Far away, Hong Bi-Yeon was staring at her.

It was not an illusion.

She was definitively looking at her.

'...... What is it?'

Earlier, she didn't even pay attention to Eisel, but she suddenly glared at her with such a blazing eye.

Somehow, it was quite burdensome, so Eisel avoided her gaze, but Hong Bi-Yeon approached her way first.

With superhuman patience, she balanced the ankle that was about to stagger or backtrack, then bit her lip tightly and stiffly raised her head.

"You."

“What is it?”

After letting out a single word, Hong Bi-Yeon closed her mouth without saying anything.

She must have been embarrassed by the fact that she had come here.

'Could it be that she came to keep me in check?'

The corner of Eisel's mouth rose up.

In the end, Hong Bi-Yeon was holding her in check. Eisel got more confident and shouted again.

“Ha, are you suddenly here to suppress me? It's ridiculous. Well, you must be worried…”

"... What nonsense are you talk about?"

Hong Bi-Yeon crumpled her expression as if she was genuinely annoyed.

“Don’t be mistaken, just behave yourself.”

"What are you doing..."

“Do you know the saying ‘a pearl necklace around the pig’s neck?”

"Of course..."

"I'm just leaving you alone. Even though it's out of proportion, you’re going to wear a pearl necklace.”

The moment she heard those words, Eisel’s heart sank.

The reason why Hong Bi-Yeon suddenly started to restrain her… It wasn't because she felt a sense of crisis from a girl named Eisel Morph.

It was purely... an action that came out of having Baek Yu-Seol taken away.

After she realized that fact, somehow Eisel became mad and let out a blank laugh.

It was just like that.

That woman didn’t care about her at all.

Eisel was always noticing her.

However, that woman wasn't paying the slightest attention to Eisel’s existence.

‘I see......' Eisel thought.

Hong Bi-Yeon frowned as she saw Eisel getting more and more contemplative.

'What am I saying...'

Unknowingly, she was so excited that she spat out stupid words. They didn’t suite Adolveit’s Princess, and it was not like Hong Bi-Yeon.

She was unsightly and jealous of others.

Nevertheless.

'... It was refreshing inside.’

As usual, the girl named Eisel was usually very noticeable. Just as she was blessed with fire-attribute, Eisel was born with ice-attribute.

The thought that Eisel would form her team with Baek Yu-Seol, who might be the most outstanding knight in the academy, made her insides burn.

Somehow, she felt like she was falling behind.

So, she did that unconsciously.

‘Well, I guess she have figured it out by now.’

Leaving Eisel, who had a dark expression, Hong Bi-Yeon returned to her position with elegant stride.

She was feeling a bit of a sense of crisis now. The ridiculous delusion that she could be pushed by Eisel at this rate kept wandering through her head.

‘... I can't stand still.'

By mobilizing her own faction, she could easily trample the loser of House Morph.

But, her pride couldn’t tolerate it.

She wanted to win against Eisel Morph on equal terms, and with her own skill.

‘A combination of a loser and a commoner.'

She recalled members of her own faction. Clearly, there were many competent knights. They would still be waiting to be chosen by Hong Bi-Yeon.

However, it was not enough.

Even a knight of that level could not catch up with Baek Yu-Seol, who teamed up with Eisel.

It needed to be at least like Mayuseong, who had the title of ‘Best’.

Only then, the balance calculation would be perfect.

Since she had thought that far, there was no need to hesitate any longer. With Hong Bi-Yeon ignoring all the calls directed at her, she alone approached Mayuseong, who was looking over the map.

“Mayuseong.”

"Hello, Princess. What's up?"

“Have you formed the team?”

“No. I will do it alone.”

“Will you do it alone?”

Hong Bi-Yeon was a little surprised by his words, but she calmly continued. "Why don't you join me?"

“… Hmm?”

Mayuseong slightly raised the corner of his mouth with a subtle look. That was an obvious refusal. But, if she was going to back down here, then she would have never approached him in the first place.

She aroused Mayuseong.

“You know that Baek Yu-Seol and Eisel formed a group? The fewer the number of members in the group, the more points there are, right? It seems that she intends to target ‘Special Intermediate Demons’ rather than normal Intermediate Demon.”

“... As you know, I have a strong fighting spirit, so I have no intention of losing.”

If it was Mayuseong, he might be able to defeat an Intermediate Demon at Level 3 Danger by himself. If that was the case, he would get a huge bonus for being alone.

However, what if Baek Yu-Seol's group handled the Special Intermediate Demon?

Unlike normal demons, those with special abilities and attributes were called Special Intermediate Demons.

If one succeeded in defeating a Special Intermediate Demon that was difficult to suppress, he would get a lot of points.

Even though they were two players, they would easily outperform Mayuseong's score.

Of course, Hong Bi-Yeon did not know whether they would actually target a Special Intermediate Demon or not.

It was just a means to stimulate Mayuseong's fighting spirit.

And, it must have been quite successful as Mayuseong reacted quite sensitively to Hong Bi-Yeon’s stimulation.

"That's right..."

Mayuseong pondered for a moment with his eyes shining.

Then, he smiled and nodded his head.

“It will be fun. I also wanted to compete with Baek Yu-Seol at least once."

Hong Bi-Yeon grinned at him, and shouted gleefully in her heart.

'This time, I'll beat you properly.'