And so, the meal began in earnest.
"So, you're saying that it's better to have smoked lamb instead of bacon in the sandwich?"
"As I've said a few times, smoked lamb is better for your stats... it's a lot healthier."
"Munch munch — I don't care. Even if it's you, Roan, I can't agree with that!"
"... At least finish what's in your mouth before you speak."
Roan shot a glance at Yusina, who was talking with a mouth full of sandwich.
No matter how beautiful or saintly she was, seeing her on the verge of spraying food everywhere didn't exactly bring him joy.
Amazingly, though, all the food stayed right where it was.
Flap! Flap!
Rok flapped its wings as if trying to remind Yusina to maintain her dignity.
Yusina, however, kept her own pace without a single care in the world.
"Gulp— Phew! So then, pasta? Sandberry or Oceanweed?"
"Oceanweed is better," Roan answered after a brief pause.
Sandberry gave a strength bonus, while Oceanweed gave a magic bonus.
There was no need for Roan or Yusina to think too hard about it.
But Yusina was shocked by Roan's extremely practical answer.
"You, you! While you've been out of my life, you've picked up some really bad habits!"
"... What does that even matter?"
'Was she really scolding him for his food preferences?'
Roan looked at her in disbelief. Besides, back when they first met at two years old, neither of them could have eaten sandwiches or pasta anyway.
In the meantime, Sion was quietly listening to their conversation, while deep in thought.
'Smoked lamb or bacon... Sandberry or Oceanweed... this is tough...'
It wasn't an easy choice. Everything tasted fantastically delicious to her.
'Can't I just eat it all?'
No matter how much she thought about it, that seemed like the right answer.
However, laughing in front of the saint felt like a foolish thing to do, so Sion kept her face expressionless, enjoying the moment internally.
"Then! What about... Canned Jello?!"
Canned Jello, also known as "Canjel." It was like the mint chocolate chip of earth.
Even the game developers expressed the controversy humorously, as it had no stat effects, only the characters' personal likes and dislikes were reflected.
"There's no need to eat that."
"How dare you say that?!"
The fact that two people who seemed so mismatched could actually get along so well was quite amusing to Sion, making her reluctant to interrupt their conversation.
By the time the meal was over and they left the café, Roan and Yusina had carried on with their trivial banter the entire time without Sion saying a word.
"Wait, I have my next class! See you guys next week!"
"Oh, goodbye."
Flap! Flap!
Yusina glanced at her pocket watch, then waved her hand along with Rok and quickly disappeared out of sight. Only Roan and Sion, who bowed slightly, were left behind.
Roan looked at Sion, who seemed to be lost in thought.
'Did I do something wrong? Or did Yusina make her uncomfortable?'
He couldn't figure out why Sion had remained silent throughout the meal.
'Other than grabbing her wrist, I didn't make any mistakes. Or maybe asking her to join the club all of a sudden annoyed her?'
The event was completely different from when Sion played through it. Back then, they had a proper explanation in a secretive club booth.
Of course, even back then, it had just been Yusina and one other person.
'Ah! Could it be...!'
Roan, thinking about various possibilities, suddenly came up with a plausible theory and was horrified.
'She thought she'd be the only one joining, but I got involved!'
If Sion's sense of rivalry toward Roan had significantly grown, this made perfect sense!
Furthermore, hadn't he pointed out Yusina's divine beast egg trick, going on to show off in the process?
'I acted too hastily without thinking. That was a mistake.'
Roan began to imagine how much jealousy Sion must have swallowed down while maintaining that innocent expression. This was a serious situation, indeed.
However, unaware of Roan's misunderstanding, Sion noticed his stiff expression and asked, "What...?"
'She's really terrifying!'
Roan trembled inwardly but pretended to be calm as he shook his head.
"... It's nothing."
"Then, for the next class... would you like to go together?"
Sion asked shyly, avoiding eye contact as if embarrassed to make such a suggestion in the first place.
'I think I've gotten pretty close to Darc now!'
The thought that they were now close enough to walk together to the next class crossed her mind!
However, Roan interpreted her behavior a little differently.
'The path to the next class is quite secluded...'
Their basic physical combat class was held at a remote training ground on the southern edge of the Akerandir buildings. It was obvious what Sion, unable to make proper eye contact, was thinking.
Still, there was no benefit in showing that he had caught onto her intentions.
Roan nodded his head but didn't walk ahead of her, nor did he stand beside her.
"???"
Sion tilted her head, confused by his behavior.
"... You lead the way. I don't know the path very well."
This was Roan's strategy to handle whatever might happen!
"???"
Of course, Sion, who had no idea what was going on, found this all rather baffling.
'Does she really not know?'
Considering her behavior right now, that didn't seem possible.
***
Meanwhile, Hector, holding the egg of the Thousand-Eyed Hollow Serpent, went to visit Vulcan's laboratory.
Inside the cave-like laboratory, the continuous sound of thunder echoed.
It was the snoring of Vulcan, the Thunder Bear hybrid.
"Professor Vulcan?"
When Hector called, Vulcan, who was sprawled on a rock, twitched his ears and slowly opened his eyes.
"Pabilto."
"Yes. There's something I'd like to ask —"
Hector, doubting Roan's information, had gone to Vulcan to ask about the true nature of the egg himself.
"Oh, it looks like you've given up on the Holy Battles! Good thinking!"
"Pardon?"
Vulcan abruptly interrupted Hector's words with this statement.
"What do you mean by that?"
When Hector didn't understand, it was Vulcan who tilted his head in confusion.
"What do you mean, 'what'? Isn't that the Thousand-Eyed Hollow Serpent's egg? It's obvious!"
