The two of them dashed off, not stopping until they’d ducked into a secluded corner of the academy’s back garden.
Only then did Irina let go of Leo’s arm.
She exhaled a long breath, her whole body going limp as if her bones had been removed, and collapsed straight onto the nearby bench.
“Alive… I survived.”
Irina feebly waved her hand, looking like she’d just escaped death by the skin of her teeth.
“I’m telling you, if I stay with that Christine any longer, I’ll really get ‘PTSD of Showing Off Wealth’.”
She straightened up, launching into a frenzy of complaints.
“Do you know? She was just short of making me recite her family’s eighteen generations of wealth. Gems from the Extreme North Icefield, tears of Southern Sea Merfolk, my head was buzzing from all of it.”
“Does she really think that piling gold coins in front of me will make me fall to my knees and shout, ‘Long live the Young Lady’?”
“I know she’s trying to rope me in, but is this how you win people over? This is mental pollution!”
Leo crossed his legs, lounging comfortably against the bench as he listened to her vent, an unrestrained smile on his face.
“Can’t be helped. Who told you to be the protagonist lady?”
He spoke unhurriedly.
“According to the standard plot template, there’s always that type of seemingly arrogant, but actually rather eccentric tsundere young miss, who cries and insists on giving you money and gear.”
“You’re complaining, but others would kill for that kind of treatment.”
“You!”
Irina was so exasperated by his gloating that she gave his arm a not-so-light punch.
“I’m pouring my heart out here, not inviting you to gloat!”
Leo seized the opportunity to grab her wrist, lifting his hand in a mock gesture of surrender, grinning.
“All right, all right, my bad. I deeply sympathize with your plight.”
After a bit of playful scuffling, Irina slumped back onto the bench, feeling much calmer.
She turned her head, her amber eyes fixing on Leo with seriousness.
“Seriously, what have you been up to these past two days? I thought you’d forgotten about me, off in your territory playing king of the mountain forever.”
“Grinding levels, doing some infrastructure.”
Leo replied with a breezy tone.
“Recruited some new subordinates, all first-rate workers. I’ve basically turned into a foreman, leading my summoned construction crew in a big development project in the Black Forest.”
Irina pictured the scene: a bunch of skeleton soldiers and elemental creatures toiling away, Leo supervising nearby in a safety helmet.
She couldn’t hold back a laugh.
“Your whole vibe is just so wrong.”
But after her laughter faded, Irina’s face drooped again and she sighed gloomily.
“You’ve got it good. My system hit me with another forced quest.”
“Oh? What is it this time?”
Leo perked up with interest.
“It’s making me become a top student at the academy, and I have to build good relationships with all the major factions to pave the way for the ‘protagonist’s rise’.”
Irina wore the look of someone who’d given up on life.
“All I want is to be a salted fish—spend my days meditating, spacing out, and then freeload in your territory for a lifetime, who wants to scramble around with these little brats?”
After hearing that, Leo reached out and ruffled her hair, the gesture casual and natural.
“See, it’s perfect. You’re in charge of being the campus heartthrob, I’ll handle sneaky growth outside.”
He looked at her face, which was written all over with “I don’t want to try,” and suddenly had an idea.
“By the way, let me tell you something.”
“What?”
“I don’t plan to live in the dorms.”
“Huh?”
Irina froze.
“Not live in the dorms? Isn’t that inconvenient? Blackwood Town is so far from the capital…”
Leo cut her off, looking quite smug.
“Who said it’s far? I ride my griffin here every day, takes half an hour tops. Faster than you walking from the dorms to here.”
Irina’s eyes widened, her mouth forming an “O.”
She stared blankly at Leo, as if trying to process this information.
A few seconds later, she suddenly leaped up with a shriek.
“You use a griffin like a shared bike?! That’s way too extravagant!”
This was a griffin!
The capital’s nobles treat even a single griffin like a treasure, pampering it with prime cuts of meat, and just taking it out for a stroll would draw countless envious eyes.
But for Leo, it was just his daily commuter?
Is this the joy of being a whale?
Irina’s mind spun quickly.
The next moment, her eyes sparkled brilliantly.
She latched onto Leo’s arm, shaking it with all her might, her voice sweet enough to rot teeth.
“Dear Villain~ Big Boss~ My darling~”
“Let me hitch a ride! Take me with you!”
“I don’t want to stay in the dorms anymore! Flying in every morning and heading home at night—just imagining it is thrilling!”
Leo, dizzy from her shaking, deliberately put on a stern face and thought for a moment.
“Hm… Well, my griffin’s back seat isn’t for just anyone.”
“Depends on your performance.”
“I haven’t performed well enough?”
Irina was anxious now.
She tiptoed up and gave him a quick peck on the cheek.
“See? Down payment made!”
Leo touched the spot where she’d kissed him, finally bursting out laughing.
“All right, deal.”
The two of them huddled together, excitedly plotting out their “commuting to school” slacker routine.
For example, they could sleep in half an hour longer in the mornings and eat breakfast in the sky.
After class, they could skip boring club activities and take off straight away.
Just as the mood peaked, Irina suddenly paused, her little nose twitching as she sniffed the air.
She leaned in closer to Leo, sniffing him up and down suspiciously.
“Wait a second.”
“Why do I smell… a very mature woman’s scent on you?”
She cocked her head, her amber eyes full of questioning.
“Not that cold scent from Alice, but… mm, something fragrant, very alluring.”
Leo’s heart skipped a beat.
Damn, before he left, that Fairy, Rivera, had clung to him again—it must have rubbed off then.
He kept a straight face, speaking with perfect seriousness.
“Oh, that?”
“My new summoned Elementalist, she’s an elf—loves experimenting with spices, so her scent is a bit strong.”
“Really?”
Irina narrowed her eyes suspiciously, clearly not so easy to fool.
She leaned into Leo’s ear and lowered her voice, a faint warning note in her tone.
“Villain, let me remind you.”
“You can have as many summoned creatures for your harem as you like, and as the main character, I’m not so unreasonable as to stop you.”
“But!”
“No matter how many you have in your harem, the Principal Consort can only be me! Got it?”
Just then, the melodious chime of the academy bell rang out, announcing the end of the first class of the morning.
A flood of students surged out from the teaching buildings.
Irina let out a wail.
“Damn, time for that mind-numbingly boring History of Magic class. That old man’s lullaby could put me straight to sleep.”
Reluctantly, she let go of Leo’s arm.
“Wait for me at the school gate after class! Don’t you dare run off!”
“Got it, got it, off you go, top student.”
Leo waved with a smile.
Watching Irina blend into the crowd, running toward another teaching building, Leo stood up and stretched lazily.
He had business to take care of as well.
Straightening his clothes, Leo turned and headed toward the tallest New Student Teaching Building.
It was time to meet that “not-so-easygoing” registration instructor the upperclassman had mentioned.