Concern And Consideration

(Noah's Pov)

"How did you know that Lucy is in danger?"

[You were the one who told me to always tell you about Lucy if she calls your name and is in danger ^_^]

I did?

...No, Noah did.

"You mean... before I actually become your absolute master and all?"

[Yes]

 ...This wasn't the first time it had happened.

After Eliza and Lea had told me that they hadn't been able to access any information about my past or anything from the system because I become my system's absolute master, I tried to ask the system to tell me about Noah's past.

The system is integrated with a person since they are born, so it was natural that the system had seen Noah up close and knew more about him than anyone else.

But the results weren't what I had hoped.

Noah had asked the system to erase all his information the moment he became the absolute master.

"Okay, fine. I get that. What I don't get is how you came all the way here just because Lucy said my name?"

The system, no matter where in the world, if I were to call it back it would come back but that's because it's my system.

How can it do it for Lucy?

Or does Lucy have some sort of connection with my system?

I didn't know. I don't understand this shit.

What the hell did Noah do and how?

[I only did what you instructed me to do.]

We aren't getting anywhere, are we?

"If someone else were to say my name, would you be able to appear in front of that person just like you did with Lucy?"

[I didn't appear in front of Lucy, she couldn't see me. I only reached her, accessed the situation, and told you about it as you had instructed. I can't hear anyone else calling for me except you or Lucy.]

"Haa~"

I heaved out a sigh as I came outside of the arena ...which was pretty crowded.

It didn't take a genius to know why these students were crowded here.

They wanted to know the results.

I don't wanna deal with this.

I am already exhausted.

With that thought, I jumped off into the air and traveled using air steps, basically condensing the components of energy enough for just a few seconds for me to walk through it.

This is convenient.

Leaving behind all the kids, I made my way towards my dormitory.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

I found Julianna standing outside of the dormitory, waiting.

I don't have any idea who she is waiting for.

Should I say hi?

...Meh, let's just silently get inside.

I thought but to my horror, she saw me.

And I saw her.

Our eyes made contact and she waved towards me.

I waved back.

"Fucking come down!"

...Damn it.

So, I landed on the ground.

I had planned to enter my room using the window.

Oh well, so much for the plan.

"What's up? Waiting for your boyfriend? I don't want to create any misunderstanding for him. I think I should really be going"

What bullshit am I even spouting? I didn't know either but that was all my stupid brain could come up with to initiate the conversation.

Julianna looked at me with disgust, clearly failing to understand the profound humor of mine.

Well, in her defense she has nowhere near my level of intelligence so it was only natural to not understand my joke.

"You know-"

She stopped midway in her sentence which of course I didn't like.

Then she pressed her forehead as if seized by a sudden migraine, heaved out a sigh, and looked at me from top to bottom.

"Forget it. Did you win?"

"I mopped the floor"

She gave me a strange look before continuing

"You don't look like you mopped the floor, need a shoulder to lean on and cry? It's okay, I am sure you will win next time"

The fuck?

I said I won.

What the hell is she on about?

Just how hard were my words to comprehend?

Did she turn into a retard?

"Your clothes looked tattered, and covered in blood," her eyebrows squinted, her expression seemed to be concerned about me.

Well, having my body almost freeze and still moving it caused cracks to form in my skin and blood to leak out.

But it was something that happened all because of my own attack.

I need to raise my myst proficiency. Maybe then I wouldn't feel the pain. At least, I hope, I won't.

Anyways.

I looked at Julianna and asked

"Let me this straight, are genuinely worried about me, or is it some kind of elaborate hoax to slowly make me open up to you?"

I am, by nature, cautious.

Julianna stomped on my foot with hers with a huff.

It hurt.

Not really.

She is weaker than me.

In what world would an F-ranker's attack hurt an E+ ranker? I wasn't just a sub-rank higher than her but an entire rank.

We are worlds apart, even according to people's common sense in this world-which I don't trust anymore.

"Like I said I won, so what are you here for?"

I asked.

"Haa~ I just wanted to check on you if you are okay or not. Also, your dinner." She said as she pulled out a tupperware from her dimensional bracelet.

"Thanks"

I replied.

Then, Julianna as if remembering something looked toward me as she asked

"Did you get the message? Demon Lord suddenly entered the dungeon. It's all over the news."

Ah, right.

The system did say, it was a message from the authorities to everyone, not a personal talk we usually do.

The only thing I can discern is that Demon Lord is probably making a threat, a threat to the person who now knows about his secret.

He most likely had something he could ask for from the observers but didn't as a wild card of sorts and now used that reward on something like this.

