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Chapter 2-22 : Sleepy Days
On the fifth day of cleaning the flowerbeds, Mylia leaned against the broom in her hands and sighed deeply while watching the morning sun rising over the beautiful Rose Maria arch.
（I’m so sleepy… I’m too addicted to the crossword puzzle lately… I even almost fell asleep in yesterday’s class…）
The first half of the curriculum for the Magical Academy first year students was focused around the philosophy of magic, and it was boring for Mylia because she had already been taught something similar by Titania. The teacher’s voice while teaching sounded like a lullaby to her.
Even though she knew she would end up being sleepy all day, she couldn’t restrain herself from solving the puzzle.
If she solved it, she would surely get a star badge. She didn’t want to quit solving the puzzle until she could eat the legendary sweets made by a top-class magician chef.
「*yawn* Fwaaaahhhh~~~…..」
Mylia stretched out while yawning as the refreshing morning breeze touched her skin. She then activated wind magic to help her clean up.
（Wind Magic-chan, I leave it to you~）
Despite being sleepy, she skillfully manipulated her wind magic to collect small debris and gather them near her feet.
（Ahh… I hope I can hold back my sleepiness later as well… That witch-like teacher occasionally glared at me during her lesson yesterday… If I fell asleep in her class, she would surely punish me…）
The witch-like teacher, Professor Caroline, seemed to be good at mental magic that affects people’s minds. She enthusiastically talked about its usefulness in her class.
Certainly, that kind of magic was useful. For example, it could be used for anesthesia to relieve someone’s pain, inspiring unmotivated people and even awakening someone’s special abilities.
（Speaking of inspiring people, I wonder if I can inspire the butchers in this city to improve the quality of their meat with mental magic…）
Since Mylia learned a lot about magic in this school, she wanted to make use of her knowledge as much as possible to achieve her goal, which was having a yakiniku party with cute friends.
She was thinking of applying for permission to go out to see the meat stores around the royal capital.
（I want to go see around the royal capital but… New students can’t leave school proerty until summer… Hahh…）
The rules in the Adrashelm Kingdom Girls’ Academy were strict. It seemed that it was for the sake of improving the academic ability of the students as much as possible in a limited time.
（I can think about meat later… The problem is…….. I still don’t have friends…! Aaaaahhh!!!）
Mylia lowered her head and pushed her forehead against the tip of the broomstick in agony.
She thought she would be able to make many friends in this school, but unfortunately, her “Make friends with cute girls” plan wasn’t going well.
Of course there were some reasons why an honest and innocent girl like Mylia couldn’t make friends, and the biggest reason wasー
（I can’t believe I can’t make friends just because I’m close to Aria-san…）
Mylia usually called out to Aria, shouting “Aria-san~!” with a loud voice as soon as she spotted her in joint classes and immediately sat next to her. Mylia didn’t realize that it would affect how others see her.
Actually, it was also because Diana often used her family name to show her power in school.
Although status equality was the basic policy in the Adrashelm Royal Girls’ Academy, still, the Kingdom of Adrashlem had a strong aristocratic society, meaning that your status was important when you graduated from school and joined society.
People would usually gather around the people with power, same goes to most students in the Royal Girls’ Academy.
Those who wanted to secure a place to work after they graduated and those who wanted to get support from powerful aristocratic families would gather, and Diana surprisingly had an ability to gather those people, and eventually, something like a faction was created.
However, the academy didn’t think that it would threaten student’s school life because the act of forming a faction was considered as building connections.
Actually, Diana once invited Chloe, who recently became the number one student in the Commerce Department at the time, but Chloe refused her. That’s why they were on bad terms.
（Hahh… I didn’t know that Aria-san was an untouchable person…）
Mylia moved her head away from the tip of the broomstick and started cleaning up the pile of small debris that she had gathered with wind magic.
After she sluggishly dumped the debris in the trash can, she picked up a net and started cleaning up the seawater in the Aqua Sophia flowerbed.
「Aqua Sophia-chan, you’re lucky to have so many friends here…」
While cleaning up the seawater, Mylia talked to an Aqua Sophia flower with a melancholic face.
Many students wanted to get closer to Aria because she was a duke’s daughter, but Aria refused them. She was only close to Mylia so far, and because of that, plus her “Dragon Slayer” title, Mylia became a difficult person to approach especially for the first year students.
In aristocratic families, parents normally told their children to figure out someone’s nature before befriending them, that’s why Aria was careful when it came to making friends. On the other hand, in commoner families, parents told their children not to make friends with seemingly dangerous aristocrats.
