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Den and I headed towards the dormitory where our room was prepared. Our luggage was already delivered there ahead of time, so we were empty-handed now.

Given that most students were nobles in this senior magic academy, the prepared dormitory was appropriately grand. Honestly, it might be even bigger than Raum’s magic academy building. I felt like I could see glimpses of the pretensions of the nobles in that.

We greeted the dorm mother who awaited us at the palace-like entrance, and headed to the room she directed us to. Our room was on the third floor, so we had to climb the stairs for a bit. This was the result of the new students being driven farther and higher from the baths and cafeteria.

Exceptionally, the limited rooms of the fourth floor were private rooms of the high-class nobles, each having their own baths and other facilities.

“Nicole, I was waiting for you!”
“Letina, what about your classes?”

As we were about to climb the stairs, I heard Letina’s cheery voice from the higher floor. She transferred in advance to draw attention, so skipping her classes to wait for me here would instead put me in the center of attention, wouldn’t it?

My thoughts seemed to have appeared on my face, she started to make up excuses in a fluster.

“I-It is already known that we are acquaintances, so I thought it would be more natural to act friendly from the start instead of hiding it!”
“Really?”
“Lady Letina had been looking forward to meeting you, Lady Nicole.”
“Finia?!”

Finia showed her face from behind her. She normally wore civilian work clothes, but now she wore black-themed maid clothes.

Those tight-fitting clothes were drawing out the mismatch between her dainty body and gentle expression, giving off a strange charm.

“Finia, you’re lovely. I’d love to eat you up.”
“Oh please do. I am ready anytime.”
“Huh, you’re going along with that?”
“Finia, you are so bold!”

Finia unexpectedly went along with my joke. Letina took it at face value and started waving her hands around in a fluster. Seeing that, Finia broke into a carefree smile.

“I’m sorry. I was curious about how you would react, Lady Letina. You are quite honest in a different sense from Michelle.”
“Letina is a sheltered girl, after all. Don’t pollute her with bad jokes.”
“Understood.”

Realizing that we were messing with her, Letina’s face turned red. She squinted her eyes in anger as she clenched her hand into a fist at her chest. This gesture followed her since childhood. I felt a sense of nostalgia at that scene.

“I cannot believe you two! I was at my wits’ end here!”
“Was that really something to worry about?”
“I was honestly thinking whether to give you my blessing or get angry, you know?”
“Blessing us there would be kinda wrong.”
“Lady Nicole, let us move to the room already.”

Den intruded on our conversation.

Certainly, we were currently standing at the dormitory stairwell, and though the students had classes now, it wasn’t completely devoid of people.

Students on sick leave and the servants including the dorm mother were still present.

“Oh, right. We should before we cause trouble.”
“Then I shall guide you there. Over here.”
“I mean, I know I have to climb the stairs without you telling me.”

She ran down the stairs, grabbed my hand, and dragged me up.

Letina’s physique was already better than mine, so I ended up getting dragged while pinching forward. This situation looked quite nostalgic too. When we first met, she dragged me off like this too.

I felt embarrassed to have my feelings seen through, so I just followed her while looking down. It made me awfully happy that Letina hadn’t changed at all.

Since we had to sort our luggage, I had to ask Letina to leave us. I felt bad about it, but my luggage contained various items connected to Reid. I could’ve hidden it if it was just gauntlets, but there were also spare Mythril threads and male clothes, so it would’ve gotten problematic if she saw them.

The black clothes, in particular, would arouse her suspicions, knowing her personality. If that information somehow made its way to Maria or Lyell, I wouldn’t be able to look them in the eye.

“Lady Nicole, what is this luggage?”
“That one’s filled with underclothes so put them in that clothing case. That one has my uniform and such, so hang them in the closet.”
“Understood.”

Even if I called it sorting the luggage, we just needed to store the clothes and other things in the room. The basic furniture was already here, so I just needed to bring personal items.

The problem was the study materials and magic tools. They were also used in magic experiments and lessons, so I had to properly manage them. This management was entrusted to the students as part of the education.

“Oh, looks like there are safes inside the rooms.”
“So it seems. Magic tools are often expensive, so their consideration is appreciated.”
“Looks like I don’t have to have you keep watch, Den. Still, a lock of this level leaves me a bit worried.”

The small safe inside the room was apparently there for the valuable and dangerous items. But from my perspective, its dial lock could easily be broken through. I would’ve trusted it more if it at least used a cylinder lock along with it.

Ignoring Den who couldn’t understand what I meant, I squatted near the safe.

I placed my right hand near the dial while carefully rotating it with my left. Right, left, right… After rotating it several times, I managed to obtain the necessary numerics from the sensation transmitted to my right hand.

“Three to the right, two more to the right, six to the left, and four to the right.”

As I rotated the dial, the door quickly opened up. Seeing that, Den opened his eyes wide in surprise.

“Lady Nicole, you didn’t know the combination yet did you?”
“I can unlock this level of lock in about two-three minutes. I was the scout among the Six Heroes you know?”

That said, scouts didn’t really need unlocking skills. If I had to say, this was something I learned through my assassination work. I wanted to not just kill the enemy but also reveal their sins to the public. For that, I needed to break through a safe or two, so I just learned it through the process.

“Amazing, as expected of my master. So this level of safe is trivial for you.”
“Well, I don’t think students other than me can open it, so stuff the valuables inside.”
“Understood… May I ask where you are heading?”

I tried to leave the room after giving him instructions. I couldn’t take him along on this business.

“Bathroom! I wish you could read and pick up on such things better.”
“M-My apologies!”
“I’ll also investigate the dorm layout, so just continue sorting the luggage, okay?”
“Yes, please take your time.”
“Just forget what I said earlier.”

After warning the overserious Den, I left the room.

I wanted to at least figure out where Cain’s room was right away. For that, I thought I needed a little bit of Letina’s help so I headed to her room.