Why Did I Have to Enroll

Surprisingly, Ayre dragged Light out to Ronica. Light was quite astonished, but upon reflection, it was only natural.

“I do special activities solo too.”

“Solo… wait a minute. Without a professor?”

“The guide only accompanies you on the first quest. And I’ve already completed my first quest.”

Light knew that special activities were sometimes called quests, but Ayre’s words made his head spin even more.

“When did you even…? Aren’t special activities scheduled separately?”

“Since I’m a solo team, it’s easier to move around. I finished it in a day last time.”

“In a day… Are there others like you? Is there another group that started special activities without us knowing?”

“It’s just me. The first-years will probably start next week.”

Light almost said that but kept his mouth shut. She was an elite among elites, granted solo exploration rights from the moment of admission, so was there any point in categorizing her as a mere ‘first-year’? It was simply frustrating.

He originally wanted to be with Ayre—no, it was impossible after all.

“…So what’s your business?”

“First, let’s eat that.”

Ayre pointed to a fried food stall on the street. Light remembered Ban Yu-won once referred to such fried food as ‘croquettes.’

“What… are you buying?”

“Yeah.”

After some hesitation, Light chose shrimp, and Ayre picked shrimp and pork. The shopkeeper, either amazed to see a Union Academy student wandering around on a weekday afternoon or captivated by Ayre’s beauty, stared at them before suddenly bowing deeply, as if frightened.

“Did you just scare the shopkeeper… No, are you really going to eat two of those greasy things?!”

“I’m greedy.”

“If you eat too much now, you won’t be able to have dinner.”

Light sounded like a mother scolding her son for opening a snack bag at 4 PM, but Ayre just smiled contentedly at the two croquettes in her hand and replied.

“It’s fine.”

Ayre opened her mouth wide and bit into the pork croquette, her eyes sparkling. Faintly, vertical pupils appeared and then vanished.

“Dragons are greedy. They can devour everything.”

“Idiot, if you talk so boldly…!”

“Only Light can hear. I set up a barrier.”

When did she do that? How did he miss it?

Light sighed softly, feeling the same way he sometimes did when he was with Ban Yu-won, as if he were a fool. He thought he understood that she was an extraordinary powerhouse, but every time he was surprised anew, it was frustrating.

“But it’s strange. Why can’t Light hear the Dragon Speech?”

“The barrier was cast with Dragon Speech, huh.”

“At the moment I took a bite.”

Ah.

The dragon’s eyes had appeared because she was using Dragon Speech at that moment. Light nodded in understanding but then shivered as he realized the meaning of her words.

He forced himself to look at her calmly.

“I can’t understand Dragon Speech, can I?”

“Why?”

Ayre asked with a genuinely puzzled expression, tossing the half-eaten croquette into her mouth. Crunch, munch, chew, gulp.

Having devoured one croquette in an instant, Ayre looked at Light with clear eyes and asked.

“Light, you’re a Dragonkin, right? Aren’t you?”

Light realized that this was the reason she had brought him out.

“Am I a dragon?”

“Yeah.”

“What kind of joke is that…?”

Light chuckled, but he couldn’t stop his hands from trembling. He managed to hold back from shouting, thanks to recalling his promise with Ban Yu-won and Dokgo Yeon.

For him, his species wasn’t a secret to be hidden but a trauma he didn’t want to recall.

“How did you know?”

“Because we’re kin.”

Ayre said nonchalantly, biting into the remaining croquette. As she looked around and found a suitable place to sit, she led Light there, speaking in a slightly muffled voice due to the croquette in her mouth.

“At first, I only knew you were hiding your gender with high-level disguise magic.”

“And then?”

Light, the fool, didn’t realize he had just admitted he was female. Well, considering he had admitted to something even bigger, gender seemed trivial now.

“The moment you revealed your Dragonkin power in the dungeon, I heard the sound of a dragon’s heart resonating deep within you.”

“Sigh…”

Light let out a deep sigh. Ayre sat him on a bench on the street and strengthened the barrier magic.

“I was always curious why you were hiding your abilities. But I thought you might have your reasons, so I just watched. But I couldn’t understand, so…”

“You seized the chance to talk one-on-one?”

