"You fell for his provocation?"

"No, not exactl-Ukh."

I winced as I held an ice pack to my head.

It hurt.

"Hm."

We were currently in the infirmary. Unlike last time, I didn't sustain any serious injuries but I still had to be checked just for precaution.

And my head did hurt quite a bit. I had overexerted myself more than I had originally intended.

"So you really did fall for it..."

Leon stood next to me with an all-knowing look.

I thought about rebutting him when I stopped.

Could it be said that I fell for it? Hmm... maybe I did when I thought about it. Nonetheless, it did help me push myself further.

There was a real chance I wouldn't have had such a high score had I not been provoked. "Ukh...!"

I groaned yet again.

My head hurt yet again.

'I was so close.'

But the part that hurt the most was the fact that I had been so close to reaching the highest score; 10.

I was just shy of 0.18 points...

It felt so close and yet, thinking about the pain that I had experienced back then, I realized that it would take a miracle for me to reach further up.

... It was simply impossible for the current me.

"Hoo."

I took a deep breath, relaxing my shoulders in the process.

"I think I'm doing better now."

I addressed the doctor who glanced at me from the corner of the room and grunted. He didn't seem at all pleased with my appearance, grumbling things like, 'If this is how things are going to go whenever you have a Progression Analysis, then it's better if you don't take it...'

Leon nodded along, in full agreement with what the doctor was saying.

'Right, right.'

"....

I shook my head and tossed the ice pack to the side.

Then, standing up, I bid the doctor goodbye while holding my head which was still throbbing.

Leon followed from behind.

"What are you going to do right now? We still have another class."

"I'll pass."

Classes weren't exactly compulsory.

At least, not for the second year. We could choose to skip classes if we wished. Not that it was recommended.

"I'll go back to my room and rest for today. I don't think I'll be able to focus now. My head hurts too much for me to focus."

"Okay."

Leon didn't say anything after that and left.

He was the one who had brought me to the infirmary. Now that his job was done he could go back to class.

I stared at his departing back for a few seconds before heading back to my room.

The path wasn't very far.

...It was about a five-minute walk from where I was.

Reaching the familiar building, I moved up the stairs and headed for my room.

Click!

I had just opened it and taken a step in when I noticed something on the floor beneath me.

"Hm?"

It was a small red letter with a golden emblem in the middle. The moment I caught sight of the emblem, my body stopped.

"This..."

I bent over and picked up the letter.

As I did, my eyes focused on the emblem that stared back at me in the form of an eye. I had

seen the symbol before and thus recognized it.

And it was for that reason that I was surprised. 'Why is this here?'

I held the letter in my hand for a few seconds.

Then, stepping out of my room I looked towards the right and left side. However, it was empty. There was no one present.

I didn't expect much to begin with and headed back into the room where I closed the door behind me.

It was there that I moved for the desk and opened the letter.

Riip-!

My eyes widened the moment I looked at the contents of the latter.

Especially since...

It was a direct confirmation of my participation from the church of Oracleus.

Dear Julien Evenus.

We would like to extend our sincere gratitude for selecting the Church of Oracleus for the upcoming gathering. Your name has been added to the list of participating guests, and we look forward to welcoming you to the event.

The letter was short but it was straight to the point.

But...

"How does this make sense?"

I hadn't selected the Church of Oraclues.

Furthermore, I had only selected it today. How was it possible that I had received a letter of

confirmation so fast?

Was there some sort of mistake?

"No, there has to be."

The confusion of the situation made me forget all about the headache that I felt and I directly rushed to the Academy logistics department, in hopes of understanding what was going on.

However...

"There's been no mistakes. The Church of Oracleus is indeed your selected program."

"What? But.."

"Oh."

The receptionist, a young girl with blonde hair and thin eyes pointed at the paper in front of

her.

"...It does say right here you were signed up for it a few days ago. Unfortunately, because of this, you won't be able to make any changes to your selection."

"What?"

Few days ago...?

When?

I never recalled signing up for anything before today. How was it possible that I was signed up

for the church of Oracleus? This didn't make sense. No, something didn't make sense at all.

"Any possibility that it's a mistake?"

"Mistake?"

The receptionist raised her head and blinked repeatedly. She then shook her head.

"Normally, I would say it's possible, but this time it isn't."

"...Eh?"

"Look over here."

The receptionist pointed towards the paper.

"It says right here that the church itself approved of your admittance."

The church itself?

I froze, staring at the stamp on the paper.

"....!"

My shock was only amplified by the receptionist's next words.

"Someone very high up personally approved of this."

***

Caius blankly stared at the ceiling of his own room.

It was cold, but he continued to leave the windows open. The curtains bloomed as the chill from the weather seeped deeper into the empty room. Despite having spent the past month here, the room still felt entirely unfamiliar to him.

...But such things were of no real concern to him.

The current Caius had a sense of detachment from everything.

He couldn't feel a thing.

His body and mind were both numb and the recent Progression Analysis had proven his point.