"..."
Hector clenched his teeth. He had no idea what was going on!
"... So, this is really the Thousand-Eyed Hollow Serpent's egg?"
"Oh, did someone else tell you that? Smart guy."
"Yes. Roan said it, but just to confirm..."
"What? Roan! Roan Darc! I knew that kid was worth raising!"
Vulcan laughed heartily, sparks flying around him.
The situation was so frustrating for Hector that he felt like he was going to burst into tears at any given second.
'Why did the heavens give us Roan and then give us me, Hector?!'
If not for the pride of Pabilto, he would have wept bitter tears.
"Is there any chance the ban on this egg will be lifted?"
"Hahahaha! It hasn't been lifted for 3,000 years! You'd be better off praying for the principal to come back to life!"
It was a polite way of saying it would never happen.
"Besides, it's way too hideous. Forget entertaining the crowd. Everyone would just run away! Hahaha!"
"... Goodbye."
Leaving behind Vulcan, who was still laughing long after Hector left, he headed to the Physical Combat training ground, forgetting about lunch.
He took a long detour, so by the time he arrived at the training ground, quite a few students had already gathered around there.
Among them were Rafia and Riel, sweating as they wielded practice weapons, and sitting gloomily in a corner was Demona.
As unlucky as Demona was, Hector had no one else to talk to, so he naturally walked over to him.
"... Heretic. Why are you sitting here? Where's Roan?"
Demona, looking dejected, glanced up at Hector and answered.
"Roan said he'd buy me lunch... but he ditched me and went somewhere else."
"Why? There wasn't anything else going on, was there?"
"Yusina the Saint called him. I guess she's more important than me."
"Hmm."
Hector nodded unconsciously. Of course, the saint was more important than Demona.
Then suddenly —
"... What? Saint Yusina called him?!"
He was completely taken aback by the mention of such a major figure. How could that Roan, who had already caught the attention of Professor Vulcan, also have ties to Yusina?!
Hector was especially shocked because even his room had a few magazines featuring interviews with Yusina.
Yusina was practically the idol of the Holy Empire.
"Sigh... Anyway, did you even eat? I haven't —"
"No, Rafia bought me lunch."
"..."
Hector was suddenly overcome with frustration. Usually, Roan would handle Demona, acting as a sort of buffer, but having to deal with Demona directly reminded him how irritating the guy actually was.
"Then why are you sulking?"
"Roan said he'd buy me lunch, that's why!"
The conversation went in circles. Hector finally lost his temper.
"Do you even realize how much Roan does for you? And you're upset over something like lunch? You heretic!"
Though Hector was furious with Roan because of the Thousand-Eyed Hollow Serpent's egg, he was a principled citizen who knew how to separate work from personal matters. Sulking over a simple meal was utterly shameless.
Just then, a commotion erupted outside the training ground's fence.
"… Heretic, do you hear that?"
"Yeah. Did a dark mage show up or something?"
Hector and Demona, who had been on the verge of an argument, turned their attention to the entrance along with the other students inside the training ground.
The sound of the crowd's murmurs was getting closer.
And listening carefully…
─ Darc! Darc! Darc!
─ Sion! Sion! Sion!
The names being chanted were all too familiar to them.
"Roan?"
Why was Roan coming from there?
Hector and Demona might always stick around Roan, but they were well aware that he wasn't exactly popular among the freshmen.
Furthermore, they knew better than anyone how much Roan hated being in the spotlight.
─ Whoooa! Darc!
─ Glory to the Saintess Candidate!
The atmosphere of the cheering crowd made it seem like they were about to toss him into the air.
Soon, Roan and Sion led a massive crowd into the training ground.
Judging by the numbers, it wasn't just freshmen — even a few upperclassmen seemed to have joined.
Sion looked flustered, but Roan's expression —
"Eek!"
Even Demona, who was the closest to Roan, was taken aback.
"Have those people gone crazy?"
How could those people still be cheering with Roan looking like that?
Roan was radiating a deadly aura that made it seem like he was about to kill someone.
Demona dashed toward Roan to stop these moth-like students, or rather, a mob.
And then —
"…?"
"…."
"…! …!!"
It looked like Demona was about to have a conversation with Roan.
"Whoooo! Roan! Roan!"
Before long, he too was shouting enthusiastically alongside the crowd of fanatics next to Roan.
Smack —!
Only after Roan smacked him upside the head did Demona, whimpering, return to Hector.
"… What did Roan say?"
"He said... he got a divine beast egg or something."
Hector finally understood the situation. And then —
"Roan... I won't let you get away with this..."
The anger that Hector had been holding back finally exploded. Demona, seeing the hatred on Hector's face, took a cautious step back.
"Wow, he's completely lost it, hasn't he?"
Wasn't he the one telling Demona not to get mad at Roan just a moment ago?
Meanwhile, at the front of the massive crowd, Roan was fuming internally.
'All because of this saint candidate!'
He had been stuck in this awkward situation for a while now, unable to do anything but scowl.
Sion, unsure where to put the divine beast egg, was carrying it carefully with both hands, drawing everyone's attention.
As a result, the egg's true nature was revealed, and Roan got swept up in the chaos alongside her.
'Well, it's not entirely bad that so much attention is focused on her since I don't know what Sion might do... but still.'
At this rate, he was going to end up becoming some kind of hero or the freshman hope who had not only completed the Holy Battles but also obtained a divine beast egg.
As Roan was thinking this, he suddenly noticed Hector glaring fiercely at him, trembling with anger.
Roan was bewildered to see him so angry.
'What's wrong with him now?'
Was he really jealous of this whole situation?