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As I tried to keep distance when crossing paths with Alcrei, he suddenly raised his voice, saying, 「Ah, you—」 For a moment, I thought he was referring to me, but after verifying through detection, it seemed he was simply facing my direction. Immediately after, I heard a small shriek from behind me; is she, by chance, acquainted with Alcrei?

「Belltina. To think a failure such as you would be in this academy. Well, good luck to you.」

Alcrei said mockingly, which the two lackeys behind him laughed in response, before going away.
The stalker girl called Belltina shrank back for a moment before hurrying after me. Though at this point, I don’t think there’s any meaning in her following me anymore.
But since it’s not really a problem if she follows us, I guess this is fine. Personally, I feel like I’m being followed by a stray dog lost at a school. Ciel probably wouldn’t understand the comparison, so I’m keeping this to myself.

『Where shall we go?』
『The girl is still following behind us, right?』
『That’s right. She might go away eventually, but there’s no way to tell for sure.』
『Hmm, we still have free time after this, so why don’t we return to the dorm for now?』
『I see. She shouldn’t follow us until the 5th floor, and she might even return to her own room as well.』

We have free time next period, but who knows how it is in her case.
Depending on her schedule, she is unlikely to follow us to the dorm, or so I thought, but she’s apparently going to follow us until the 5th floor..
The moment she stepped into the elevator with us, I was convinced of this.
As we left the elevator and reached the 5th floor’s lobby area, she finally spoke up, 「Ah, umm…」

In Palra’s case, I believe she talked to us almost right after she arrived, so this girl might be even more introverted than Palra. Palra didn’t feel that introverted of a person to me, but maybe it’s because she was considerably chatty back then.

「How may I help you?」
「Umm, Bell’s name is Belltina!」

Betraying her silence up until now, she energetically introduced herself, surprising me; but now that I think about it, there were people like this even back in my old world.

「I’m Ailneige. Then, Belltina, is there something wrong?」
「T-thank you so much for earlier!」

She bowed so hard I feared that her head might hit the ground.

「No need for that. In the end, you still weren’t able to avoid him, after all.」
「It’s still better than encountering him while eating lunch…」
「Incidentally, Belltina, your room is on the 5th floor as well?」
「Yess… Bell has a lot of magic power, but Bell is terrible with sorcery, so Bell was disowned… In exchange for freedom in this academy, Bell’s family cut ties with Bell…
But still, since Bell has freedom now, that means Bell can stay indoors as much as Bell wants, so Bell’s room has been perfectly prepared for a life of seclusion!」

She seemed dispirited, but she was quick to cheer up. I can’t exactly say if she’s optimistic or pessimistic. Though it’d be tough talking to her had she not cheered up, so I don’t mind this at all. Anyway, it seems like Belltina will need to find work before she graduates. It’s not relevant to us, but I wish her the best of luck.

「So, why have you been following me for a while now?」
「U-umm… that’s…」

Belltina fiddled with her index fingers while obviously trying to avert my gaze.
Wondering if she has something to be guilty about, I shot her a stern glare, and she responded in resignation.

「At first Bell just thought, ‘Wow, there’s someone smaller than Bell; then maybe Bell won’t be bullied by her.’」
「You secretly followed me to the cafeteria even before that, didn’t you?」
「Umm, uhh… Bell has never been to the cafeteria before. So Bell thought of following someone else there, but since Bell might get scolded when found out, Bell thought of following someone who probably won’t get angry.」
『Oh, it sounds like Ain’s suspicion was right.』
『I didn’t think I’d be right either, but from her tone, she doesn’t appear to be lying.』

If her purpose was to keep watch on us or harm us in secret, there shouldn’t be any reason for Belltina to initiate a conversation with us. Most importantly, when she reacted to Alcrei, she was far too defenseless.

「You seem to have noticed my true capabilities, yet you still thought of following me?」
「Eh!? Umm… uhh… how…」

Is she wondering how I knew of her ability?

「You looked shocked upon seeing me before, and I also observed magic power gathering at your eyes during then. While prying into one’s Job is a breach of etiquette, I assume you have magic eyes of Mana sight, no?」
「Uhh… yess, that’s right…」

It was a meek response, but my suspicion was correct, so I’m honestly happy about that.
Magic Eye User is a rare Job to find. Their abilities vary, such as being able to see the imperceptible, far-sight, and so on, but Jobs with special abilities that express themselves through the use of one’s eyes are described under that umbrella term. The term “magic eyes” brings to mind petrification and entrancement, but I haven’t found any information of such ocular abilities having existed.

「Umm, the sight of such a tight-fitting barrier just caught Bell’s eye, that’s all.」
「You’re lying, aren’t you?」
「Uhhh, ummm… yess… Bell was surprised after seeing such an unfathomable barrier, but it also looked so safe…」
「Are you perhaps scheming something?」
「No, never, not at all! Bell won’t tell anyone about it! Bell only wants to live a quiet and secluded life!
But that dream is already… impossible…」

Since she’s apparently forsaken by her family, living a secluded life will surely be difficult. As an artificer, you certainly won’t need much interaction with people, and you probably can seclude yourself to create sorceric tools as needed.
Still, since this isn’t my problem at all, I simply replied, 「Is that so? Thank you for answering honestly.」

And that ends Chapter 165! Poor little Bell, she folded so quickly under pressure, lol. Meanwhile Ain was like, “Man, this is so not my problem. Good luck tho,” the moment that she was sure that Bell was not a threat.

We’re finally introduced to our stalker of the past update, and it she seems to be introvert shut-in type. Though with her family apparently disowning her, the shut-in part might be an issue. She also has one of the few Jobs that are uniquely troublesome for our girls, but fortunately it seems like she’s not some kind of spy/faction insider (or is she? *dun dun dun duuun*). Scrolling back a bit, we (or rather Bell) had a short encounter with the potential problem Alcrei, but fortunately he’s also hungry, so it didn’t last long. Still, after the sudden trauma dump from Bell, I wonder where things will go the next chapter?

Now then, I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Please feel free to comment. Stay healthy, stay safe, and have a nice day~!

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