Chapter 144: Confusion
"Thank you, Senior Medea." returning the Sword Princess' acknowledgement with gratitude, Novus reveals a smile as he locks gaze with her, the two of them falling into an unprecedented silence as they continue staring at each other's eyes.
Eventually, they both snapped out of their daze before taking one last look at each other, before they both fell into laughter as they regained their bearing.
"How is it? Is it hard to breakthrough like that? Will I be able to handle myself when it is my turn?" as the two of the regains their composure, the lady couldn't help but start shooting questions regarding the young man's breakthrough to the next tier.
After all, if his assumption is right, her using Evolution Energy rather than mana to improve herself means that sooner or later, she will also face the same kind of breakthrough phenomenon as his.
Hearing the clear concern in her voice, Novus shows a small, assuring smile as he clenches his fist, that action alone creating a wave of wind that hits both of their skin, showing how much his strength improved from the process of reaching the D Tier alone.
"There's no need to worry about it, it's just like using Evolution Crystal to meditate, just a bit stronger than usual."
He whipped up the most apt description that he can think of regarding his promotion to the next tier, his assuring smile, along with his gentle, seemingly patronizing voice as he also begins explaining the process allowing the lady to take her mind off the concerns of her next promotion.
"…and even if you will have trouble about it in the future, I can always help, you know?" he also pointed out at the end of his explanation, his words pulling the lady's gaze onto his smile once more as she froze for a moment, nodding shyly as she recovers herself.
'This guy…' hearing his opinion, as well as his thoughts regarding her concerns, Medea couldn't help but feel surprised by his thoughtfulness, the assuring tone that he had been using ever since she voiced out her worries making her cheeks a bit flushed, her face turning warm feeling the care in his voice.
"Hm~~? You're already thinking of our future~~? Such guts~~~" still, she chooses to hide whatever warm and fuzzy feeling inside as she lets her mischievous, playful tone out in an attempt to get back at him for catching her off guard time and time again.
"Is there a problem with that?" the young man doesn't seem to mind her teasing though as he merely looks at her, still with the same patronizing smile with his reply, his question just pushing her to the brink even more as she fails to come up with a witty reply for him.
"I-it's not that…" in the end, she cannot even find anything to say to finish her statement with, only silence continues as the two of them already prepares vacating the battleground.
"J-just… take care of yourself first before taking care of other people… l-like the Evolution Crystals, don't give me too much when you lack some yourself… I don't even know how or where you're getting them but I'm sure the process involves quite the danger…"
The lady starts blabbering her concern as soon as words starts flowing out of her lips, making Novus look at her with interest as he thinks that this is one of the rarer times that the Sword Princess is acting more like a normal schoolgirl rather than the extremely powerful combatant she is.
"Right, about that, after my promotion, we have a bit of shortage in terms of Evolution Crystal so…"
With Medea's reminders eventually landing on the topic of the crystals, Novus pointed out as he felt quite poor once again, the several hundreds of D Tier and over thousand of E Tier Evolution Crystals now being reduced to a bare few after his breakthrough.
"No, keep it for yourself for now, Junior Novus~~~" seeing that he already extends his hand to get her spatial ring, Medea was already taking it off her pinky, but hearing his words, she couldn't help but stop as she pushed it back to its place, denying the young man from giving her any crystal at all.
After all, even more than showing basic courtesy, it would hurt her pride pretty bad if she were to put her benefactor in a difficult situation just because she wants to improve herself.
Not to mention that she felt like it is only right, as said benefactor had been taking great care of her ever since he started supporting and providing for her.
Novus would've insisted, however, with the firm expression in Medea's face, he couldn't help but just reveal a wry smile as he accepts her terms.
And his surrender made the lady's day as she giggled for some moment, all while proudly pointing her nose upwards as if showing her triumph over him.
It was already way past midnight when the two of them arrived at the crossroad between the male and female dormitories, the cold wind blowing not affecting them one bit partly due to their own prowess, but also partly due to the warmth around them as they continue bonding with each other.
"I promise I'll give you more tomorrow." he accompanied her all the way to the entrance of the female dormitory, the calm, comforting silence between them being broken as he smiles at her, declaring a promise for her to look forward to.
"Don't stress yourself out too much with it, just the usual amount is enough~~"
She smiles, the gentle moonlight making her fair skin glow a different kind of charm compared to when she is under the sun, a beauty fleeting, ephemeral, as if it will slip past anyone's grasp no matter what they try.
The same fleeting beauty however, fails to move past the young man's grasp as the lady herself made her own move.
A weight slams onto Novus' chest, his head lagging for a while before his mind finally realize what is it that just hits him.
Medea herself couldn't help but feel a bit embarrassed with her actions, however, she just couldn't help but right now, what she did feels all too right, her mind at calm and peace as she felt his bodily warmth, and yet despite that, her heart races in loud beats, as if there are war drums threatening to burst out of her chest.
She subtly rubs her face left and right on his chest, taking enjoyment from the experience for a while before she finally stopped, lifting her gaze up as she met with his.
There is an obvious blush on her face as she reveals a bright, charming smile at him, her eyes turning crescent as she voiced her thoughts out after looking back on all the things they've done for today.
"Novus, today was really fun, thanks~~~"
The lady declared before picking herself up, pushing her body away from his as she immediately turned around in a rush, covering her ears as she refuses to let him see the redness from her cheeks that reaches all the way up to them.
"…"
Meanwhile, from that sudden surprise, Novus was left standing near the entrance of the female dormitory, baffled, mouth slightly agape, confusion running across his head as he wonders how her action made his heart beat so loud.