smiled kindly, and Chelsea spoke up.

“R-Really? Thank you so much!”

Her eyes sparkled as she looked up, and the innkeeper grinned.

“Of course! An adorable girl doing this for her brother? It moved this old man!”

“Wow! In return, we’ll help out around the inn as best we can!”

“Haha! With a pretty girl like you helping out, business will be booming!”

“This oppa is really good at cooking too!”

Chelsea pointed at Leo.

“Great! We needed an extra hand!”

Having secured rooms, Chelsea accepted the keys with pride.

“Thanks to Marcel-oppa and Niel-sunbae, we got a nice place to stay!”

“But the story you came up with was pretty extreme.”

On the verge of divorce?

That was some wild storytelling.

“Extreme? Is it? I got the idea from the books Eiran-unnie reads.”

At that, Leo narrowed his eyes.

‘Should I have a word with Eiran later?’

He glanced back at the pair behind them.

Both had looks of complete misery on their faces.

Leo said, “I’ll let you fight here if you want.”

“We won’t fight.”

“Nope! No fighting.”

Leo looked at Chelsea.

“Do you think they’ll hold out?”

“They’ll fight.”

When it came to this matter, there was zero trust between Niel and Marcel.