Unlike the bustling, noisy central plaza, the Star-Gazing Tower was somewhat deserted at this time.
As an ancient building located in a corner of the academy, this mysterious tower generally did not allow students to trespass without permission.
Coupled with the rarity of astrologers in the current Bauhinia Empire, over time, this tower acquired a mysterious aura among the students, even making it onto the academy's top ten must-mention urban legends.
“...So, this is the target?”
The neatly dressed blonde boy squinted, looking up slightly to examine the magnificent building.
The dark spire pierced the sea of clouds from top to bottom, Gothic arched windows adorned with faint blue runic light, and millions of magic crystal lamps rotated suspended within the tower, weaving a false firmament.
Lynn lowered his head to look at the medal he held in his hand.
Its overall design was a rose petal carved from mithril, inscribed with the letters S.N.L.
“That Sena... she's so mysterious, only telling me to come to the Star-Gazing Department with this, but not telling me what it means.”
“All of them... do they all enjoy being Riddlers so much?”
“Riddlers are supposed to be hung from lampposts by players...”
Lynn mumbled softly, then lifted his foot and walked towards the only open archway of the Star-Gazing Tower.
However, before he could cross the threshold, a soft, squishy mass unexpectedly flopped out from the shadows beside the door.
“Oh dear, oh dear... isn't this little junior...”
The familiar lazy voice, the familiar listlessness.
Lynn paused.
Beside the door, there was a soft couch that completely clashed with the Gothic elegance of the towering structure. The senior student from the Primordial Department, whom he had met at the sorting ceremony, was curled up on it.
The girl looked no older than seventeen or eighteen, with soft, light gray hair messily spread out, a few strands clinging to her fair cheeks. A loose, oversized dark blue nightgown draped casually over her slender body, and she hugged a huge, star-embroidered pillow to her chest.
Most striking were her half-closed silver eyes.
Aside from the lazy, mysterious aura, they clearly spelled out four big words...
[I want to sleep]
“...Senior?”
“Mm... I can hear you...”
She mumbled a reply, but her head was already nodding into the pillow.
“What's up, junior? You have time today to come to... this wilderness?”
“I remember... isn't today the day the first-year rankings are posted? Is it really okay not to care about that?”
“Or... do you already have absolute confidence, junior?”
She propped up her chin, her beautiful silver eyes slightly narrowed.
“Whether I pay attention or not, the results won't change.”
After receiving the young man's definite answer, she seemed to lose interest again.
“Such an ambiguous answer... I say, junior, do you usually sweet-talk cute girls like this?”
“You have such a handsome face, yet your words are so boring~ By the way, that last sentence didn't score very high with me, senior, just so you know?”
Lynn: “...”
That doesn't matter at all, just let me in, woman!
[Emotion Points +100]
Lynn's twitching face, which was about to flare up, suddenly froze, then he swiftly put on a perfect smile.
Oh, you should have said you were a super-sized source that could generate so many Emotion Points!
“How could that be, senior?”
His voice instantly softened by eight degrees, and the curve of his lips was so perfect it could be used as a textbook example for noble etiquette.
“I just feel that for someone as beautiful and kind as you, senior, things like scores can no longer measure you.”
“Eh—?”
The pajama-clad senior blinked, her previously half-dead silver eyes finally lighting up a little.
“Really?”
“Really.”
“Then why did you have that 'this woman talks too much, just let me in' expression just now?”
“...”
Danger—!
‘Does this person read minds?’
“No need to be so nervous.” The senior yawned broadly, burying her chin back into the star pillow. “Your face is too easy to read, junior. I've lived so many years, I've seen all kinds of people...”
She sighed faintly.
“Ever since I entered the Primordial Department, they've been sticking me wherever they're short-staffed. The Star-Gazing Tower needed someone, so I came to guard the door. The sorting ceremony needed help, so I went to assist. The archives needed organizing, that was me too. Even a couple of days ago, those old fogies in the academic affairs office said they couldn't finish grading the four major exams...”
As the girl spoke, her previously mumbled voice gradually became clearer.
“Guess what?”
Lynn suddenly had a bad premonition: “...You went and graded them?”
“Ye—s—I—did—”
She abruptly pulled her face out of the pillow, holding up two fingers and pointing to the faint dark circles under her eyes.
