Chapter 39，Part2

“Which direction are you going?”

“I’ll walk you home.”

Maro was a good boy after all. I wondered if he had changed because he was a nobleman, but he was still the same with me, a subhuman, as he had been in the past.

“Are you sure?”

“Yes. All I have to do now is collect… organize the materials. I’ve accumulated a lot of materials in the past five years, but now that I’m here at the academy, I have to collect more.”

“…Nn?”

I thought they were materials on magic, but what kind of materials could only be collected in the academy?

Maro escorted me back, looking around warily as we approached the area where there were more students, as if looking for his prey.

What was he looking for?

“Oh, wait a minute.”

“Nn”

Before I could reply, Maro was already on the move.

As I stood there waiting to see what he would do, Maro took out a pendant and walked past a group of senior female students chatting on a bench, while saying, “I’m looking for something…”

“Huh!”

“Kyah!”

“What’s wrong with you?”

Maro was dazed in front of the two pretty girls and fell into the chest of a concerned female student who called out to him.

“I’m sorry, I’m a little weak…”

“Oh, my goodness, are you all right?”

“Yes, thanks to you, kind lady, I’m fine. Thank you.”

“Oh, my…”

When Maro, a sickly beautiful boy, made a spoiled gesture, the senior class’s older sisters could only shyly blush.

“…”

What could he be doing? Maro was indeed physically frail, but I felt a strange discomfort when I looked at him. What was he doing at their feet with that pendant?

Then Maro, who had been chatting with them, breaks off and slips into the shadows of the shrubbery in a strangely quick movement before staring at them from a distance through the crystal part of the pendant, only to return a few minutes later with a very surprised expression on his face, as if he had just remembered I was there.

“Did, did you see that?”

“…You were quite preoccupied, what were you doing?”

“Well…I was just looking for some valuable materials…”

“What is it?”

“…Well, it’s a biology resource.”

Maro looked away from me as I stared at him.

Biology? Insects or medicinal herbs? I didn’t see anything like that.

“”…””

I was still staring at Maro’s face, and he looked all over the place.

“Oh, I had something to do! I’ve come this far, so you can go on your own from here, right? Sorry, Carol-san!”

“Nn, it’s okay. I don’t mind.”

Maro disappeared as if running away. How could he be okay with running when he was so sickly that he was vomiting blood and dizzy?

What should I do now? Returning to the classroom would only create a silent space, so I would like to kill some more time until my next class, but what should I do?

“…Ah.”

I went all the way to the research building, but I forgot to look at what they were researching, didn’t I?

I should go there one more time while I still remembered the way, since I had to sell more magic stones anyway.

I headed back the way I just came, and this time I arrived at the research building without any problem.

There were other research buildings, but were they funded by Maro’s father? If I asked him, would he show me around? I thought that it would be a good idea to ask. For now, I found someone and asked if I could look around a little.

“You can look around if you like.”

“Nn”

The researcher said this without even looking up from his own research material, so I took the liberty of looking around.