Bullied but Popular

64 – Preparing for Exchange

“It’s an illusion.”

Ron, who heard Tia’s confession, tackled him without hesitation.

“How could you be under the illusion that you like Aren?”

“what?”

Tia was furious at Ron’s words and glared at him.

Ron continued with a calm expression.

“Now that it’s like this, I’ll just say it… Tia, didn’t you like Carol?”

“Huh? Me?”

“no!”

Carol started to panic when her name was suddenly mentioned, and Tia got even more flustered and screamed at Ron.

“I said no before!”

“At that time, it was because I built up my pride, and I know it when I see my actions.”

Ron said in a serious tone.

“But from the conversation you just had with Aren, I didn’t get the slightest hint that you were nervous or liked him.”

“What? So what?”

As she spoke as if someone else was deciding her mind, Tia’s voice naturally sharpened.

“Tia, I don’t know what happened to you with Aren, but it’s over to mistake it for love when you’re close.”

“… Woo! Don’t call it love! It’s just interest!”

“Yeah, that’s how you say it, Tiaji.”

Ron sat down with a smile on his face, probably liking Tia’s answer.

“What…”

The moment Tia tried to say something after staring at Ron in an absurd way.

“What are you guys doing?”

Aren was glaring at Tia and his friends with an annoyed face.

“Huh?”

When Tia was taken aback by the sudden appearance of Aren, Aren looked around at the people sitting at the table and said,

“Do you have anything to embarrass? Do you think you don’t care about the people around you?”

Aren pointed to another table with his chin. Indeed, other students were watching Tia’s table.

Confirming this, Tia blushed completely and shouted at Aren.

“It’s because of you!”

“That’s funny! It’s me again!?”

“Yes! It’s you! It’s because of you!”

“I didn’t say a word this time either!? It’s really because of me!!?”

“That’s right!! It’s because of you!!!”

“hey–!!!”

“what–!!!”

As Aren’s stress reached a breaking point, his voice grew louder and louder, and Tia’s voice grew louder as well.

At that time, Rai, who had approached from time to time, grabbed Aren by the collar and called for him.

“brother.”

“Huh?”

Aren looked at him as if asking why, and Rai pointed to the table where Principal Tristan was sitting and said,

“It’s embarrassing, so it’s been a long time.”

“… Ha, will you turn around? I think I’m going crazy because I’m really unfair?”

Aren walked back to his table, and Tia nervously got up and left the restaurant.

Seeing the two of them, Carol spoke softly.

“Aren’t Luke and Ron the cause?”

“……”

“……”

Friends quietly ate their meal.

***

Taylor’s dormitory.

“What’s going on?”

“Hello, Tale?”

Aren was now in his dormitory with Rai and Rachel.

With Aren missing, only Tails remained in the room.

“I asked what was going on.”

“It’s still stiff. I heard you say hello for a minute.”

Aren said that and began to introduce himself by pointing to Rai and Rachel.

“The boy, Lai, has become my disciple. Say hello to Lai.”

“Hello! I’m Rai, a disciple of Aren’s brother!”

“……”

Rai bowed his head in greeting, but Tail only looked at him with a blunt expression.

Either way, Aren started introducing the next child.

“This is our princess, Rachel. Rachel, should we say hello?”

…nod

“……”

Maybe it was because she was meeting her for the first time, Rachel shook her head and covered her face.

Tail looked at the children blankly and then looked at Aren and said.

“You’re doing all kinds of things for a living.”

“I’m going to live at the academy from now on. If you pass by, you take care of the kids too.”

At Aren’s shameless words, Tail nodded calmly as if he was accustomed to it.

“When you’re done with your business, get out… No, wait.”

Tail, who was about to lie down on the bed, stood up again and looked at Aren and said.

“I had an offer for you, but I forgot.”

“proposal?”

Tail stood up and looked around for a while, then confirmed that no one was there and then continued.

“I found a dungeon.”

“Leave it to me.”

Aren answered as soon as Tail finished speaking.

