Free Web NovelThe sky’s final trace of light was swallowed by dusk.
Fire-red clouds dimmed, iron-gray shadows claimed half the heavens, and night arrived.
All the students had left the classroom—only Jasmine and Maixi remained.
“Sigh... why isn’t Mom here yet...”
Jasmine lifted her head toward the slowly darkening sky outside the window, finally unable to hold in a long sigh.
Maixi leaned back in her seat, counting the coins in her hand. Without even looking up, she spoke lazily:
“Captain Jasmine, am I really that boring to be alone with?”
Jasmine frowned. She didn’t want to answer whether the girl beside her was boring, so she deflected instead:
“...Aren’t you going home? It’s already late.”
“Rorina said you won’t be coming to the Academy starting tomorrow...”
Maixi stopped counting, turned her head toward Jasmine, and said seriously,
“As your friend, of course I have to walk you out and say goodbye properly.”
“Don’t flatter yourself. I’m not your friend,” Jasmine muttered.
Maixi didn’t mind at all. She tucked the coins into a rough cloth pouch embroidered with a salted fish and murmured:
“Doesn’t matter. As long as I treat you as a friend. I heard the Western Domain is pretty unsafe. Be careful.”
“What could possibly happen when I’m with Mom?”
“That’s true... your mom is the Holy Sword’s Swordmaster—our Dean. She’s pretty amazing.”
“...Why does your tone sound weird?”
“Your imagination.”
Maixi raised one finger to halt Jasmine’s suspicions, then narrowed her eyes:
“Ever since that incident in her family, Rorina hasn’t even eaten lunch with us. Every day she runs straight to the Dean’s Office. Do you know what that’s about?”
“No idea.”
Jasmine slumped over the desk.
“I don’t want to trouble Mom with these trivial things. And after what happened in Rorina’s family, she must be sad...”
“Sad?”
Maixi weighed her money pouch thoughtfully.
“I think she’s been thrilled lately. She’s acting like she’s on chicken blood. Listen—she’s still training downstairs right now. This late.”
Jasmine puffed her cheeks.
“I keep feeling her change has something to do with Mom. And lately she’s been putting extra milk in my bag every day—telling me to bring it to Rorina... though in the end, Mom remembered our team has three people, so she added another box and said to bring one for you too.”
“Oh! I see how it is!”
Enlightened—and then increasingly convinced—Maixi nodded at her.
“Your mom definitely has something going on with her. That girl practically transformed these days. When I mock her right to her face she just smiles. In the past she would’ve taken a bite out of me! I thought it was trauma from her family troubles... but no, it’s more like your mom changed her.”
“Uu...”
Jasmine didn’t reply. She lay limp across the table. She had been focused entirely on her studies lately and had indeed overlooked certain matters.
“At this rate, Rorina’s going to steal your mom one day.”
Maixi met her gaze, eyes unreadable.
“Don’t you have any thoughts about that?”
“She wouldn’t... right?”
Jasmine looked lost.
“She just sees Mom as a big sister and a lifesaver.”
“...If you say so,” Maixi murmured.
Jasmine’s cheeks puffed again.
“What do you mean ‘if I say so’...” ƒree𝑤ebnσvel.com
Maixi just shook her head, smiling.
Heh. That pink-haired girl—the one who looked invincible on the surface—was, in truth, starved for affection to an explosive degree.
Ever since her family’s collapse, she had started changing from a delinquent into a model-student type and had been running to the Dean’s Office every day.
What exactly did Rorina want?
Maixi wasn’t going to say it out loud.
If the little dean really adopted Rorina one day, Captain Jasmine would probably freeze, then explode—blowing up both the dean and Rorina in confusion.
Maixi would personally love to witness such a show.
Then she gave Jasmine a strange smile the girl didn’t understand, and changed the topic:
“Anyway, Captain, can you help me with cleaning duty today?”
“I don’t want to.” Jasmine scowled. “I did it yesterday. Do your own work!”
“I helped you yesterday, didn’t I...? Come on, help me this time too?”
“Ugh! You call wiping half the blackboard ‘helping’? Do you want to eat a Fireball?”
“We’re in the same team~”
Maixi smirked like a fox.
“And you’re waiting for your mom anyway. If she arrives, then I’ll be stuck doing this alone~ Come on~ Come on~”
Then she started tugging at Jasmine’s arm.
“H-hey! Don’t tickle me!” Jasmine winced. Against Maixi’s strength, she had no chance.
“Okay, okay! Stop pulling, I’ll help!”
There wasn’t much trash in the classroom; the two quickly cleaned it. Jasmine, as usual, couldn’t reach the top of the blackboard, so the tallest member of their trio had to wipe it herself.
Just as they finished their work and were about to sit down to [N O V E L I G H T] chat while waiting for the little dean, a noise echoed from the hallway.
Bang!
The crisp sound of a door opening snapped their attention toward the entrance.
If humans’ ears could perk up like elves’, Jasmine’s would have been standing straight up.
At this hour, only two people would come to the classroom:
Rorina—still training downstairs,
or her mother, coming to pick her up.
“Mom...”
As soon as Vieya stepped through the doorway, she heard that soft, sweet call. Her eyes immediately curved; she smiled brightly.
“Good girl. Are you packed? We’ll be spending the night on a ship.”
“Mom, I—”
Jasmine rushed toward her with excitement—
but as soon as her eyes reached the doorway, she closed her mouth subtly.
Because Mom wasn’t alone.
Standing behind her were Rorina—
and a flat-chested green-haired girl Jasmine vaguely recognized.
She knew Rorina.
The other one, with a green long dress and bright emerald ponytail, she had only seen around campus.
But the gentle smile that girl aimed at her made Jasmine’s inner alarm blare at maximum volume.
This green woman—what is she plotting?!
She clung to Vieya’s arm, staring warningly at Aurora and Rorina.
“Mom, are they coming with us too?”
Vieya shook her head, then nodded, coughed lightly, and pried her daughter off.
Pointing at the pony-tailed girl, she said:
“This is Aurora. From now on, you’ll call her Sister Aurora, understand?”
Jasmine was silent for a long moment before mumbling, extremely reluctantly:
“...Sister Aurora.”
“Ah... Captain, your daughter is adorable.”
Aurora’s smile didn’t shift at all.
As an old assassin, she instantly sensed the hostility and vigilance Jasmine held toward her.
But that was fine.
Step one of capturing the Captain:
Capture her daughter.
Aurora was full of fighting spirit. She cheered herself on silently.
If she put in enough effort, there was no wall in this world she couldn’t dig through!
Soon after, since it was getting late, Vieya took the group to the Academy cafeteria for dinner.
During the meal, Jasmine learned that for this Western Domain trip, only she, her mother,
and the mysterious green-haired woman would be going.
Rorina was here only to see them off.
And the cat-sister had been left at home...
Throughout the meal, Vieya could sense her daughter’s hostility toward her former teammate.
Although Vieya smoothed things over, Jasmine only maintained surface-level politeness.
Jasmine’s inner voice:
I don’t want to know this green woman!
Vieya could only sigh helplessly.
After dinner, under the watch of Rorina and Maixi, they left the Academy and vanished into the thick night.
The docks at Dingxia Harbor were blazing with lanterns.
Vieya led her daughter and her old teammate aboard the large ship.
As the whistle blared, the last long-distance vessel of the day raised its anchor and exhaled white steam as it sailed toward the pitch-black sea.
......
Meanwhile.
Inside the detention cell, Marlam rolled over, using her arm as a pillow, fast asleep atop the haystack.
There was less than a week left before her release.
She was very much looking forward to her duel with that white-haired little sister.
