“...If you go, what can you possibly do?” After a long silence, Ronilei asked.

“It’s still better than doing nothing,” Vinny replied.

“Oh? Is that so?” Ronilei lifted her eyes and glanced at Vinny. There seemed to be some deeper implication in her gaze, but it lasted for less than an instant before vanishing.

“So then... what are you plotting this time?”

“This time? Plotting? Ronilei, what exactly do you mean by that?” Vinny frowned.

“Nothing. But do you really think I’d let a human enter Eternity Forest?”

“Then would you let me enter Eternity Forest?”

“...”

Ronilei fell silent again. From the look of her, it was impossible to tell what she was thinking.

“Don’t refuse so quickly. What if I really can help Milian?” Vinny said.

“I don’t think that’s necessary.” After a long silence, Ronilei carefully touched Milian’s Soul-Heart, then took out a finely crafted wooden box and tried to place the jade pearl inside it. The box gave off a faint fragrant scent. “I’m sorry, Vinny, but I can’t even verify how much of what you’ve said is true. As for where this Soul-Heart came from, I’ll investigate that as well.”

But just as she was about to place the pearl into the box, the jade pearl suddenly reacted violently.

The emerald radiance that had been calm inside it churned like an overturned sea, and the entire pearl began to shake fiercely.

“This is...?” Ronilei stared in astonishment at the trembling Soul-Heart in her palm. It was the first time she had ever seen such a scene. She could feel the immense soul energy inside the Soul-Heart sending out a clear rejection, desperately expressing that it did not want to be placed inside that wooden box.

Ronilei had never seen anything like this before.

An elf’s Soul-Heart was actually able to convey its owner’s will?

And this was happening even with only half the soul still left inside it.

“You don’t want to go into this box?” Seeing that, Ronilei hurriedly put the box away in case something happened to the Soul-Heart. Yet the trembling did not stop. It only became somewhat less violent, while the pearl still lying in her palm continued to resist.

Could it be...?

“You... don’t want to be separated from him??” Ronilei said in surprise.

It was almost as though the Soul-Heart could hear her. The intensity of its flashing and trembling lessened again, as if someone unable to speak were nodding or shaking their head to indicate yes or no.

“...”

Ronilei fell into silence.

She had never even heard of a situation like this before. She had no idea what was going on. But with the instincts and perception of an elf, she could tell the Soul-Heart’s reaction did not seem fake.

“Do you know what this is?” Ronilei turned to the equally baffled Vinny.

“You’ve never run into this before either?” Vinny looked at her strangely.

“I’ve heard of elves’ Soul-Hearts reacting, but I’ve never heard of one reacting this violently—violently enough to make the entire Soul-Heart shake. And this is with only half the soul still remaining.” Ronilei made it clear that this was completely beyond her understanding.

“Then Ronilei, this is my first time seeing something like this too. I thought it was common. And I’m a human. If even you, an elf, don’t understand elf-related knowledge like this, then how would I?” Vinny said helplessly.

“It looks like this Soul-Heart isn’t willing to leave with me.” With that, Ronilei handed the Soul-Heart back to Vinny. “An elf’s Soul-Heart is the purest and most flawless creation of the soul. Its reactions are also the most direct kind of feedback. If I keep holding it, there’s no telling what sort of extreme response it might produce. If something happens then, the loss will outweigh everything.”

“Then...?” Vinny had no choice but to take it back.

“For now, you keep it. Take good care of this Soul-Heart until I figure out what exactly is going on.” As she spoke, Ronilei stood up. After one last careful look at the Soul-Heart in Vinny’s hand, she gently closed the book she had been reading, returned it to its place, and walked down the stairs. “See you again, Vinny.”

Figure out what was going on?

Was she going to ask the Academy’s mentors?

Vinny did not know. In any case, elves had always struck him as xenophobic and distrustful of outsiders.

They could place unconditional trust in their own people, but it was difficult for them to open their hearts to outsiders. A reaction like this was perfectly normal. If anything, Vinny already felt fortunate that she had been willing to listen to him at all.

