Deadline Is Raining in the Status Window - Chapter 62

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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I’d have to start that today. The conventional wisdom was to begin immediately with anything I could do right now, but I had other matters to attend to.
“Not now. Let’s start this evening.”
“Understood.”
I postponed my muscle training as long as possible and drafted another manual instead. As I wrote fluidly across the page, Titi, Hubert, and Gerth took turns feeding me green grapes.

◇ ◆ ◇

“Just two more reps.”
I was doing bench presses. The reason was simple: Gerth had suggested we aim for 500 pounds as our target.
“Hnnnngh!”
“Hang in there! I made this protein shake in your favorite peach flavor!”
“Hyaaaaaagh!”
I’m not your mother, damn it!
A curse slipped out unbidden, but the strain was so intense it couldn’t form coherent words. Just as well. Tender-hearted Hubert would have been hurt if he’d heard it.
“Last one! Evan!”
I pushed with all my remaining strength one final time, and without thinking, I activated my superhuman skill and hurled the barbell away. I worried someone might get hit, but Gerth’s hand shot out instantly, catching the 60-kilogram bar mid-air and setting it back in place with perfect composure.
So Gerth could swing a 60-kilogram hunk of iron with one hand using nothing but raw muscle. Not that I was planning to compete anyway—I’d be foolish to even try.
“Evan. You need to use your muscles. You cannot use skills.”
“It was only the last rep.”
“Don’t let your guard down.”
“Then why don’t you try holding your breath for five minutes without letting your guard down?”
“Evan. You’ve been sharp with me lately.”
Who wouldn’t get sharp after a week of nothing but protein and constant exercise?!
I ground my teeth and asked to see the nice version of Evan—the one who wanted white rice. Gerth shook his head in refusal.
“Building muscle requires meat, period.”
“Without rice, humans abandon their humanity.”
“That’s why I’m giving you konjac rice.”
“If konjac rice counts as rice, then unjust laws still count as laws.”
“That law is valid.”
“Drop dead.”
“Evan. You’ve been sharp with me lately.”
If you hate the sharpness, then give me rice! White rice! I’ll compromise—even barley rice works! Just make me some soybean paste stew to go with it!
“Come on, Evan, calm down. Just push through until today, then once you’re at the Academy, you can eat to your heart’s content.”
“I don’t want to! The Dormitory doesn’t have the food you make! I want to eat the food you cook, Gerth!”
“Evan.”
“I’m going to die. I really am. I’ll die without your cooking, Gerth.”
“Evan, don’t say such things.”
“I! Love! Gerth’s cooking!”
“Regardless, it’s too early for such things before you come of age.”
“I want food!”
Gerth, who had been covering his face, turned his body away helplessly at my final cry.
“Since it’s your last day, I’ll prepare whatever you desire.”
“Food! Rolled omelet! Mother’s borscht!”
“I’ll request your mother’s cooperation.”
Delighted—rice, kimchi stew, rolled omelet!
As I grabbed Hubert excitedly and began to dance, the man laughed effortlessly and spun his body in rhythm with my steps.
“Hehe, I’m lost now too.”
Hubert, chanting to himself as if brainwashing himself that good is good, watched me stretch and then headed up to the Dining Floor.
The table was filled with everyone I’d been indebted to during this break, and they, having witnessed my voracious meal, remained with me until they saw me off the next day.
“Take care! You beasts!”
“Don’t skip your training, Evan.”
“Stay healthy, Mother! Don’t overeat just because you’re building muscle!”
“I’ll send a raven so write letters too, dear! White One’s communication is exclusive to His Majesty the Serpent King and his son anyway!”
Beyond that, Tiger Man Magania and Spider Woman Lakne wished me well, and the friend with the complicated name raising chicks on her head merely nodded in greeting. I heard the Machine King hadn’t made her a voice-producing device.
“Chirp? Why don’t you get angry when we call you beast brats, chirp?”
“It’s not an insult, dear little one.”
“Isn’t that excessive trust, chirp?”
“Oh, between me and us, snap and it snaps!”
“You’ve only known each other two months, chirp?”
Titi was catching the end of Leri’s words and dragging it out, getting beaten on the back for it. I pretended not to notice and mounted the horse. This friend was one I’d brought from the Horse Racing Track, and since it seemed to be bullied by the herd, I thought it best to separate it and ride it instead. I hoped to meet good companions in the Capital, Crownpolis.
“Then I’ll be going. Titi, make sure to distribute the manual properly.”
“It’s burned into my ears, chirp.”
“Smart mouth.”
“Understood, chirp!”
I looked at Titi, who kept chirping about loyalty, with distrust, then hoisted White One onto my back and tied the carrier snugly. Once again, I had to endure a tedious drive.