Mylia had greeted her roommate and tried to get closer to them, but when she invited them to eat together, they always refused. It seemed that they already had their own groups. They thought that they would have a hard time talking with others if a “celebrity” like Mylia joined them.
（Hahh… I wonder why they are avoiding me… Is it because I’m a Dragon Slayer? I’m just a cute, harmless girl, you see…）
While lamenting, Mylia kept removing dirt from the seawater with a net.
As she lifted the net, the drops of water falling from the net shimmered in the morning sunlight and looked beautiful.
（I failed, but I won’t give up! I’m sure a chance to get along with them will come!）
Actually, Mylia was right. She still had a chance to make friends.
Before entering the school, new students had their own lives in their houses with their circumstances, so it was natural that they were cautious toward new people around them. After all, the Adrashelm Royal Girls’ Academy was a special environment where aristocrats and commoners were living together.
However, after a certain amount of time, such tension would disappear and people would be able to make friends easier. Students were usually cautious only in the beginning of their school life.
（It’s all the aristocratic society’s fault! If this were Japan, I would have made a lot of cute friends! Aristocratic society sucks!）
Because she currently didn’t have many friends, she used her time mostly for solving the crossword puzzle.
For Mylia, the Daemon’s Map had become the item to get rid of the feelings of boredom and loneliness.
「I wonder how Aria-san’s doing… I don’t know why but I feel like she is kinda cold toward me lately…」
Mylia sighed as she scooped up dirt from the seawater.
She tried to invite Aria to eat together sometimes, but she always refused. However, Mylia had no intention of stopping inviting her.
When Mylia was thinking about Aria, suddenlyミ
「Did you call my name?」(Aria)
ミthe person herself called Mylia from behind.
Mylia looked back and saw a beautiful silver-haired girl illuminated by the rising sun.
Mylia then stood up in surprise.
「Ah! Aria-san, good morning!」(Mylia)
「Good morning. You’re sure working hard cleaning up these flowerbeds.」(Aria)
「Yes! This is my punishment after all!」(Mylia)
For some reason, Mylia puffed her chest as she proudly said that, as if saying, “This is my duty after all!”
She was so happy that Aria talked to her.
Seeing Mylia’s smiley face, Aria sighed. She said that sarcastically, but Mylia didn’t get it.
「You’re really a weird girl… By the way, umm… do you still remember your… promise?」(Aria)
「My promise?」(Mylia)
「You said you would teach me gravity magic…」(Aria)
「Aa! Y-Yes, yes! Of course I remember! Ahaha…!」(Mylia)
「….You forgot, didn’t you?」(Aria)
「N, No! How could I forget my promise to you? I’ve been looking forward to teaching you magic, you know?」(Mylia)
「Hmm? Is that so?」(Aria)
「Yep! Ah, please wait a moment. I will finish this quickly.」(Mylia)
Mylia quickly finished her work, put back the tools in the closet and rushed at Aria.
「Thank you for waiting!」(Mylia)
「Are you done now?」(Aria)
「Un! Let’s get started.」(Mylia)
「Honestly, I’m a little ashamed of myself for being taught by my own rival, but I really want to get better.」(Aria)
「Aria-san…」(Mylia)
Mylia was impressed with Aria’s seriousness.
She smiled at Aria and pointed to a bench.
「Let’s talk there.」(Mylia)
「Okay. But before that, let me ask you one more time… Do you seriously want to teach me magic…?」(Aria)
Mylia lowered her arm pointing at the bench and tilted her head.
「Hm? Of course I do.」(Mylia)
「From what I know, learning magic from someone else costs money unless you’re in a master-disciple relationship with them. I thought you were lying about teaching me magic…」(Aria)
「Eh? I genuinely want to teach you magic. Who cares about money? I taught Professor Sabine a little about gravity magic the other day for free. Besides, my master didn’t forbid me from teaching others magic.」(Mylia)
「Master? I see. Your master must be a great magician. They helped you master gravity magic even before entering school after all. What kind of person is your master?」(Aria)
「Umm… She sleeps all day and yawns big.」(Mylia)
Mylia smiled, recalling Titania yawning.
「”Sleeps all day”…? What an interesting person. I hope I can meet your master someday.」(Aria)
「Un! Let’s go see her together someday!」(Mylia)
「Yeah, but don’t get me wrong. I want that person to teach me because I want to beat you! You’re my rival!」(Aria)
「O, Okay…」(Mylia)
「Anyway, let’s go to the bench and get it done quickly. We don’t have much time until breakfast.」(Aria)
「Un, let’s go!」(Mylia)
Mylia nodded with a smile and walked toward the bench with Aria.