Magic Academy's Genius Blinker - Chapter 285

Chapter 285

Shadow Cast by the Wind (6)

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All the palaces of the Poong Empire are named after mythical animals and great figures from legends or myths.

For example, Cheolhugung symbolizes the wife of the steel general ‘Cheolyata’, who was ridiculed for marrying an unmoving steel statue, but diligently supported the statue until it truly became human.

It is usually known as the palace where queens or princesses reside.

Of course, Zeliel knows nothing of such things.

She simply assumes that this is a very luxurious palace to entertain guests.

“I am Poong Hwarang, the youngest son of the Poong family.”

When she first saw the boy who looked like a block, she had the impression that he was quite rigid.

His expression was rigid, and his muscles were rigid.

“Um! I am…!”

“Shh. Senior. Introduce yourself later.”

Then, when she saw the boy named Dokcheolgwang, who was snorting behind him, she slightly modified that impression.

‘*…Those muscles look even more rigid.*’

For Zeliel, who only manages her stamina enough to not collapse while sitting at a desk and working, those who train their muscles to that extent just seem foolish.

“It’s nice to meet you. I’m Zeliel from the Starcloud Trading Company. I’m so honored that you’re treating me, someone of no importance, with such great hospitality.”

Unlike usual, when meeting her superiors, Zeliel puts on a fake smile and loads a soft voice.

Pretending to be kind?

Pretending to be polite?

She’s practiced it so much that she’s sick of it.

“We do not treat people of no importance with great hospitality. Miss, please sit here.”

Following Poong Hwarang’s guidance, she slowly walked to the head seat of a large hall presumably used by adults, glancing at the Stella cadets who came with him.

‘Ma Yuseong, Hae Wonryang… Flame.’

Excluding the boy named Dokcheolgwang, or whatever, who was not in the data at all.

The remaining three were all figures she had some information about in her head.

Ma Yuseong.

Entered Stella as the top student in the school, and although he clearly looked noble and from a well-educated family, his family was unknown.

There were rumors that he received special treatment from Stella.

Hae Wonryang.

Entered as the second-ranked student in the school as the successor to the Tower of the Full Moon.

He has recently been catching up to Ma Yuseong’s crazy talent and is versatile in using multiple attributes.

Flame.

Although an orphan, she freely wields special attributes that can be handled by other races, such as light or plants, and her original magical ability is also very outstanding.

And…

There is a record that she was once in a relationship with Baek Yu-seol.

‘I didn’t expect to meet her here.’

Even though she tried to look elsewhere, she couldn’t stop her gaze from returning to Flame.

It was the same for Flame.

‘That crazy woman is Zeliel?’

It was her first time seeing her in person.

But she had been burned so many times by the original romance novel ‘Do Not Love the Unfortunate Princess’ that her impression and personality were clearly engraved in her mind.

A psycho who tormented Aiselle to the point of tearing her heart to shreds.

That was Zeliel.

After taking her seat, Zeliel smiled softly and looked at Ma Yuseong, Hae Wonryang, and Flame one by one.

“You brought your friends.”

“Yes. I apologize for the discourtesy. But my friends are also S-class cadets of Stella, and I had no doubt that this would be a good meeting.”

“Yes, you are right.”

It was true that the S-class of Stella needed to be acquainted with the trading company from time to time.

So Zeliel was slightly pleased with this meeting.

She had wanted to meet Ma Yuseong and Hae Wonryang at least once, and above all, Flame… she could finally see the woman she had always been concerned about.

‘What, what? Why is she staring at me?’

When Zeliel stared at Flame’s two eyes with a soft smile as if scanning her, she frowned in slight embarrassment.

Seeing her, who had an ordinary impression and couldn’t manage her expression just by looking at her, Zeliel roughly grasped Flame’s tendencies.

‘*…Is that the type she likes?*’

Her expression changes constantly, and she keeps saying something useless as if her mouth is itching.

It was the complete opposite of Zeliel’s personality.

No, it was a personality she couldn’t understand in the first place.

‘With that kind of vulgar personality… was she really in a relationship with Baek Yu-seol?’

She’s short, has short hair, and her body type is almost like a child’s.

Where on earth is she attractive?

Rather, I, who is more mature and beautiful as a high elf, am more…

‘What am I thinking?’

Such thoughts are not mature at all.

Zeliel closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and held out her hand to Flame.

“I’ve heard a lot about you. They say you inherited the blood of an angel?”

“No, I didn’t?”

When she took Zeliel’s hand, the force of the grip was unusual.

Although she didn’t exercise, she was still an elf.

Her physical ability was far superior to that of humans.

But Flame was also strong enough to be considered a powerhouse.

When she was young, she was confident in her muscles, having gone to the local arm wrestling competition and beating all the adult men, so she had no intention of losing to a mere bookworm in grip strength.

Squeeze!

As the veins on the back of Flame and Zeliel’s hands bulged red and cold sweat began to flow from their faces, Poong Hwarang intervened late and stopped the situation.

“No matter how glad you are to see each other, in the Poong Empire, we don’t shake hands like that.”