Since she had said as much, all he could do now was wait.

Vinny spread open his palm and looked at the smooth olive-like gem lying there.

Could a Soul-Heart still sense the outside world?

Could it still react to it?

“Milian, can you hear me?” After thinking for a moment, Vinny spoke to the Soul-Heart.

“...”

He got no response at all, as if the violent reaction from before had only been his own hallucination.

“Milian, if you can hear me, then give me some kind of response. I’m really worried about you. Your people are too,” Vinny said again.

The Soul-Heart remained deathly still, with no reaction whatsoever.

Vinny tried speaking to it a few more times, hoping to establish some sort of contact with Milian, but still got nothing in return. In the end, he let out a quiet sigh, tucked the Soul-Heart back into his chest, and left the library.

But hadn’t it reacted so strongly earlier?

So why had it suddenly stopped responding now?

Vinny could not understand it.

Still, the fact that it had been able to respond at all proved that Milian should still be alive for now.

Without question, that alone was a reassurance.

Knowing that, Vinny’s mood improved a little.

Ronilei had said she needed to figure out the situation first, but Vinny had no idea how long that would take. All he could do was wait.

The next day, someone knocked on the door of Vinny’s dorm.

“Dale, little bro, Dale, little bro? It’s me, Ferdi. So? Has Vinny gotten back yet?”

“Coming, coming.” Shicodale, who was wearing an apron and washing dishes, immediately ran over to open the door.

“Dale, little bro, Vinny still isn’t back, huh?” Seeing that it was Shicodale who opened the door, Ferdi more or less understood the situation.

If Vinny had been there, then after hearing his voice, the one who came to open the door definitely would have been Vinny.

“No, Ferdi, Vinny’s already back.”

“Huh? He’s already back? What’s going on here?” Ferdi looked confused.

“It’s nothing, really. It’s just that... Vinny’s mood hasn’t been very good lately.” Shicodale pinched the edge of his apron.

“Bad mood? Ah, that’s no problem. Stuff like that gets fixed after a couple rounds of cards! Vinny, my man, Vinny, my man? You back? If you are, say something!”

“Alright, stop yelling. I’m back.”

Vinny rose from the sofa and slowly walked to the entryway so Ferdi could see him.

“Hey, what’s with you? You were right there in the living room. Why didn’t you come open the door when you heard me? You made Dale come do it while he was still washing dishes.” Ferdi could not help saying.

“It’s alright, Ferdi.”

“Sorry. I didn’t hear you. My bad.” Vinny shook his head.

“You...?” Hearing that, Ferdi looked like he could not believe his ears. He swept his gaze up and down Vinny’s body as though checking whether something was missing.

“No, seriously, Vinny... what the hell’s wrong with you?”

Even someone as thick-skinned as Ferdi could tell Vinny was off.

Since when did Vinny ever say “my bad” to him that politely??

Under normal circumstances, shouldn’t Vinny have come over swearing under his breath, then snapped at him with something like, “What are you howling for? Why’re you yelling so loud?”

What was wrong with him today??

“It’s nothing. Just put the card game on hold for now. You go ahead. I don’t really want to play. I’m not in the mood.”

“You...” Even Ferdi, dense as he was, could tell Vinny was not right. He looked at the equally silent Shicodale beside him, questioning him with his eyes.

Did something happen??

Vinny’s acting really weird. Do you know anything??

Shicodale did not know how to explain it to Ferdi either, so he could only stay silent.

“Ah, enough already, Vinny. Wipe that dead-face look off. This doesn’t suit you. If you don’t want to tell your big bro here, then fine. Come on, go play cards with me and change your mood. Maybe once you take your mind off it, you’ll feel better.” Ferdi said.

“I’m not going.”

“Come on, Vinny, what’s wrong with you? You’ve never once turned down cards in your life, have you? Enough already. Stop talking and get moving. Everyone’s already been waiting forever!” Ferdi said impatiently.

“...”

After that, Vinny was forcibly dragged to the card-player-soul club by Ferdi.

“Alright, enough talk. Let’s duel!” Ferdi said as he pulled out his deck.

