Tense silence permeated the entire room.

Rey was now glaring at Adonis, who had a stoic look on his face as he turned to face the former.

They were both on their feet, and it seemed like this dreary atmosphere would last forever. However, someone had to say something, or do something, at some point.

And Adonis took that upon himself.

"I'm also sorry, Rey. I truly am, but… this is a path that I have to walk alone." For a brief moment, a glimpse of the old Adonis shone through.

The smile, the glow in his eyes, and the tone of his voice—Rey felt like he was speaking to his friend.

But… all of that vanished quickly.

"I wish you good fortune in whatever your mission here is, Rey. Though… I don't think any of it matters, ultimately."

After saying all of this, Adonis resumed his departure. In only a few seconds, he had left Rey standing shell-shocked and all alone in his room.

"Haa…"

Rey leaked out a heavy sigh as he collapsed on his bed, mentally and emotionally exhausted—mostly the latter, though.

'... This wasn't how it was supposed to go.'

Right as he thought about this, before he could even dwell on his just-concluded conversation with Adonis, he heard something in his head.

~DING!~

'A-ah!' His eyes slightly widened and he swiftly composed himself, compartmentalizing his surprise so he could properly address the notification he just received.

'Looks like you're finally done settling in, Lucielle.'

As soon as he thought this, a slightly exhausted voice sweetly echoed in his mind.

~Yeah! Mi'ja is quite talkative, but I was finally able to get her to leave me all alone.~

'Good job.' Rey smiled.

He could already imagine how uncomfortable it would have been for Lucielle to have the Class Rep hang around her room instead of leaving as soon as she was done with escorting.

~Who do you think is to blame for this, Rey? You already knew this would happen, didn't you? That's why you decided to cling to that antisocial loner in class… cus you knew he wouldn't overstay his welcome after showing you to your room.~

'Hahaha! You got me…'

Rey remembered the favor Adonis asked of him, and while he wasn't bound by anything to go along with it… he decided to.

'It's not like it affects the mission in any way. Besides, if Lucielle finds out Adonis is here, it could lead to some complications.'

The United Human Alliance placed a lot of emphasis on the Hero, after all.

Since that was the case, then Adonis was a prized asset that Lucielle, or any human belonging to the Alliance, could not simply ignore.

'I might be the strongest Otherworlder right now, but… Adonis is the most important.'

Well, he was.

'Right now, we can't rely on him for anything. I already made it a philosophy not to force anyone to do what they don't want to do. Just as I'll let Alicia return to Earth, I'll let Adonis do what he likes.'

After all, Rey understood how hypocritical it would be for him to do otherwise.

'It could have been me in Adonis' shoes. I certainly wouldn't appreciate anyone getting in the way of my personal freedom…' Once Rey thought of things like that, he was able to decide on a more passive position regarding Adonis.

'I'll continue to watch him, of course, but… that'll be the end of it.'

Adonis had made his choice, and so had he. There was no right or wrong regarding their decisions.

'We just have to stick to the consequences…'

Of course, all of these things were running simultaneously with Rey's other layered thoughts, and he was still speaking with Lucielle through his mind through everything.

~Are you sure the Dragons won't be able to listen in to this conversation, though?~

Rey smiled, completely understanding her concerns.

They were completely unwarranted, though. He had ensured to take all sorts of precautions in order to ensure nothing of the sort happened.

'[Link] might be an A-Tier Skill, but it creates a secure channel between two people through their mind. Adrien used it to communicate with Justin for a while, and not even I could detect anything. Besides, I tested it out a few times too, and I also detailedly analyzed the Skill description.' He thought to himself.

The Skill was as good as an S-Tier Skill, in Rey's eyes. The only reason it was ranked so low had to be due to its limitations.

'It can only be done between two people.'

The two also had to physically touch, and mutually consent, for the [Link] to be deactivated. Hence, it functioned as a Passive Skill.

This ensured that Rey and Lucielle could be connected constantly.

'We can also know where the other is, so that's a good thing.' He smiled to himself. If Lucielle hadn't followed him on this mission, he would have connected himself with Alicia. That was how highly he thought of the Skill.

He didn't tell Lucielle any of this, though. Instead, he simply told her not to worry about it.

Thankfully, that was enough to ease her worries.

~That Ad'oni guy, though… he's pretty cute, isn't he?~

'Why are you asking me that?' At this point, Rey couldn't help but slap his face. The last thing he wanted to do was discuss boys with Lucielle.

Especially since the boy in question was Adonis.

~Pffft! Let's just say that I think you can relate. I saw how you clung to him while leaving, Rey.~

'What?'

~I mean… you didn't even pay any attention to any of the Dragon Girls. Instead, you were…~

'What are you implying?'

~Nothing!~

'Yeah… it better be nothing!' Rey wanted to throw up at this point, but he controlled himself anyway.

Why would he be focused on any of the Dragon Girls, or Boys, when someone like Lucielle existed? In his eyes, she was easily the prettiest in the whole class.

Of course, Rey would rather die than tell her that.

'Besides, why are you so focused on romance with Dragons? I guess you must really have a thing for—'

~No.~

The cold way Lucielle responded to those words made Rey shiver a little.

He only meant it as a joke, the same way she had been teasing him, but, the way she responded completely made him regret that decision.

He wasn't seeing the current expression on her face, but he could already guess what it would be.

—Not pleasant at all.

'In any case… tomorrow will be a lot more serious. You ready?'

~Yeah. Mi'ja told me a little more about it. You should have come with us, Rey! We had a blast!~

'Something tells me I didn't miss out on too much.'

~But you did! Honestly! Mi'ja even tripped and nearly fell. If I didn't catch her, it would have been bad. She was so embarrassed, it was cute…~

'Is that so?'

~Yeah! In fact…~

Lucielle kept ranting on and on about how her day went, and Rey did his best to listen and offer his commentary on everything.

It was the least he could do after subjecting Lucielle to this mission without giving much thought into the consequences it would have on her.