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Two hours after packing my belongings and leaving Gerth’s House, I realized something: I’d forgotten to grab money while I was organizing manuals and asking the Serpent King’s Tower Officials to maintain relations with Ilam.
Normally, I should have been completely broke—my house had burned down and Titi had cleaned out my savings—but skimming some funds from the Village Chief’s office was always an option.
If bandits hadn’t appeared on the road, White One and I would have starved all the way to the Capital. If I’d been forced to take a part-time job to endure the hunger, I might have missed the semester’s opening day.
Thanks to my generous benefactors blocking the road and drooling over my possessions, I managed to drive straight to the Capital and arrive with two million crowns in my wallet. It was heartbreaking to realize that robbing bandits once paid better than laboring at school for an entire month, but since bandits didn’t just appear in any random mountain, I decided to let the regret go.
With time to spare, I met with the Market people I owed favors to, bought various snacks while chatting, walked around with a waffle in my mouth admiring the Imperial Palace Gate, stopped by Ronell’s Atelier for a cup of tea, ate walnut cakes with the regular ship captain while gossiping, handed out caramels to the Academy gate guards while exchanging pleasantries after so long, high-fived the Administrative Office staff I met at the entrance, tossed them fortune cookies, scattered madeleines to the children screaming and chasing after me in the Common Grounds, entered the Magic Department grounds, shook hands with the teaching assistants while distributing chocolate, greeted the Dormitory Manager, and popped candies into everyone’s mouths one by one.
I walked into my room with a homemade candy from the candy shop located in the third alley on the right from the Market entrance, and the smell of old dust rushed into my nose.
Reina hadn’t returned yet. Perfect.
I set White One down, cleaned only my area, then headed toward the section where the Magic Department professors were. Since Reina had learned about the work-study scholarship system, there was a risk she’d apply this semester following my example. Since the payment from outsourced work through the professors was good, I’d try to shake them down for part-time job openings.
I knocked on each professor’s door, apologized for the intrusion, and asked if they could help me find work. Professor Ha obviously wouldn’t be here before classes started, so his office was empty, and I didn’t want to visit the Department Head Professor, so I went around the other offices—the harvest was meager, but not nonexistent.
The Magic Practice Professor hinted that there might be work if I went to the thug den, so I quickly headed toward the Combat Techniques Department. I was checking the map on the signboard to figure out which direction the professor’s research laboratory was when I heard a familiar name flow from a stranger’s mouth.
“Hey, the Northern Grand Duke is taking a leave of absence next semester?”
“He might even drop out. Apparently, he suffered some serious damage during this break.”
What, our
well-built chest
-bearing Northern skewer Grand Duke Eugene Brandenburg might not come to school? Now that I think about it, was this around when Eugene quit school because of those dragon-blooded bastards? No, if that’s the case, why did he even enroll in the Academy in the first place? Why quit right after entering? That’s so disappointing.
Even though we spent last semester in Princess Sera’s club getting along, I’d grown attached. This sudden parting was beyond disappointing—it was bewildering.
“Hey, you thugs.”
When I used the nickname that Magic Department people commonly called Combat Techniques Department students, the two of them took defensive stances and revealed hostility as they shouted at me.
“What business do you have, you demon bastard!”
“Go back to your demon’s den, you demon!”
“Where is Eugene?”
“Oh, he’s probably at the Department Head’s Office for a leave of absence consultation?”
“Thanks, you thugs.”
“Why are you thanking us for something like this, demon?”
“Go back to your demon’s den quickly once you’re done.”
I nodded at their consideration and followed the signboard toward the Combat Techniques Department Head’s Office. The consultation must have already ended, because I ran into Eugene before I even entered the professor’s research building. His volume had increased since I last saw him. I’m jealous.
“I heard the Northern Grand Duke is taking a leave of absence.”
“I’m not the Northern Grand Duke, Evan.”
“I heard you’re taking a leave of absence.”
“Well… it’s been postponed to next year. Both my department professor and my father said it would be better to finish first year.”
So we’ll spend at least one more year together. You’ll drop out after this, roll through battlefields like mud while fighting dragons, lose your fiancée to the nation, and meet an unjust death—but let’s solidify our friendship over the remaining six months.
I was tempted by the idea of preventing your dropout and getting a plot development point, but I realized I’d obtained a super rare skill and had a foundation to rely on, and preventing your dropout with my own power was impossible.
To prevent Eugene’s dropout, I’d have to stop him from being dragged to the battlefield. That meant the only way Eugene could continue attending school was if I ended the war with the dragon-blooded.
No matter how hard I struggle, I can’t stop a war between humans and the demon race.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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