“Yeah.”

Light didn’t know, but Ban Yu-won had always thought Ayre was very friendly with Light. That’s why he assumed she had a crush on him. Although his reasoning was completely wrong, he accurately read Ayre’s affectionate feelings towards Light!

During the special activities in Dimension Gelas, Ayre had confirmed Light as her kin and treated him more comfortably than anyone else at the Academy, simply for that reason.

“You know, Ayre.”

“Yeah.”

“The Dragonkin blood in me… is inferior.”

Ayre nodded as if to say, “Go on.”

“I inherited the dragon’s power through my ancestors, but… it’s too weak. That’s why I can’t hear Dragon Speech.”

“Thin blood. A recessive trait?”

“Probably. It’s embarrassing to even call myself a Dragonkin, and of course, I don’t have any hidden power. …Thanks to that, I could wield the Holy Sword passed down from my ancestors, though.”

“The Holy Sword. Ah, that.”

Ayre nodded quietly, recalling how Light had wielded the Holy Sword at the beginning of the semester. Light took a bite of the croquette in his hand, lowered his head, and sighed.

“Ban told me I could wield the Holy Sword because I had talent, but… I know. I was chosen by the Holy Sword simply because I have a bit of dragon blood. But Ban believes in me and supports me… I don’t know what to do.”

Should he tell Ban Yu-won the truth? That he has no talent, only the dragon blood he luckily inherited. That even that was only useful for wielding the Holy Sword, and now that he must distance himself from it, he has nothing left—

He couldn’t say that. He didn’t want to betray Ban’s expectations.

“Do you like him?”

“He’s a precious friend. I think that’s what it is.”

Light cleared his throat and then told Ayre how he became friends with Ban Yu-won. He spoke proudly, without embarrassment, about how Ban would somehow know when he was having a hard day and prepare hot chocolate, and how, despite teasing him every day, Ban would support him with the words he needed at crucial moments.

“Ahem, you get it now, right? Even though he doesn’t know I’m a girl, he’s this considerate. That guy is really annoyingly kind, so completely…”

“Yeah. I like him too.”

“What?! You too…!”

Light was startled and put on a wary expression. Had he revealed something unnecessary in his panic over being found out? But fortunately, Ayre’s ‘liking’ seemed to be in a slightly different direction than his concern.

“It’s hard to have that level of magical intelligence and power without being a Dragonkin. He’ll definitely become a great mage who surpasses the limits of his race. …I don’t want to lose.”

What Ayre felt for Ban Yu-won was a firm sense of rivalry. A proud Dragonkin feeling competitive against a human! But considering Ban Yu-won’s versatile talents and his ability to see the essence of everything, it was understandable.

While Light was secretly relieved—without knowing why he was relieved—Ayre brought the conversation back.

“So, you want to meet his expectations, right?”

“Yeah… I guess? But why are we talking about this?”

“Assuming.”

Assuming what?

Ayre spoke to Light, who squinted his eyes.

She had already taken and eaten the remaining croquette from his hand.

“I assumed you might not have fully awakened your Dragonkin power.”

“What?”

“Listening to your story, I understand. With recessive traits and an environment where no one knows about dragons, it’s possible.”

Ayre held out her hand. A silver, translucent magical orb floated above it. Light stared blankly as a vertical line appeared on the orb, transforming it into something resembling a dragon’s pupil.

“I’ll help you. You can become strong even without the Holy Sword.”

“What… as a Dragonkin?”

“Of course, as a Dragonkin.”

Ayre smiled softly and said.

“There’s no such thing as an inferior Dragonkin.”

Light, facing her beautiful smile, asked with a face full of disbelief.

“Why are you helping me like this?”

“Because you’re one of the few kin.”

Light instinctively felt that wasn’t the only reason. Sure enough, Ayre added with a mischievous smile.

“Because I want to join Rebellion.”

“You’re really persistent.”

Light couldn’t help but laugh at Ayre’s candid confession. The necklace glowed softly, and the headache in his head grew stronger—but he decided to ignore it.