“See this?”
“...Dark circles?”
“No.” The senior said expressionlessly.
“These are the incriminating marks left by the Sacred Capital Magic Academy for exploiting its excellent students.”
“...”
“Over a thousand exam papers, a thousand! Even if not all of them were mine, do you know how much mental damage it does to a young maiden to continuously read answers like 'fire element is called fire element because it's hot,' or 'the reason the Imperial Unification War was won is because we won' for three days straight?”
“Now, when I close my eyes, all I see are red crosses.”
“I dream of grading papers.”
“Last night, I even dreamt of an exam paper growing legs and chasing me, constantly asking, 'Teacher, teacher, can I get half a point here?'”
The more she spoke, the more indignant she became, gripping the pillow tighter.
Lynn had initially been listening out of politeness, until the other party suddenly changed the subject.
“Your exam papers, though, junior, were very easy to grade.”
“Oh?”
“Almost perfect scores in every subject.”
The girl lazily glanced at him.
“Beautiful handwriting, complete processes, and you even caught Old Man Siss's minor oversight. Especially that magic theory paper... tsk tsk, when I got to yours, I almost cried with emotion, senior.”
She pressed her hands together, a look of piety on her face.
“Finally, a normal exam paper that didn't make me doubt the freshmen's intelligence.”
Lynn: “...”
“Speaking of which... a man who almost got perfect scores in every subject, yet is too lazy to even check his results today.”
The senior flopped back onto her pillow, dragging out her words as she grumbled, “Youth is truly wonderful... having strength means you can do whatever you want. Unlike me, a pure academy workhorse, shoved wherever there's work, and constantly bossed around by professors...”
“Last month they said they needed a star-gazing recorder. This month they said they needed a student on duty.”
“Next month, they'll probably even call me to wash dishes in the dining hall.”
“If this keeps up, will my diploma have 'Excellent Laborer' printed on it?”
Lynn's smile gradually stiffened.
The chattering senior from the Primordial Department inexplicably made him hallucinate a lonely old person whose relatives had all gone out to work, leaving them alone in an empty house.
Now, having finally caught a young man like him at the neighborhood entrance, she couldn't wait to chat about everything from her glorious past to last month's pension.
[Emotion Points +50]
‘...Why is she getting more aggrieved as she talks?’
Just as the girl was beginning to reminisce about her own early academy days, "Back then, I, senior, was also a child who believed academy life was full of youth and dreams"—
Flutter, flutter.
A faint flapping sound suddenly came from inside the tower.
A paper crane, folded from silvery-white paper, flew through the dark corridor, scattering tiny starlight along the way, finally coming to a light stop between the two of them.
The pajama-clad senior's words came to an abrupt halt.
The paper crane tilted its head.
The next second, a lazy and charming female voice directly emanated from its belly.
“I asked you to guard the door for a little while longer, not to detain my cute little guest there to listen to your complaints~”
“...”
The girl silently buried her face in the pillow.
Playing dead.
The paper crane then turned to Lynn, elegantly gesturing with its wings towards the inside of the tower.
“My apologies for making you wait.”
“Lynn von Reinhardt, right?”
“Come in.”
The trailing note carried a hint of a smile, faint yet present.
“Big sister has been waiting for you for a long time.”
With that, the paper crane flapped its wings again, slowly flying deeper into the Star-Gazing Tower.
Lynn lifted his foot, preparing to follow.
“Wait a moment...”
That listless voice suddenly came from behind him again.
He turned around.
The pajama-clad senior lay on her side on the soft couch, hugging her pillow, one eye almost completely closed, yet she still weakly waved at him.
“I think I forgot to introduce myself just now...”
“Ophelia Vera.”
“Third year, Primordial Department...”
She paused, her voice growing softer and softer, her small head nodding on the pillow.
“Next time we meet... remember to bring me some coffee, senior...”
“Preferably double sugar... and junior, being able to listen to senior ramble so much just now scored very highly with me... oh?”
[Emotion Points +100]
“ZZZ...”
Lynn: “...”
Quite a lot of demands for a troublesome woman like you...
But there's no helping it.
Who told you that you're Uncle Lynn's favorite, that ultimate super-sized source of Emotion Points?
Rate on N.U.