Aren’s abilities in the dungeon were close to essential abilities in Tail’s eyes.

Aren did not miss any of the magic traps hidden throughout the dungeon and destroyed them all, resulting in no damage to the party members.

Knowing that, he suggested it to Aren, but Tail paused for a moment as if he was in trouble.

“The problem is location.”

“Where are you?”

“It doesn’t speak yet.”

Taylor thought for a moment and then said.

“Let me talk first, preparations will take longer than expected.”

“hehehehe, good. I’ll wait forever.”

Teil was dismayed by Aren’s excessive obsession and issued a congratulatory order.

“Stop going.”

“Okay, guys, let’s say hello to Mr.

The children bow their heads at Aren’s words.

“Goodbye, mister.”

nod

When the children greeted each other politely and left, Tale muttered in bewilderment.

“…… Who is the uncle?”

***

First class the next day.

“Today, there is a transfer student… Even if it is said, you all know roughly.”

Physical training from the first class.

Professor Byron began to introduce the two students standing next to him while watching the students gathered in the gymnasium.

“These are international students from Britannia. Come out one by one and say hello.”

At Professor Byron’s words, Einhart took a step forward and started introducing himself.

“My name is Einhart Britannia. Please take good care of me.”

Einhart withdrew as if that was the end of the introduction, and this time a beastman female student came forward and said.

“Kana.”

As if the introduction was over, Kana quietly moved to a seat next to Einhart.

“……”

“……”

After looking around them for a while, Professor Byron gave up and started teaching.

“The first day is light physical training. However, I wear this and run.”

Professor Byron said as he opened the box in front of him.

“Wearing the outerwear here, run only 20 laps around the gymnasium. Be careful as there are penalty points for those who are late.”

’20 laps from the first day?’

‘It’s annoying…’

The students began to wear jackets that fit their size while being bothered.

“Ugh…!”

“Is this an artifact?”

“Wearing something like this from day one?”

Complaints came out of the mouths of the students wearing outerwear, but Professor Byron didn’t care.

“depart.”

“…?”

“…?”

“Did you just start?”

Professor Byron nodded at a student’s question.

“depart.”

Dada Dada Dada!

“Ah-oh!”

“This is not it!”

“… Ha, see you in 10 years, really…”

As if the weight was considerable, the students began to maintain their walking speed as soon as they started running.

And it was the same with Aren.

“Heh-uh-huh-uh-huh, what is this…”

Aren, now an advanced expert, was progressing quite fast, but there were two more monsters than Aren in this class.

tatatatata

tatatatata

Tia and Carol were circling the gymnasium at breakneck speed.

“Wow~ Are they crazy?”

“Aren’t Aurunites supposed to train separately?”

‘I know?’

Aren was also chasing pretty fast, but he couldn’t beat those two with pure physical ability.

“I’m relaxed…”

“Aren Difus.”

“huh?”

As Aren was running, he turned around when he heard a voice calling him, where Einhat and Kana were approaching.

“Einheart?”

“Yeah, that’s great, those two.”

“Whatever it is, but…”

At Einhart’s words, Aren looked at Tia and Carol for a while, then turned his gaze to Kana and said,

“Are you not following me?”

“……”

When Cana did not answer Aren’s question, Einhat spoke instead.

“Kana doesn’t talk much.”

“I see… it was a cat department, not a dog department.”

“Kuhk, by the way, have you seen Kana’s abilities?”

When Einhat looked into Aren’s eyes and said, Aren also looked into his eyes and said.

“I like my eyes. Well, not as good as you.”

“… I think your eyes are better?”

From noble mtl dot com

At Aren’s words, Einhat smiled dejectedly and said,

“I heard the news, that you’re going to an exchange match?”

“Yeah, it’s kind of hard to tell my family, but your older sister is kind of weird.”

“I don’t really admit that she is my older sister, but legally she is my older sister, so I apologize on her behalf.”

Einhart smiled as if he was having fun, and Aren also smiled and said.

“If I’m sorry, how can I cancel the exchange match?”

“I’m sorry it’s out of my power.”