Well, it helps me know that I can ask for the reward anytime, in any place.

Anyway, there's no questioning it. Since he has gone to the hidden dungeon he could easily learn about me, the identity of the person who knows his dearest secret.

The only saving grace I have right now is that he challenged one of the hardest-hidden dungeons.

Is he dumb?

Well, whatever.

If I had to make a guess, he would probably be back in a month or so. I need to prepare myself for that time.

...Still, isn't the fucking plot moving a bit too fast?

"Yeah, I did, those higher-ups must be going crazy right about now" I agreed with Julianna who was scrolling through her phone.

There's a treaty about hidden dungeons, the rights of the hidden dungeon usually belonged to the species on whose land it was found but even so, there was a law that dictated that everyone was supposed to inform others of the hidden dungeon before entering it.

And Demon lord just went against the law itself. It was, of course, a concerning matter.

Julianna seemed to be engrossed in looking into the news, her face scrunched up.

"Students aren't supposed to think about stuff like this, let the adults deal with this shit," I said as I flicked my finger on her forehead.

"Ouch!"

Me being an E+ranker did wonders.

Julianna grabbed her forehead with both her hands. She looked at me with tears in the corner of her eyes.

"I fucking hate you!"

She shouted, rubbing her forehead.

...Did I hit too hard?

It was no joke, I am an E+ ranker and she is F-ranker.

"Uh, sorry. Let me see" I said, hurriedly looking at her forehead as I looked at it redden.

Damn, I did hit hard enough.

I pulled out an Elixir and gave it to her.

"Here, drink this, or else you will have a bump on your forehead tomorrow morning. Again, sorry. I didn't mean to hurt you."

Is it because I feel exhausted that I failed to estimate my own strength or am I just dumb?

I didn't know that.

"It's okay..." She said as she took the Elixir and drank it.

The Elixir worked and the redness from her forehead disappeared, cool.

"Woah! I suddenly feel rejuvenated. Shit, it's great! I don't think normal healing potions feel this great! What is this!?" Julianna said, her eyes wide open as she moved her body.

"Just Elixir"

At those words of mine, her body suddenly halted, her mouth agape, her eyes wide open staring at me.

...She looks funny.

"I-Uh-Ah-Um.. What?"

"Don't worry. It was my fault anyway, I am not going to ask you for money" I decided to wave off her concerns.

"Wha-? No, no, no! You shouldn't just go around throwing an Elixir like that!"

"I have told you before, haven't I? I have got a lot of them, so meh."

Julianna didn't seem to buy my words as she closed the distance with us and then sandwiched my cheeks with both her hands, directly looking into my eyes.

"I get it. You have got lots of Elixir and you can simply give it out like they mean nothing. That's cool. It's great to have a friend who wouldn't be stingy when it came to help but ...that's not how friendship works. I have spent time with you so I understand you even if just a little. You gave me an Elixir because you felt it was your fault so you had to make up for it but the opposite is also true if you give something too valuable to the other person for every small thing that happens, they too will start to feel bad and indebted towards you whether they want to or not, and if that keeps happening, you wouldn't be able to form any genuine relationship of any sort with anyone and that's a sad thing. So, while you are concerned about the other person, try to be considerate of them too, promise me you will" 

Her tone was gentle, her voice firm and her crystal-clear sapphire eyes looked straight into mine.

...Unable to bring myself to say anything, I simply nodded.

"Good"

She smiled and took a step back, releasing my cheeks from her grasp.

"Well, it's getting late. I should get going too and you must be tired as well. Good night"

"Good night"

I looked at her back, as she started walking away, mid-way she started walking away a bit too fast while holding her face with her hands.

...Weirdo

With that thought, I turned and walked into my dormitory, ready to resign myself for the day.

Oh wait, I had one last job to do.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

The next morning, I received the official message saying that the duel had been considered to be my win.

Regardless, the concerning matter was the second message that I received.

It seems like the headmaster of the academy is a fan of mine, dying to meet me.

I closed off my emails and then I thought about looking up the internet and went directly to see the social media.

You see at some point in my life I had stopped watching the news to gather the intel about what's happening in the world. I looked at memes to understand what situation the world is in.

But in this world, I have yet to know which place to go to see those meaningful and funny memes so I decided it's better to just look into social media.

I am curious how people are reacting to the demon lord.

And as I had expected, it was a mess.

I shook my head as I thought about the things I needed to be working towards and that is to enter a hidden dungeon, albeit an easy one.

Now that I am officially the first ranker and in the special class, I can use my privilege and get the hell out of this academy for a certain time if I wish to.

But first, let's deal with the headmaster.