And the next day.

“Look at that.”

“Oh my...”

The students in Constel whispered to each other at the strange sight in the classroom.

“I-is this right?”

“Yeah, good job.”

Pielott handed Frondier bread and chocolate milk. Then he bowed his head and walked away dejectedly.

Of course, all the students in Class 1 were watching. Students passing by in the hallway also noticed and were looking back and forth between Frondier and Pielott with bewildered eyes.

“...Hey, Frondier.”

“Yeah?”

Aster approached.

“What are you making your junior do?”

“Ah, you don’t know this bread? It’s popular at the cafeteria these days, and it tastes amazing with chocolate milk,”

“That’s not what I meant.”

Meanwhile, Aten, who was sitting next to him, also looked at Frondier.

She was giving him a rare stern look.

“Surely, Mr. Frondier, you’re not using violence to force that child or threatening him with some information...”

“No, Aten. It’s a misunderstanding. It’s not like that.”

Frondier immediately waved his hand in denial and then paused.

“...Or is it?”

“Mr. Frondier!”

“Anyway, I’m not doing anything you need to worry about.”

Rather, it was Pielott who did the bad thing. It’s like he’s paying for his sins now.

Hearing those words, Elodie, who was resting her chin on her hand, said,

“Even if you say it’s not, it seems like all the students are imagining something similar to Aten right now?”

As Elodie said, the students were buzzing with talk about Frondier.

─Sloth is making Pielott run errands.

─What? What kind of errands?

─Making him buy bread, bring newspapers, and sometimes even calling him when there’s nothing to do?

─Hul, what’s that? Why is Pielott just doing what he’s told?

─It’s obvious. Sloth has a hold on him. He’s digging up Pielott’s painful past and threatening him.

─As expected of Sloth...

By making the top prospect of the freshmen class his errand boy, Frondier’s reputation had become the worst in just a few days after becoming a sophomore.

His reputation as ‘Human Sloth’ was also the worst, but this time it was the worst in a different sense.

Frondier had gone from incompetence to fear.

As expected of Sloth. This was the current catchphrase for Frondier.

“It’s okay. I’m doing what needs to be done.”

Frondier said as if he didn’t care about those rumors. In fact, he didn’t really care.

Even in his freshman year, a bad reputation followed Frondier like a tail. Both this and that were bad evaluations.

“I won’t make him do this anymore.”

“You won’t?”

“Yeah. I just made him do it a few times because I needed a little smokescreen.”

Pielott himself probably expected to receive such orders. That’s why Frondier is deliberately giving Pielott the orders he expects.

So that when Frondier’s true intentions appear mixed in with those orders, Pielott won’t notice.

“He’s the top prospect of the freshmen class. I have to take good care of him.”

“...If it gets too much, I won’t leave it alone.”

Aten gave a light warning.

Even making him an errand boy seemed to have plenty of room for danger, but Aten didn’t get involved any further. Aster and Elodie also lost interest and returned to their respective seats.

One way or another, they believed that Frondier wouldn’t do anything that would cause problems.

And after school.

When it was time for homeroom, their homeroom teacher, Jane, said,

“There have been some strange rumors going around Constel lately.”

At those words, the students all looked at Frondier.

“Ah, I’m not talking about Mr. Frondier.”

At Jane’s words, the students turned their eyes back to Jane. Frondier let out a hollow laugh at the synchronized sight.

“Recently, there has been a lot of recruitment for clubs and societies among the freshmen, and it seems that some people are hiding among them and making strange proposals, so please be careful and don’t be swayed by such stories. Okay?”

At those words, one student raised their hand.

“Wh-what kind of proposals specifically?”

At those words, Jane’s lips tightened. Certainly, to be careful, one needs to know what kind of proposals they are. But the content was a bit unsettling, so she was hesitant to say it.

Jane, who seemed to be choosing her words carefully, slowly opened her mouth.

“For now, it’s at the level of rumors, and there’s a lot of false or exaggerated information, so there’s not much I can tell you for sure. But based on the information so far, it seems that the first question from whoever comes to make the proposal is usually similar.”

After hearing that first question.

The expressions of Frondier, Elodie, Aten, Sybil, and Selena changed.

* * *

[Do you want to become stronger?]

As Dier was walking back to the dormitory after school, he heard a strange voice and stopped.

He turned around and saw a man smiling and talking to him.

As soon as he saw his face, Dier realized.

‘A mask.’

It was hard to notice at a glance, but there was something strange about the way his neck and face were connected, and his skin tone was slightly off.

It was probably a very cheap product. The difference in quality compared to the top-notch product that Quinie used was obvious.

[Dier Eiger. The child of misfortune.]

“That’s a strange voice.”

Dier said. Just like the mask, his voice was also heavily distorted.

He probably just avoided the requirements to be banned from Constel as a suspicious person. He could just keep his mouth shut about his voice, and the mask wouldn’t be easily noticeable unless you had eyesight as good as Dier’s.

‘And he knows my name too.’

Dier quickly thought it over. Low-quality masks could be obtained cheaply if there was a distribution line.

In other words, the reason for that mask wasn’t because he was short on money, but because he wanted to buy them in bulk. It was highly likely that there were multiple people who approached others like this.

‘Multiple people are approaching Constel students, and they know their names beforehand...’

Is there some kind of list of students to approach? If there is a list, what criteria is it based on?

[Dier, your abilities are outstanding.]

“Thanks.”

[But your body and Mana don’t keep up with them.]

“That’s a painful thing to say.”

Dier moved his right foot back. It was a posture that was good for both running away and approaching.

Conversely, it was also a posture that made it difficult for the opponent to know what Dier was thinking.

[Take my hand, Dier. We will fill your lacking Mana.]

“Hee.”

[Dier, you know it. The despair of seeing and thinking of everything with your head and eyes, but your body not being able to keep up. You wish you hadn’t seen it, that you weren’t so wise. Isn’t it frustrating when those who know nothing have power that surpasses yours and use it foolishly?]

“...”

Dier’s eyes sank.

[We will help you. We will give you the body and Mana to catch up with your eyes and head. You will no longer need to give orders to those who are only stupid, we will make it possible for you to do it yourself.]

The man’s hand was gently extended.

Dier just stared at it.