---

After showing the seniors enough of his Aura to make them sick of it, Ban Yu-won started the club’s regular activities, or rather, special training.

“…No, is this even possible? Out of fifteen people holding melee weapons, only five, including Senior Woo Hyerin, can handle Aura.”

This meant that only five people had the talent for swordsmanship. Ban Yu-won pushed aside the senior who kept claiming that he could awaken Aura if given a superior artifact and, as usual, checked each senior one by one.

“Senior Kasyana, how’s the training space?”

“Perfect. Really, it’s the first time I’ve been able to use my abilities to my heart’s content…!”

Among them, the one growing the fastest was Kasyana, who could manipulate sound. As a second-year student, she could mimic and amplify all kinds of sounds, but she had never properly trained her ability because she underestimated it.

However, Ban Yu-won knew that controlling sound meant controlling vibrations, and since he had a depth of 50 in vibrations, he focused on her abilities first among the special admission seniors.

“How can you create such an amazing artifact? It absorbs and stores my sounds, allowing me to shout as much as I want…”

It was just a simple talisman utilizing ‘Sound Collection’ and ‘Storage.’

“It’s nothing special. And you can release the sounds stored in this talisman anytime, so it would be good to get used to that too.”

Ban Yu-won’s primary goal was for Kasyana to be able to attack enemies with her abilities. Next, he wanted her abilities to distinguish between friend and foe. Third, he wanted her to mimic the voices of monsters that contained specific powers. Lastly, he wanted her to convert sound into mana, the opposite of converting mana into sound.

“If you can achieve three out of these four, you’ll be able to aim for the top of your grade, Senior.”

“Can I really do it? Honestly, I still don’t understand how to attack enemies with sound…”

“You can definitely do it, so don’t worry. Once you achieve the first goal, I’ll make a weapon just for you.”

“Really?”

“What?!”

The words were meant to motivate Kasyana, but for some reason, the senior who had been pushed aside reacted strongly.

“Make me a weapon too!”

“Your ability isn’t related to weapons, Senior.”

“But you never know! I’ll think hard about what kind of weapon suits my ability from now on!”

With that kind of passion, he would have mastered swordsmanship by now, not just Aura but even Aura’s grandfather. Shaking his head in disbelief, Ban Yu-won felt a concept from the senior, which had originated from a stone, attach itself to him.

‘Huh?’

No, it had been coming to him for a while. It was just so faint and weak that he couldn’t recognize it properly, and if it weren’t for the Babylonian Code, he would have never noticed it.

In any case, it was being absorbed naturally into Ban Yu-won’s body, inflating the size of his concepts. Opening his eyes wide to confirm, Ban Yu-won realized that the concept was ‘Amplification.’ It was still weak, but it was definitely enhancing his abilities… by 1%? 2%?

Presumably, the more he interacted with the stone, the more the effect would increase.

‘This is interesting.’

He opened his eyes wide and looked at the people in the training room. He saw that Amplification was applied to all of them. He thought it was a skill that only applied to his party members, like a game character ability, but it turned out it applied to everyone he had a relationship with!

‘So it was a lie that it only applied to subordinates. Or maybe it’s controllable at will.’

It was astonishing. Special admission students were indeed unpredictable.

“Senior Stone.”

“Huh? Have you thought of what weapon to make for me?”

“I don’t know about that, but I thought of what you should do now.”

“What? Hey, my swordsmanship…”

Ban Yu-won, feeling something ominous, grabbed the back of the senior trying to escape and pulled him back, taking out a few talismans. They were talismans storing his own energy, and since energy was purer than magic power, it was possible to convert the energy stored in these talismans into magic power and give it to others.

“Let’s run around this training room while releasing as much magic power as possible. I’m curious about how your ability manifests.”

“My ability? That only applies to my subordinates…”

“I know it’s not, so don’t worry.”

Ban Yu-won smiled and attached a talisman to his back.

“Let’s run.”

“Y-Yes!”

There was no seniority in this club. There was only a mad scientist and his victims.

“Where can you find a freshman like you!”

“Thanks for the compliment. Let’s run a bit faster.”

With Ban Yu-won’s ability to see the essence of everything, the special admission students were getting stronger today as well.