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Chapter 78

Chapter 78: Second Betrayal (4)

He sat down next to Merhen, ignoring the murmuring students behind him.

“T-Thanks…”

“Are you eating that weird lunch again today?”

“Um… yes?”

“You know, the one with just a plain potato in it. Do you actually eat that?”

Merhen’s face turned bright red.

“H-How did you…?”

“I saw it. By chance.”

Even though there was a separate cafeteria, she always ate her meals in hiding.

So he followed her and observed.

Watching her force down nothing but plain potatoes was quite pitiful.

“Let’s eat together today. I’ll buy it.”

“Oh, no, it’s okay…”

“Nonsense. People need to eat well to live well. Just come with me.”

After a moment of hesitation, she quietly followed me to the front of the restaurant.

Among the menu boards, numerous food models were displayed.

“Pick something. Anything over 5 silver.”

One silver was roughly equivalent to ten dollars.

Thankfully, Cairn seemed to have quite a bit of money, even if he didn’t have any on him.

You could always sell items from your inventory for silver and gold.

Perhaps because nobles were the main customers, the prices for meals increased steeply as they became fancier.

Yet, it was rare to see nobles opt for cheaper meals.

It was like a form of maintaining dignity.

“I-I’m really fine…”

“You like meat, right? How about this one?”

He pointed to a hearty beef stew filled with chunks of meat.

Gulp.

He heard her swallow.

As expected.

It’s rare to find someone who doesn’t like meat.

Merhen was no exception.

They placed their order.

After a short wait, the stew, brimming with meat as shown in the model, arrived.

It was a bonus to see plenty of vegetables added for health.

“Eat up.”

He scooped some stew into his mouth first.

The tender and rich aroma of the meat spread.

“Delicious.”

Merhen, watching him, quickly started eating the stew too.

A happy smile appeared, indicating that it suited her taste.

Well, it’s definitely better than just plain potatoes.

When they were almost done with the stew, he asked,

“Is life at the academy very difficult?”

“Huh! Um, y-yes?”

“I asked if it’s tough.”

“It’s, um, it’s okay.”

“From what I see, it doesn’t seem okay.”

“….”

She looked at the stew in silence.

Then, raising her head, Merhen asked,

“Is this why you helped me?”

“What do you mean by that?”

“…Isn’t Cairn doing this to me? Buying me food like he’s pitying a beggar, trying to mock me?”

“It’s not a mockery.”

“…Then why are you asking me this?”

Her previously bright eyes, which had been enjoying the stew just moments ago, now looked gloomy, as if implying that he was lying.

“If I say I’m having a hard time, will anything change?”

“Yes. A lot.”

“No. It won’t. At best, I’m just a half-penny compared to everyone else.”

Sponsorship.

He heard that students at the academy are encouraged to seek sponsorship.

Usually, the higher the status of the noble parents and the higher the student’s talent, the more sponsorship they receive.

From that perspective, Merhen had no corner to receive sponsorship from.

A commoner and a half-penny mage.

It was like throwing money on the street.

“You’re shallow.”

“…What did you say?”

“I don’t have a rigid sense of pride, nor have I completely abandoned it. I haven’t given up on being a mage, nor am I passionately pursuing it.”

“….”

“I may not know everything about you, but one thing I’m sure of: someone who isn’t themselves ultimately becomes nothing.”

Merhen asked with clenched lips,

“What do you know about me…?”

“If you were going to abandon your pride, you would have asked for help because you’re struggling. If you were going to establish it, you wouldn’t have accepted the food in the first place.”

He spoke to her as if her words were stuck in her throat.

“If you were going to give up being a mage, you would have already left here or pursued something else, and if you were passionate, you would have risked your life to manifest your abilities. But none of that happened.”

It was typical behavior for someone her age.

All of it was half-hearted.

In other words, it meant she couldn’t make choices and focus.

“…It’s surprisingly expensive for just a meal.”

“No. I’m actually paying you.”

Kim Minwoo said with a serious expression.

“You’re in debt from haphazardly worrying about others, being haphazardly taken advantage of, and haphazardly clinging to your dreams. So, has your life improved compared to mine?”

“What am I supposed to do then? I’m just a half-penny commoner without any talent! Resist against nobles? Should I just give up on the academy I barely got into?”

“If I were you, I would have already succeeded in manifesting or dying. I would have also fought with the nobles long ago.”

“Hah, easier said than done.”

“It’s not easy, that’s why you have to do it. Why do you keep letting yourself get pushed around? Because you’re a commoner? Because you lack talent? Those are all excuses.”

“I told you. I can’t even use a single spell.”

“But you can still fight, can’t you? No?”

Merhen’s words were cut off.

“Are you saying they’ll kill you if you fight back? Will you get expelled from the academy for ruining a commoner’s life? No? If you were in your right mind, you wouldn’t do that, right? You might just break an arm or two.”

“….”

“Isn’t it better to be a crazy person who runs wild than a useless idiot who just sits there? Don’t you think so?”

“You’re a noble too, so you know. If I resist, my family will be in danger…”

Kim Minwoo chuckled.

“Were you really just staying quiet because of that? Not because you were just scared?”

“Why are you so certain? What would you do if that were really the case?”

“If you were really staying quiet for the sake of your family, you wouldn’t live so foolishly in the first place. Those kinds of people are full of venom in their eyes. They would have risked their lives to manifest their abilities.”

