The secondary defense officially came to a close amidst a round of warm applause. Greg remained the only person in the history of the exchange to receive a perfect score.
Veronica slowly stood up from her seat, gave a slight nod of acknowledgement to the judging panel, and then, accompanied by two guard nuns, walked along the side aisle toward the exit.
But the moment she stepped out, many students in the defense hall sprang into action as well.
“Lady Saintess! Please wait!”
“Lady Saintess! I want to join the Church of Light too!”
“Lady Saintess—”
As if drawn by some invisible force, these people rose from their seats one after another, surging in the direction Veronica had gone.
The crowd swept past like a tidal wave, engulfing everything in its path.
Greg stood where he was, watching that white figure gradually recede in the midst of the crowd, silently feeling relieved.
Fortunately, he had warned Veronica beforehand, asking her to help conceal his identity and avoid making any suspicious moves.
Otherwise, under the watchful eyes of so many people today, if she made even the slightest unusual gesture, their relationship might be exposed, and then there would be big trouble.
“But speaking of which, what emergency actually delayed Veronica today?”
Greg recalled that there was no plot point in the original game about the Saintess being late on the day of the secondary defense.
Was this another butterfly effect caused by his intervention?
He frowned, temporarily burying this question in the depths of his heart.
Among the surging crowd, Greg noticed a pink figure mixed in, moving forward with the flow of people. It looked like Silvia.
“Strange, does Silvia have some business that she's specifically going to see Veronica for at a time like this?”
Greg's heart stirred slightly, but before he could think further, Rom and Corwin squeezed their way to his side, each grabbing an arm and dragging him away.
“Let's go, let's go, stop daydreaming! If we don't leave now, it's going to get even more crowded once those students who failed the preliminary defense hear about the Saintess and rush over!”
Rom's voice rang in his ear.
“Yeah, that's true. Let's head out together now.”
The three of them quickly followed the flow of people out of the defense hall, moving down the corridor.
But just as they reached the corner of the hall, before Greg could even catch his breath, a swarm of female students suddenly surrounded him.
“Student Greg! Your defense was absolutely spectacular!”
“Student Greg, I'm from the Emerald Wind Magic Academy. Would you be interested in discussing the theory of elemental resonance with us?”
“Student Greg, here is my contact info—”
The girls chattered all at once, completely surrounding Greg.
Rom and Corwin, despite their large builds, were actually squeezed out to the periphery by the surging crowd. They could only stand on their tiptoes, calling out and trying to peer inside.
Enveloped in the scent of makeup and the non-stop chattering, Greg quickly felt that some people's hands weren't exactly behaving.
“Hey, are you girls really that repressed?! Keep your hands off my clothes—holy crap, who just patted my butt?!”
Just as he was trying to figure out how to escape, a red figure charged into the crowd like a cannonball.
“Make way, make way! Out of the road!”
Juno unceremoniously pushed the crowd aside and stepped in front of Greg in a few strides. With her hands on her hips, she looked up at him, her amber eyes sparkling with excitement:
“Greg! Your defense just now was so incredible! Even though I didn't understand more than half of it, it felt super impressive! No wonder even my aunt took a liking to you! You really are a precious treasure!”
She paused, then added:
“By the way, do you want to just transfer to the Ember-Eye Tower Magic Academy? I can get my aunt to give you a massive scholarship!”
The expressions of the surrounding girls who had wanted to strike up a conversation suddenly became complicated upon hearing this.
They looked at the sharp dragon horns on Juno's head and the tail swishing behind her, then weighed the difference in strength between themselves and this dragon girl. Knowing they stood no chance, they could only disperse in disappointment.
Seeing this, Greg breathed a sigh of relief, then politely shook his head:
“Thank you for the kind offer, but I have no plans to transfer.”
“Is that so?”
Juno didn't mind, waving her hand casually:
“Then forget it! Anyway, we'll face each other in the Five Academy Tournament, and I won't go easy on you then!”
While the two were talking, a slender figure walked past.
It was a handsome male elf with long golden hair, wearing a well-tailored green robe and exuding an elegant aura.
As he passed by Greg and Juno, his footsteps paused slightly. He let out a soft, cold snort, then walked away without looking back.
Greg looked at his retreating back and asked Juno in confusion, “Who is that?”
Juno glanced in the direction of his gaze and replied casually:
“Oh, that's the elf prince from the Branch-String Sanctuary. What was his name again... Elwyn, I think? Anyway, he's just one of those guys with his nose in the air. No need to pay attention to him.”
Greg nodded.
He recalled that there was indeed such a character in the original game. However, since the vast majority of characters with official sprites in the original game were female, he was the only male character to have one.
And while this elf prince did have some plot points, his sprite during dialogue was always just a small black silhouette of a generic suspect, so Greg hadn't been able to recognize him by appearance at first.
Just then, an aqua-blue figure walked out from the entrance of the defense hall.
As soon as Vivian stepped out of the doors, her eyes began searching for something in the crowd.
Even though there were many people, she still quickly found Greg among them, and her steps naturally led her toward him.
However, before she could take more than a few steps, Juno, who had just been talking next to Greg, suddenly appeared in front of her with a whoosh.
“Vivian Kahn, you're no exception!”
Juno spread her arms, blocking her path, with a battle-ready smile on her face:
“In this year's Five Academy Tournament, I won't be scared by your ice magic anymore! This time, I will definitely defeat you! Just you wait!”
Vivian looked at her expressionlessly, then shifted her footing, intending to bypass her and keep walking.
But Juno shifted sideways with her, blocking her path once again. “Hey, I'm not finished talking yet! Don't be in such a hurry to leave!”
Vivian took another step to the other side.
“Listen to a dragon when she speaks, hey!”
Juno followed her again.
After repeating this three times, Vivian finally stopped. She looked at the high-spirited Juno in front of her with a gaze carrying a trace of helplessness, then glanced at Greg not far away, letting out a soft sigh.
Rate on N.U.