Poong Hwarang said, separating the two girls’ arms.

“We show respect by tapping our opposite shoulder three times with our fist and bowing our heads.”

Even while watching Poong Hwarang’s demonstration, Flame sat back down on the chair, and Zeliel brightly smiled and awkwardly followed the motion before stepping back.

“Wow. Women’s battles of nerves are scary.”

Ma Yuseong and Hae Wonryang couldn’t say anything while watching the two’s battle of wills, but Dokcheolgwang, who was oblivious, said a word, and Poong Hwarang glared at him with a terrifying expression.

“What… I didn’t say anything wrong. Why is everyone only picking on me?”

After Dokcheolgwang said that and sat down quietly, Hae Wonryang was finally able to get to the point.

“I’ve always wanted to meet you, and I’m honored to meet you here. I heard you have a favor to ask. As a cadet of Stella, a successor to the Tower of the Full Moon, or as someone of the same age, if it’s a favor we can grant, we’ll do our best to help, so please feel free to tell us.”

“…Is that so?”

At Hae Wonryang’s words, Zeliel cooled her heated head and thought.

In fact, she had no favors to ask of them.

She just stopped by to see Baek Yu-seol’s face and ended up getting tied up.

But if the target is them, it’s a different story.

“Actually… it might be a very small favor, a little different from what I originally had in mind. Would that be okay?”

“Even a small favor is fine.”

At Zeliel’s cautious words, Hae Wonryang replied with a faint smile, and she carefully opened her mouth.

“There will be an exchange student project between the Starflower Tree Magic School and Stella Academy this semester.”

“I know.”

It was quite uncomfortable to ask this favor in front of Flame, but she had no choice.

This was her only chance.

‘According to the information, that boy named Ma Yuseong is close to Baek Yu-seol.’

That mysterious boy, who always sat quietly with a smile and never said anything, rarely showed a genuine interest in getting close to anyone, but there were a few people he was close to.

One of them was Baek Yu-seol.

“Could you possibly… persuade Baek Yu-seol of Stella to come to Starflower Tree during this exchange student program?”

When the name Baek Yu-seol suddenly popped out of her carefully spoken words, the three boys and one girl were greatly taken aback.

“Ba, Baek Yu-seol?”

Poong Hwarang stammered as he asked back, and Zeliel nodded as if confirming.

“Yes. That’s right.”

“…Why?”

“There’s no particular reason. I just… want to see him at school…”

If the people around Zeliel who knew her saw her now, they might have been shocked.

Blurting out her inner thoughts and trailing off was one of the things Zeliel considered the most foolish.

Noticing her embarrassment, Hae Wonryang quickly added.

“I see. Baek Yu-seol is certainly someone the Starcloud Trading Company would want to meet.”

“Ah, yes, that’s right. From the perspective of the trading company, that’s why I want to meet him.”

Does she even know what she’s saying and how she’s rambling?

Because she blurted out the favor she wanted to ask in such a sudden situation, Zeliel was quite flustered and couldn’t recover at all.

‘What’s wrong with her?’

Flame narrowed her eyes and looked at Zeliel.

She looked as mean as she did in the original novel, but her personality was completely different from what she had heard.

‘Something, the feeling is a bit…’

It’s not the atmosphere of a demon who would do anything to bring down her opponent, but just an ordinary… a girl in love.

‘Is she really like that? Really?’

She had heard that Baek Yu-seol had met Zeliel before, but even so, the atmosphere was too different.

‘What did he do to that psycho?’

Now she had to doubt the personalities of the original romance novel characters because he was twisting everything, so should she be happy or sad about this?

‘…It must be a good thing, right?’

She didn’t know how he met Zeliel, who was in the highest class and far from the reach of ordinary people, or how he corrected her personality.

But it couldn’t be a bad thing.

Although she was a powerful figure who tormented Aiselle in the original romance novel, if she became an ally, she would be a strong supporter.

But what is it?

Instead of being happy, why is she feeling so uncomfortable and anxious?

“It’s not a difficult request.”

The person who suddenly spoke was Ma Yuseong, who had been silent until now.

“Actually, I heard from Baek Yu-seol a few times that he was interested in the Starflower Tree exchange student program.”

“…Is that so?”

“What? Really?”

When Zeliel and Flame asked at the same time, Ma Yuseong slightly pushed his chair back and smiled awkwardly.

“Yeah. Really. I don’t lie.”

At those words, Zeliel’s expression became complicated, but she forced a smile.

“That’s… good to hear.”

“Huh? Is it good?”

“…It’s nothing.”

She blurted out something useless again.

Why am I like this today?

She felt self-loathing towards her foolish self.

Zeliel forced herself to cool her heated head and looked at Hae Wonryang this time.

“And, may I ask you one more favor? This is not just a favor but a request, so I will give you a generous reward.”

“…What is your request?”

This time, the atmosphere was different from before, so Hae Wonryang and Poong Hwarang hardened their expressions and answered, and Zeliel slowly parted her lips.

“I want to find someone. Someone very special who is not anywhere on this continent.”

End of Chapter