“Well, look at you, Greg! We agreed to slack off together, but you went and studied behind my back, didn't you!”
In the corridor, Victoria stood with her hands on her hips, her gray eyes burning with accusatory fire. She blocked Greg's path entirely, adopting a posture that clearly said, “You aren't leaving today until you give me an explanation.”
Greg sighed helplessly.
“Hey, are you trying to slander my good name? How could the dungeon possibly have an environment where I could study in peace? Stop accusing me. I said I wasn't grinding, and I meant it.”
“Then how on earth did you get the top spot!?”
Victoria's voice rose an octave, clearly extremely dissatisfied with his answer.
“Because I'm naturally brilliant,” Greg answered without batting an eye.
Victoria retorted, “You still have all your hair, and you dare say that?”
Greg muttered, “...That's 'brilliant to the point of baldness.' That's completely different from what I said.”
Victoria asked, “But aren't they both used to describe someone being really smart?”
Greg stammered, “No, those two phrases... Oh, actually, I guess they are... Wait, are they?”
Greg felt like he hadn't quite adapted to Victoria's off-the-wall logic and was starting to get tongue-tied. Fortunately, a soft voice chimed in just in time.
“Alright, you two, stop bickering the moment you see each other.”
Silvia walked over with a helpless smile, stepping between the two of them and expertly stepping into her role as the mediator.
She looked first at Victoria, then at Greg, before saying softly:
“I think as long as we all passed the preliminary defense, we should be happy. Why are we arguing?”
Victoria huffed and turned her head away, though she stopped pressing Greg about his secret grinding.
Seeing this, Silvia hesitated for a moment before turning to Greg, a trace of hard-to-detect worry in her voice:
“Um... Senior Greg, over the past few days... Sister Veronica hasn't looked for you again, has she?”
She had been worried ever since Greg was taken away the last time.
Even though Greg had returned safely in the end, a lingering, inexplicable unease remained in her heart.
Greg shook his head.
“No. Didn't I tell you guys before? She only wanted to see me because she found my answers impressive. There's nothing else to it, so you don't need to worry.”
Yet Silvia did not completely relax at his answer.
She lowered her head slightly, her fingers unconsciously intertwining, her voice dropping even lower than before:
“Though I know it might not be right of me to say this... I feel like Sister Veronica didn't want to meet you just for that, Senior Greg. So... you should still be very careful lately. If that power of yours is exposed, it will definitely cause a lot of trouble.”
Victoria rarely chimed in to agree:
“Yeah. Honestly, I also get the feeling that woman is totally unhinged, so it definitely can't be that simple!”
The two of them—one a Candidate Saintess of the Church of Light, the other a Hero bearing the world's will—had naturally met Veronica within the Church of Light before.
But clearly, the first impression Veronica had left on them was not a good one.
Having interacted with Veronica several times in the church as a Candidate Saintess, Silvia had long since noticed that Veronica's faith in Goddess Serafina was overly obsessive, refusing to tolerate even a speck of impurity.
Victoria, on the other hand, relied purely on intuition—and as it happened, her intuition was usually spot on.
Looking at the serious expressions on their faces, Greg felt a slight warmth in his heart.
“Alright, since you both say so, I'll pay more attention from now on.”
He knew they were genuinely worried about him, but he still had no intention of telling them that he had already completely hoodwinked Veronica.
Silvia was one thing; even if she found out that he had lied and fabricated his soul as female to survive, she certainly wouldn't laugh at him to his face, and would even actively understand his plight.
But it was precisely because Silvia was so understanding that Greg wanted to say it even less, likely not wanting to ruin his image in her heart.
But Victoria, that Little Gray, was a different story. If she found out about this, she would definitely use it as blackmail material and tease him about it constantly.
Thus, Greg had excluded the option of “telling Victoria” from the very beginning.
In any case, whether to preserve his own dignity or maintain secrecy, he had no intention of revealing this matter for now.
“Anyway, let's not talk about that for now.”
Greg clapped his hands, changing the subject.
“Didn't you two say earlier that you had to prepare for the secondary defense with your roommates? Aren't you going now?”
The topic for the secondary defense had been announced alongside the list of students who passed the preliminary defense.
This year's topic was: “An Analysis of the Applications and Limitations of Elemental Resonance Theory in Actual Combat.”
Compared to the preliminary defense's topic on the mechanism of mana conduction loss, this topic was undoubtedly much more difficult.
It not only required students to have a solid theoretical foundation, but also demanded a profound understanding of actual combat and a rich imagination.
Fortunately, there was a five-day preparation period before the secondary defense officially began.
As a result, most students chose to form groups with their roommates or friends who had also passed the preliminary defense, discussing and practicing with one another to prepare.
Of course, Greg had no need for any of that, as the best answers were already printed in his mind.
Since he now had a solid cover identity, he could naturally continue to copy answers without any reservations. Furthermore, the better he performed now, the safer he would be when facing Veronica later.
“Oh, right! I almost forgot!”
Reminded by Greg, Silvia and Victoria finally remembered.
Silvia quickly bid farewell to Greg: “Then, I'll head over first. Goodbye, Senior Greg! Make sure you prepare well yourself!”
With that, she hurriedly rushed off toward the dormitory area.
Before leaving, Victoria crossed her arms and looked at Greg with a challenging gaze:
“Hmph! I'll definitely beat you in the secondary defense. Just you wait, traitor!”
Having delivered her parting threat, she turned and walked away cleanly.
Watching both of their figures disappear down the end of the corridor, Greg finally let out a sigh of relief.
He was planning to head to the agreed-upon location to meet up with Allie and the others next. If anyone else tagged along, things would surely become troublesome again.
But just as he turned to walk toward the exit of the Magic Tower—
“Want to go for a walk together?”
A cool, familiar voice suddenly drifted from his side.
Greg turned his head to find Vivian standing beside him at some point. Her long blue hair shimmered softly under the corridor lights, and her ice-blue eyes stared calmly at him.
Greg: “...Again!?”
Rate on N.U.