“Really? Unfortunately…”

At the time when Aren felt sorry for him, Carl and Tia, who had gone first, approached Aren.

“Hey, Aren.”

“What are you doing here?”

When Carol and Tia talked to each other happily, Aren said with a tired expression.

“Did you go round already?”

“Already what! I have to do special training until the exchange match! Are you flirting with the enemy?”

At Tia’s words, Einheart smiled and said.

“Aren’t we going to exchange matches?”

“I’m not going to cheer you on though.”

“No, I’m cheering for Aren?”

“huh?”

At Einhart’s words, Tia looked at Aren with a dazed expression and said,

“Are you flirting with men now?”

“… I guess I forgot because I talked so easily, because he’s from the royal family?”

Tia put on a sorry expression and increased her running speed.

“I go first!”

“Ah, Tia! After deciding to compete, where is the first one to go!?”

Chasing after Tia, who was running at high speed, Carol also sped up and jumped out.

Looking at the two of them, Einhart laughed as if he was having fun.

“What a cute girl. Your fiancé?”

“What… For now?”

When Aren gave an unflattering answer, Einhart said.

“Be careful not to be taken away by someone else, I think that lady will be quite popular.”

“Well, I’ll listen.”

Aren nodded roughly and looked at Einhart with a surprised look on his face.

Sensing his gaze, Einhat asked Aren.

“Why?”

“No… it looks fun.”

“hmm?”

“You look happy.”

At Aren’s words, Einhat put on a blank expression for a moment and then muttered.

“Come to think of it… It’s definitely fun.”

“Do you like running?”

“No, nothing was so much fun in the Empire.”

Einhart said with a smile on his face again.

“But even simple running is fun here. Maybe it’s because of you.”

“me?”

“Everyone in the Empire hated me.”

Einhart smiled bitterly for a while before saying,

“I don’t know how long it’s been since I’ve had a normal conversation like this.”

“Hmm, I don’t know the circumstances, but if it’s a normal conversation, I’ll do it. Thank you.”

“Quack, thank you.”

As if Aren’s answer was interesting, Einhart ran without stopping the conversation even though he was flustered.

***

An annex for Britannia international students.

“I’ll go first!”

“Be quite.”

Millia, Baltos, and Isaac were having a meeting about the exchange war.

In fact, the order was set.

“Haa, why is it so random?”

Milia shakes her head as if she is annoyed, and Baltos says.

“So I’ll go first…”

“I’ll go out first.”

“… Isaac?”

At Isaac’s sudden remark, Valtos and Millia looked at him with dazed expressions.

“Our goal is to appease Aren Deepus. However, in exchange matches, appeasement is impossible and we can only check our skills.”

“What does that have to do with you going out first?”

When Baltos glared at him as if he didn’t like it, Isaac calmly adjusted his glasses and said,

“Because I know who the first is. The first is Tia Cloud.”

“Tia Cloud?”

At Isaac’s words, Millia said as if she knew who she was.

“You’re a woman with reddish gold hair back then.”

“Ah! I know who I am!”

At Millia’s words, Baltos shouted as if he knew who he was.

“Wow! He’s also Cloud! My older sister is an auronite, and my younger sister is an auronite? These kids with pretty faces have great abilities!”

“Valtos, shut up.”

Baltos’ loud voice must have bothered her.

“He’s her brother…”

Milia was assigned to the same class as Cecilia today.

We haven’t talked about it yet, but we knew it at first sight.

That this woman is the strongest.

Millia pondered for a while, then looked at Isaac and asked.

“How did you know Tia Cloud was the first?”

“I was provoked.”

“Provocation?”

“yes.”

Isaac said it didn’t matter.

“I just told him to fight me because I’ll finish it so it won’t hurt. The reaction came right away. Judging by the look on his face, it wasn’t even acting.”

At Isaac’s words, Milia grinned and said,

“Good job.”

“It was nothing.”

Seeing these two, Baltos began to think seriously.

‘I want to fight Tia too…’

It was a useless worry.