“You guys play. I’ll just watch.”

“No, seriously, what the hell is wrong with you today??”

“Alright, Ferdi. I think Vinny really is in a bad mood today. How about letting him be for a while?” Andre, standing nearby, tried to smooth things over.

“...This reaction’s like he got dumped.” Ferdi’s expression turned strange. “Did Isatia dump him or something?”

After watching the card players duel for a while, Vinny returned to the dorm. Ferdi had been trying to distract him, but it looked like it had not worked.

A few days later, the practical combat exam began.

Since some students were still away on practical assessment assignments and had not yet returned, the Academy organized a drawing among the students who were already back. If the opponent they drew had also returned, then the match could be fought in advance, and they could start break and go home early.

Normally, whenever there was an Academy exam, Vinny always waited until the very end, when there were as few people around as possible.

But this time was different.

He needed to deal with these exams as quickly as possible and get ready to leave for Eternity Forest.

During the few days since returning to the Academy, Vinny had kept feeling like something was strange, though he could not put his finger on what exactly felt off.

Then, when he arrived at the competition training grounds for the practical combat exam, he finally realized what was wrong.

How had he not seen a certain white-haired nutball these past few days??

He had not even seen her on the day he got back to the Academy.

Where had Aesphyra gone?

Had she not come back to the Academy at all??

The Academy was huge, so not running into her was perfectly normal in theory.

But Vinny still felt that she simply was not here.

If she was not at the Academy, then the only possibility was that she had gone back to the Galathus main house.

But the exams were not even over yet. There was still this last one. Had she really gone home already? Was she planning to come back at the last possible moment and take the exam then?

From what Vinny knew of Aesphyra, she was always serious about things like this and would never handle them so casually.

That left only one explanation:

Aesphyra had probably been dealing with some very important family matter lately. After easily finishing her practical assessment, she had gone back to the main house, only coming when she received his distress transmission.

He wondered what that girl had been busy with.

And how she was doing.

“Excuse me, student, are you here for practical combat pairing?”

“Ah, yes.” Vinny had been standing there in line with his arms folded, his thoughts far away, and had not even noticed that the student in front of him had already drawn an opponent and left.

Only when he turned around did he realize that the students behind him were all staring at him, their faces practically saying, If you don’t want to hurry up and get paired, then move aside and let us go. We’d love to start break early.

“Then please step forward.”

“Alright. Sorry.” Vinny stepped forward and showed his student card.

“Vinny Facilis, correct? Your opponent has already been determined. Mm, your opponent drew you first,” said the Academy staff member handling the registration.

“Oh? Who is it?” Vinny asked.

“His name is Eric Zarniman. He completed registration this morning.”

“Eric??” Vinny immediately remembered that Young Master Eric from the carriage. That young master’s poise had left a deep impression on him.

More importantly, Eric ranked in the top five of the year, just below Milian.

“He registered this morning?”

“Yes,” the staff member replied.

“Thank you.” Vinny took back his student card.

It was noon now. That Young Master Eric might still be somewhere in the arena and not have left yet.

“Vinny.”

Just as Vinny was searching for him, an elegant voice called out to him.

“Young Master Eric??” Vinny looked toward the handsome young man who had called to him and said hesitantly.

“There’s no need to call me Young Master. Just call me classmate.” Eric smiled. “By sheer chance, I drew you for the practical duel. I’m not sure whether that’s fortunate or unfortunate.”

“So then, Vinny... are you ready for the match?” Eric asked.

“Yes. I’m ready. We can start whenever.”

“Then, after you.” Eric made a polite inviting gesture toward Vinny.

The two of them headed together toward one of the arenas.

Once he finished this match, Vinny would officially be on break, so naturally it was better to find his opponent early and get it over with.

The two of them also drew quite a bit of attention from the people around them.

“That one is Young Master Eric, ranked fourth among the first-years.”

“Getting him as an opponent is pretty unlucky.”

“Not necessarily. Look at who his opponent is. That blue-haired one seems to be one of the only three Magus among the first-years.”

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