Free Web NovelChapter 78: Disastrous Morning
The next morning.
The morning birds were chirping happily, while sun rays illuminated Sylvia’s room and shone on Mika’s eyes.
"Hm... What the..." Mika murmured sleepy when he slowly opened his eyes.
His vision was blurry, but he could still somewhat recognize words in front of him.
"You’re kidding me..."
He shut his eyes again.
Mika could not remember when he was in such a moment the last time.
[There is a new side quest.]
"Hmm..." he grumbled annoyed as he tried to sleep again.
[From this point on, there will be slight changes in the side quests from time to time.]
"..."
Mika ignored it, but he could not turn off the system’s voice in his head.
[Let us begin the other way around this time. The punishment for failing this quest is that you have to participate in Belian’s daily workout starting next month for the rest of the first year.]
"As usual, the punishment sounds like a pain in the ass..." Mika remarked drowsy.
Following that, he let out a yawn and lifted his upper body up.
[The reward is that you will gain loyal subordinates.]
"Subordinates...? What the hell are you talking about?"
Mika rubbed his eyes and then stretched his upper body and arms.
[The time limit expires with the end of the tournament.]
He swung his legs to the bed’s edge and stared at the blank wall for a moment.
[Your mission is to heal them.]
"Heal them? Is that it?"
Still sounding uninterested, he finally stood up and did a few more stretches.
[That is it. In comparison to the previous side quests, this time you have to grasp the situation with the information the quest stated.]
"Information my ass. The quests only told me to heal them. But whom does the quest mean?"
[This is something you have to find out yourself with my help.]
"..."
[Will you accept the quest?]
Mika changed his clothes. Fortunately, he had his luggage from the rescue mission with him, allowing him to sleep in other clothes than his uniform.
"Can you give me more details about those subordinates?"
[Sadly, I also cannot aid you during this time. I can only say that this quest was set up to test your abilities.]
"My abilities? Are you referring to my deduction skills?"
[That may be possible.]
"So you won’t even tell me that...?"
Mika sighed.
In his mind, he pondered about whether he should accept the quest or not.
The punishment could prove to be an annoyance and burden in the near future, however, it was not a big deal for Mika in the end. freewebnovel.cσ๓
Then, there was the reward. Gaining subordinates. But he could not imagine yet, what kind of subordinates they would be and who they are.
Was he even in need of subordinates? He thought hard.
"Whatever..."
He heaved another sigh.
"Having subordinates won’t do any harm, I suppose..." he gave in as he shrugged his shoulder.
[So you will accept the quest?]
"Yeah..." Mika confirmed despite sounding reluctant.
[Understood. The countdown will start now.]
Mika opened the door and exited the room. He left his things in Sylvia’s room for now, taking them with him when he found the right time for it.
He went downstairs.
"Good morning, Mika."
The first person to greet him was Harik.
"Good morning."
Also in his uniform, he sat on the couch and read a few newspapers.
"Aren’t those outdated?" Mika asked after he leaned closer and looked over Harik shoulder.
"Yes, they are."
"..."
Mika squinted his eyes.
"Wait... Those articles are all about incidents involving demons!" he said surprised.
"Yes."
Unbothered, Harik continued scanning through the multiple articles.
"Why are you reading them?"
"I was just interested in what kind of powers those demons possessed."
"Their demonic gifts?"
Harik nodded his head once.
"Hey, Mika..."
He sounded nervous and shy, which was bizarre for him.
"Have you eventually heard about an ability that can change one’s appearance...?"
Mika got goosebumps.
There was someone, who matched Harik’s description. After all, it was a person, Mika was fighting, not too long ago.
"W-why are you asking...?"
"I... I’m just interested in that kind of ability."
Mika averted his gaze.
"There was someone like that-"
"Really? Who’s that person?"
Thrilled, Harik stood up and stared at Mika intensely with a wide child-like smile.
"It was a demon... And I’m pretty sure that he was killed." Mika replied bitterly.