The reason why he didn't react at all during the last test was because he truly felt nothing

from it.

...After his fight with Julien, he had lost the ability to feel anything.

Emotions or pain.

No, that wasn't quite right.

He could still feel them, but not to the same extent as before.

They felt mild at best.

... It was for that reason that he stopped at 8.24. Though he could've pushed further, he knew

that going any further would hurt his mind.

He stopped there, thinking that he had done just enough to win.

But...

'Final score, 9.88.'

Once again, he had lost

This time, even more miserably than before.

He could still recall the shocked and surprised expression everyone wore as Julien's score was

being announced. Even the Assistant Professor looked shocked, his voice trembling.

And by the time it was all over, all eyes were on him.

His body shook, but he was conscious.

It was quiet.

So quiet...

"....."

Caius blinked his eyes slowly.

'Useless'

A voice rang in Caius's head.

'... If you can't even use your Emotive Magic, what are you useful for?'

It was all that he could hear.

'I've heard those from the Aetheria Empire are sending their people to Haven for an exchange. You can

go as well. There's no point in keeping you here if you're crippled. Maybe you'll learn something from

them.'

The words didn't hurt.

... In fact, they elicited no feelings from him.

Caius just accepted the verdict and ended up all the way here as a result. In fact, he preferred

such an arrangement.

He wanted to get away from such an environment.

...He wanted to fix himself.

The doctors and anyone who visited him told him it was impossible. However, Caius didn't

take their words seriously.

He knew it was possible.

...And that was why he was here.

For he believed that the one who took his emotions could also help him get them back.

It was why he personally handed the cuffs to Julien.

... It was his own way of showing respect to him. In fact, he had been trying to do so for quite a

while. However, for some strange reason, all his attempts were met with frowns.

How strange...

Did he do something wrong?

Julien's reaction was especially big after he handed him the cuffs.

"Hmm."

He had to think of a better way to interact with him.

As things stood, he was failing.

Taking a deep breath, Caius closed his eyes and relaxed his mind.

"I'm a talentless shit with no emotions. I got rid of my emotions because I am afraid of

pain."

***

I was never able to resolve the situation.

I tried contacting the Professor who had taken my signature, but he was also helpless on the

matter. Once my name was in the system, there was no change.

That was when I thought of escalating the matter to Atlas but thinking about how he was

related to Sithrus, I decided otherwise.

Delilah was the next person I thought about.

And I did go to her.

Unfortunately, going to her and getting in contact with her was almost impossible.

She was never in her office.

The matter gave me a massive headache but what else could I do?

In the end, I could only accept the situation. And it wasn't like I wasn't curious. Who exactly

signed me up for this, and what was their goal? Could it be that they knew something...?

'No, that would make no sense.'

Then what?

I wasn't sure.

Throughout the next few days, it was all that I could think about.

I could hardly focus on the lectures as a result. Thankfully, I was rather diligent with my

training and thus was unaffected.

However, outside of that, everything was a mess.

Even Leon started to notice my changes but he remained quiet.

It was like this that the day of the gathering came.

The entire campus was flooded with students. Many new faces outside of the Academy

Campus while they waited for the delegates of the Seven Churches to arrive.

I stood amidst the masses with a disguise on while Leon and the others were the same.

"......How long until they come?"

Kiera's disguise was that of a young girl with red hair and brown eyes. Taking a closer look she

looked like Aoife, but a little bit different.

But just a tiny bit.

Enough to annoy Aoife who looked nothing like her usual self. She had long brown hair with

freckles on her face. Her eyes were green in color.

"You seriously didn't think this through did you?"

"What do you mean?"

Kiera glanced at Aoife.

"Hmm. I guess it's nothing."

"Thought so."

Though

she was annoyed at first, Aoife managed to recover as she looked around. There were

a lot of gazes that were directed at Kiera's gaze.

Suddenly, Aoife's expression changed.

I had a sudden bad feeling and moved away.

Oblivious to the situation, Kiera shifted her attention away from Aoife. That proved to be

fatal as Aoife suddenly rushed towards her, grasping her hand.

"Uuh?! The f-"

"A-are you Aoife?! Oh my god! I'm such a big fan!"

"Ah?!"

Flick. Flick. Flick. Flick.

Aoife's voice was loud enough to attract the attention of the surrounding students.

Kiera's face paled at the realization.

"Oh shit."

But it was too late.

Before Kiera could do anything, the surrounding students rushed towards her.

"Princess Aoife!"

"Princess...!"

It was a good thing that I had moved far enough from the scene as I turned my head to look at

Leon.

"No."

"...No."

We simultaneously shook our hands in agreement.

...We didn't hate each other to that extent.

At least, I didn't think we did. I was just about to open my mouth and say something when the

world around me froze entirely.

'Ah.'

I lost sudden control of my body and my voice refused to leave my mouth.

It was a familiar sensation, one I hadn't experienced in a long time. Slowly, my heart sank as

the reality of the situation set in.

I was...

Having a vision.