Thanks to the existence of the system, Allen's real combat experience wasn't just impressive among students—even among adult wizards, he could be ranked near the top.
But even so, he had never encountered a situation like this before.
He'd beaten someone… to the point of tears.
Normally, Classmate Kaoru wasn't this fragile at all. But the successive blows had come too suddenly and too fiercely, completely shattering the mental defenses of a girl who, even by wizarding law, wasn't considered an adult yet.
The stronger she usually was, the harder she cried now.
It had to be said—this face-based society was truly brutal.
If the one crying in front of him were a male wizard, bawling with snot and tears everywhere, Allen would have turned around and left without a second thought. Not firing off a few nasty curses before leaving would already count as mercy—comforting him? Forget it.
Yes. That's how unreasonable it was.
But once the crying person became a girl, Allen not only failed to walk away in disgust, he instead found himself awkwardly frozen, not knowing what to do.
Truth be told, he felt a little guilty.
Sure, everything was technically Marshall's fault. But as his roommates, they still felt some responsibility toward the person involved.
After nearly four years together in the same dorm, a group of noisy boys could easily end up knowing each other even better than siblings. Take the twin troublemakers, for example—their concern for Lee Jordan far exceeded what they showed Ron.
So while Marshall had successfully carried the beauty home in his arms, the current situation still needed handling.
Why didn't she just go look for trouble with Marshall directly?
If you're angry, go beat him up!
Allen was even willing to promise that if he so much as frowned, Marshall would gain thirty extra pounds on the spot.
But dumping the crying girl here and forcing Marshall to take the blame clearly wasn't realistic.
First, abandoning her here alone to search for a Marshall whose whereabouts were unknown was just too cruel.
Second—and more importantly—Allen didn't dare call Marshall over.
This wasn't something that could be fixed with a few comforting words. Who knew if Marshall could keep his mouth shut? What if that idiot suddenly gained a temporary "flirting buff" and sweet-talked the girl into calming down?
That would be disastrous.
After all, Marshall's current girlfriend was their fifth-year prefect—and also the de facto leader of the girls. If Allen got on her bad side, the outcome would be… spectacularly ugly.
Taking all this into consideration, Allen pulled a handkerchief from his pouch, crouched down, and handed it over.
"I'm just saying—it's really not worth it, Miss Kaoru. Marshall's a bastard, slick-tongued and unreliable. He's not worth crying over."
"You see, that guy's a total womanizer. There's absolutely no need to be this upset over him. Really—there's nothing to cry about."
Miss Kaoru, face buried in her arms, didn't respond. But her sobbing softened slightly.
As for the crowd of onlooking girls, they stood at a distance, whispering and pointing. A few wanted to step forward and help comfort her, but were quickly stopped by the others. After some hushed discussion, they all stayed back, gossiping among themselves.
Seeing no one coming to take over, Allen could only grit his teeth and continue—speaking against his conscience as he began to further bad-mouth Marshall.
It wasn't that Allen hated Marshall that much. It was just that praising him right now would be like pouring oil on a fire.
"Really, Miss Kaoru, there's no need. Marshall's been my roommate for years—he's full of bad habits. The only thing he's good at is talking."
"And honestly, you shouldn't feel bad. You dumped him, not the other way around. If anything, you were smart enough to jump out of the fire pit."
"Did you know that guy snores like crazy when he sleeps? We constantly have to cast silencing spells on him."
"And look at me—his close friend—and I even fight girls. That alone should tell you how terrible his taste in friends is…"
In short, Allen invented a whole pile of random flaws. He didn't reveal any serious secrets, but he wasn't shy about dragging himself and his innocent roommates down either.
If everything he said were true, their entire dorm would have achieved the legendary feat of having zero friends—because every single one of them would be a freak.
Thankfully, Allen kept his voice low. Aside from Kaoru, no one else heard him. Otherwise, his dormmates would have cut all ties with him on the spot.
But none of that mattered now.
What mattered was that the girl in front of him finally stopped crying.
Merlin above… this is more exhausting than a full-scale battle.
Miss, if you're really such a tough one, could you at least give me a clean finish?
Unfortunately, that option didn't exist.
Although Kaoru had stopped crying, she stubbornly refused to lift her head. Her emotions had been fully vented, and with her rationality returning, she now had no intention of standing up.
There was only one reason.
It was just too embarrassing.
She had arrived so confidently to confront him, only to suffer a complete emotional collapse in front of her supporters—crying outright, then being comforted by her opponent.
No matter how thick-skinned she was, even she couldn't handle that level of shame.
Throughout her long years of education, she had never been taught how to handle a situation this awkward.
So she instinctively mastered a new survival skill—lowering her head and pretending to be an ostrich.
Though ostriches themselves would strongly object to taking the blame, repeated rumors had long since turned this image into "common sense."
Still, despite her determination to remain an ostrich, she reached out and snatched the handkerchief from Allen's hand.
No matter how inexperienced she was, she knew one thing for sure—tears needed to be wiped away first.
The moment she accepted the handkerchief, Allen finally relaxed.
Things were basically settled now.
If she was willing to take it, that meant communication was possible. At the very least, he wasn't performing a one-man show while she ignored him entirely.
Only then did Allen have the leisure to look at the surrounding group of spectators.
They looked far too entertained.
That alone made Allen furious. Since they weren't even from his school, he didn't bother holding back. Waving his hand, he complained loudly:
"What are you all looking at? Get lost! Disperse! There's nothing to see!"
To his surprise, no one argued back.
Instead, they giggled and left in small groups, just like the end of a movie screening.
It left Allen feeling thoroughly annoyed.
What kind of ridiculous situation is this?
Has my luck been too good lately, and the heavens finally decided to mess with me?
Perhaps hearing the sounds of the crowd dispersing, the crouching witch cautiously peeked out. After confirming no one was watching, she discreetly raised her wand and cast several spells on herself.
Then, without waiting for Allen, she stood up and carefully straightened her slightly wrinkled wizard robes.
Her eyes were still faintly red as she stared at Allen for several seconds—long enough to make his skin crawl.
Before Allen could crack a joke about going to beat up Marshall again, she turned around and walked away without saying a single word.
Leaving behind a thoroughly bewildered Allen.
What the hell was that all about?!