Merhen bit her lip.

In reality, Kim Minwoo knew it too.

It was quite difficult to expect such action from a girl of Merhen’s age.

“So what’s the point?”

There’s no reason for him to understand that.

Helping Merhen?

Honestly, it’s too easy.

Hand out sponsorship money, be overly considerate, protect her from harassment, become her friend, and hang out with her.

That’s it.

It’s the easy path.

But, will there be a good reward waiting for doing something anyone could do?

At least Gate Hunter wasn’t such an irrational game.

You get what you earn.

That’s the law of this world.

The easy path and the difficult path.

Kim Minwoo was a gamer who tended to choose the latter unless absolutely necessary.

He did the same this time.

No matter how much he coaxes, fundamentally nothing will change.

If he does that, he’ll eventually disappear.

‘It’s just temporary happiness, like bubbles disappearing into thin air.’

For Merhen to truly change, it had to be from herself, not from others.

She had to fill her self-esteem, think, and take proactive action.

That’s the real way to find happiness.

To change from the roots, she had to shake up her inner self.

That’s why he blurted out those words.

“Let’s just leave it at that for now. Are you going to measure everything like this? I don’t think so.”

“…I enjoyed the food. I’ll be going now.”

Merhen stood up abruptly and left the restaurant.

He didn’t bother to stop her.

Now that the initial topic had been brought up,

It was time to observe the situation afterwards.

* * *

Merhen walked briskly.

Her lips were bitten so hard that blood was about to flow.

Cairn.

He was truly rude.

But what really infuriated her was her own pathetic inability to offer a proper rebuttal to his words.

When did her life become so twisted?

When she was born as a commoner instead of a noble?

When she underwent aptitude testing in the village?

When her manifestation failed and she fell into despair?

When she started accumulating debt and struggling to maintain a fragile sense of pride?

She didn’t know.

One thing was certain though.

Her life had become so tangled up, like a tightly wound ball of yarn that she couldn’t unravel.

—So amateurish.

Cairn’s words pierced her heart like a dagger.

He was right.

She truly wasn’t anything special.

Just a common girl who lucked out, nothing more, nothing less.

Then, realizing that luck was an illusion, she crumbled like a fool.

Did she work hard enough to deserve that?

No.

She just followed along with classes like everyone else, whimpering in the library.

If that could be considered effort, then maybe, but it certainly didn’t warrant the descriptor “working to death.”

—Just because she was scared?

Yes, she was scared.

Family?

As the fifth child, she didn’t even receive proper treatment from her siblings.

She was just a commodity to be sold off.

Her peasant father’s eyes gleamed with anticipation at the prospect of selling her off to an old noble.

Her mother was no different.

If she hadn’t undergone the aptitude testing, Merhen would likely have been sold off as a concubine to some fat noble by now.

Did she endure for her family?

Merhen smiled bitterly.

;What a foolish girl I am.’

She wasn’t that worthless, really.

She had her reasons for acting that way, or at least she felt she needed to justify herself to Cairn, as if he could read her mind.

She already knew she had hit rock bottom.

Today just made her confront it once again.

But why did it sting so much?

It was beyond her comprehension.

Then, it happened.

“Hey, peasant girl.”

A familiar voice echoed from somewhere.

When she turned around, she saw a familiar face.

Dolores.

And her entourage.

Five girls were approaching her, but Dolores’s eyes, in particular, were sharp and accusatory.

“If you can’t do magic, then just quietly disappear. There’s not much time left until expulsion. Have you decided to latch onto a man now, hoping to save yourself? Huh?”

“Oh, my, Your Highness. You know, vulgar blood never disappears, does it?”

“Yeah, that’s right. Do you want to catch a man to fix your rotten luck? He’s famous, you know. The ending is obvious.”

As if trying to restrain her, Dolores’s entourage subtly teased her words.

Then, Dolores approached closely, poking Merhen’s chest with her finger.

Each time, Merhen recoiled.

Of all the days to meet her, it had to be today.

Everything was irritating.

Dolores in front of her, and those giggling idiots beside her.

‘What am I enduring for?’

Since she couldn’t use magic anyway, and would soon have to leave here for good, what was the point?

Was her life even worth that much?

After all, if she left the academy, a miserable life awaited her.

Upon careful consideration, she realized there was absolutely no reason for her to endure.

No.

If she were expelled just for enduring this, she felt she would truly regret it for the rest of her life.

“You wretched girl! What am I going to do with you? Should I just kill off your family? Huh? If I tell Daddy…”

“…Do it.”

“What?”

“If you’re going to do it, then do it. Just kill them all. You dog-like girl!”

Suddenly, Merhen grabbed Dolores’s newly cut hair tightly.

She shook her hand vigorously, causing Dolores’s head to jerk around like a balloon.

“Ahh!”

“Your Highness!”

“Is this lunatic out of her mind?! Let go?!”

Surely, all the women gathered here were mages.

But none of them had thought to use magic.

They had never expected Merhen, who had been quiet for so long, to do something crazy like this.

Using magic on others outside of class was prohibited.

The noble girls were already accustomed to this rule.

But in the end, it was Merhen’s most familiar hand that acted out.

She grabbed Dolores’s hair and clung to her body like a madwoman.

“Die, you bastard!”

“Let go! Aaaah!”

Six women tangled in a brawl.

It was only a matter of moments before students and professors rushed in to break it up.