Mika may have not witnessed Yater’s death with his own eyes, however, the system told Mika after their departure from Fuera everything that happened after he lost consciousness. Thus, he learned that Olivia was the one who finished Yater off.
"Is... That so...?"
Harik’s smile vanished instantly and he let himself fall on the couch dejected. His head hung low.
"Harik? Are you fine?"
"Yes... Sorry for showing you this side of mine..."
"No, it’s fine, but... Why were you so interested in that ability?"
"..."
At first, no answer came out of Harik’s mouth.
"Just forget this conversation." Harik said, still dejected as he stood up again.
"Belian must be still training in the garden. I will come and get him. Can you check on Rachel in the meantime? No need to worry, she gave us permission to enter her room if we have to wake her up." he quickly switched the topic before Mika could say anything back.
"Huh? O-oh... Sure..." Mika responded, caught off guard.
"Thanks. Her room is there."
Harik pointed at the room, which was located exactly beneath Sylvia’s room, and then went outside to get Belian.
"..."
Mika was staring confused in the direction Harik left. However, he soon decided to wake up Rachel.
To start with, he knocked on the door to test if she would react.
"Hello? Rachel? Are you awake now?"
He knocked harder.
"Rachel?"
And then, he banged against the door with his fist.
"I-I will come in if you won’t wake up, o-okay?" he stuttered embarrassed.
There was no reaction coming from Rachel, meaning that she was still asleep.
Mika sighed in defeat.
He slowly and carefully creaked her door open.
With only his head he was peeking initially in her room.
"?"
The thing that he noticed instantly was the scent.
"It smells so relaxing..." Mika remarked, sounding drowsy again.
But he shook his head to the sides fast.
Shortly after that, he fully entered her room.
"..."
He looked around quickly.
"Yeah. This room is definitely a lot cleaner and tidier than Sylvia’s."
He nodded his head proudly.
The room was still dark as the curtains were thicker than Sylvia’s curtains.
"Are they customized?" he wondered.
Mika headed to the bed.
However, when he arrived, he sensed his desire to sleep kicking in.
It was not only the soothing scent or the darkness that increased said desire. But it was also the fluffy and soft-looking pillows and sheets she was using to sleep. Even the mattress was seducing Mika.
"Stay focused..." he muttered to himself.
He took a look at Rachel, who slept like a princess with her head facing the ceiling.
"Hey, Rachel... Wake up." he said gently as he lightly shook her shoulder.
Still no reaction.
It was as if she was dead.
"..."
Mika ceased his first plan.
He remembered how his parents would wake him up on some days.
"You leave me no other choice..." Mika said sinister with a malicious grin.
He proceeded to grab the sheet’s ends and with one swift movement, he pulled the sheet away from her, revealing her petite and frail body.
"Hnngh..." she grumbled silently.
"Heh." Mika huffed proudly, seeing that she finally reacted.
Rachel was trying to open her eyes, but they were never more than half-open.
She lifted her upper body up and turned to Mika.
"It was you..." she muttered.
"I’m sorry that I had to wake you up like this but- Woah!"
At that moment, something from beneath the bed pulled on his leg, making Mika fall on his back.
"Ugh... What now...?"
He looked at the thing that was wrapped around his foot.
"Is that a vine?"
It was not bright enough to truly identify it, however, Mika felt how more vines crept upon his body and wrapped themselves around him.
"Damn... This doesn’t look good..."
Mika struggled to free himself from the vines.
"Hm?"
He lifted his head up.
Rachel was standing on her bed and looked at Mika indifferently.
She jumped off the bed and walked towards him.
"Ugh!" Mika groaned in agony when she stepped on Mika.
She knelt down.
Her cold and thin fingers were touching his neck.
"H-hey, Rachel...!"
She opened her mouth.
"Sleep is the most important thing in my life."
Her voice was quiet and yet threatening.
"Taking that away is the same as reducing my lifespan."
The fingers started to dig in his neck.
"Therefore, you shall pay for the sin of waking me up."
Her dark green eyes were now fully open.
"H-hey, stop that, R-Rachel..."
However, they harbored nothing but killing intent.
