Chapter 88

"The Game of God" could be described as a story about the madness of lunatics vying for the only sane person, Rivi. Our team poured our strong desire to make the game a hit into the story, sparing no message. As a result, I was paying a harsh price for being tormented by the madmen. "You need to change your major right away!" Professor Felix followed me around like a broken radio, repeating the same thing. "Listen to my lectures! You should have been my student!" "No way. No way." "When I recognized your talent, I should have done whatever it took to keep you!" Felix became a regretful professor, clinging to me to the point of being very annoying. "I'll talk to Professor Ilya. Okay? Theresa, you're a national-level talent!" Who decided that? I sternly warned Professor Felix, fearing he might say something foolish to Professor Ilya. "Professor Ilya is the only professor for me. If you bother him, he'll... Uh!" "I get it. I get it! Please, keep that a secret." After driving Professor Felix away, I went to the cafeteria to pack a sandwich as usual. "Get out of the way! You commoner." "Hey, you got into the Squire Foundation, right? If you're weak and poor, you should at least have some sense. Do you know what it means to receive the Squire's sponsorship at Valhalla?" "You must think you're as talented as Damian West. Ha!" But some trashy guys were bullying Rainy. I approached them and tackled one of them like a rugby player. Thud! "Get out of the way, you lowlifes." "Ugh!" The bully fell to the ground. Lately, I've been eating and sleeping so well that I was full of excess energy. It meant I had plenty of strength to spare. "What! Who...! Ah." The guy who had been yelling on the ground suddenly calmed down as if his anger management issues had been cured when he saw me. "S-Senior Theresa." "Since you were bullying a Squire Foundation scholar, I wonder how you'll treat me, a Squire?" The guys didn't dare to make a peep. "If I see you again, I'll throw you to the monsters. You've heard about my reputation lately, right?" Recently, I've acquired a new nickname. "Monster Hunter." This nickname spread because people saw ferocious monsters, which would tear apart any human, fleeing in terror from me. "Hic! I-I'm sorry!" The guys turned pale, immediately apologized, and fled. "If something like this happens again, call me. Or knock them out. I'll pay you in scholarship money." "I'm not sure if you're concerned about the foundation's image or not..." "This is our foundation's selling point. What do you want to eat today?" Rainy and I became friends who often had lunch together when our schedules matched. Rainy seemed a bit awkward but felt much more relaxed thanks to the foundation's sponsorship. "How's your research going?" "Yes. Alchemy is all about obtaining materials, so now that the costs are covered, there are no more obstacles." Rainy is a talented alchemist. Alchemy inevitably requires a lot of material costs, so it's difficult to excel without generous sponsorship. "I didn't expect you to sponsor me." "I'm sponsoring you because you have talent in alchemy. Our foundation doesn't pick just anyone." Rainy grumbled, "I'm not as talented as Senior Damian," with a red face. We finished lunch and parted ways. "I want to show results as soon as possible to repay your sponsorship." This was because Rainy invested all her free time in alchemy. I, too, devoted my remaining time to studying magic. I wanted to increase my intelligence quickly and had personal research to pursue. It was too troublesome and inefficient to create new magic circuits every time I cast a spell, so I was looking for a way to set them like shortcuts. I was reading a magic book in a quiet, deserted place when I got lost in thought. 'Lately, the number of people indirectly provoking me has increased.' They were too scared to attack me outright, but I could feel their gazes had changed. They were wary, envious, jealous, and cautious. All these were emotions Theresa used to direct at others. 'The old Theresa was never a threat to Willow, and she even made herself a laughingstock, so there was no need for conflict, but now things are different.' In other words, I was quite a threat to the Willow family. It made sense, as the student council was recently requesting my participation in missions to purify monsters. 'Purifying monsters is good, but I need to prepare for my future as well.' It was now late March. In April, the gates of Paradise would activate, and if I was lucky, I could see the ending soon. 'Thinking about it makes me a bit nervous.' "What are you thinking so deeply about?" I snapped out of my thoughts and looked up at Damian, who had approached me. "I wasn't thinking about anything." The male protagonist sometimes came to find the protagonist from the second red heart onwards. Despite not usually appearing in such quiet places, Damian had come to find me. He chuckled and sat next to me. "Liar. I know the expression you make when you're thinking alone." "Expression?" Damian slightly lowered his eyes and made a drowsy, dull expression. "You look like this, spaced out." That was impossible. Theresa had a naturally haughty and cold appearance. If I had been expressionless, it would have been a cool, aloof look. "I don't make that face." Damian muttered, "Hmm. It seems you don't realize how much you've changed."