Chapter 11

Chapter 11

Better Than I Expected

Violetta, who had spent the entire lecture nodding off, became miraculously alert the instant break began.

'Ah, I fell asleep again.'

Indoor classes simply didn't suit her. The moment a professor opened their mouth, she was liable to drift straight into dreamland.

'This is bad. I can't fail.'

She scratched her neck and frowned.

Her easygoing personality, which made it difficult to imagine her as a noble lady, came from the uniquely open culture of the eastern region.

Meanwhile, Violetta had one fatal problem─

She was much better suited to moving her body outdoors than sitting at a desk and studying.

Whenever she held a sword or ran across a field, she overflowed with energy, yet the moment she sat down at a desk, her eyelids quickly grew heavy.

'I have to pay attention during the next lecture.'

She was patting her cheeks to wake herself up when—

Sniff, sniff.

Violetta's nose caught a familiar scent.

'This is... shrimp?'

Slurp.

Already feeling a little hungry, she immediately turned on her radar when the familiar scent of home reached her.

What she found was a pink-haired girl nervously holding a red bag.

'Who was she again?'

Violetta tilted her head, but immediately recognized the person sitting beside the small-animal-like girl.

'Ugh, it's Yekaterina.'

Having lived her entire life in a warm coastal region, Violetta was a terrible match for Yekaterina, whose rare ability lowered the temperature around her.

But...

'I really want to know what that is!'

Violetta absolutely had to find out what was inside the bag held by the pink-haired girl.

So she endured the trembling of her body and asked,

"What's that?"

"Huh...?"

Seria looked up at the student who had spoken.

The girl had wavy black hair, firm dark skin, and freckles across the bridge of her nose that somehow made her even more attractive.

'It's Violetta!'

Just as Dante had said, she'd succeeded in catching her attention!

'It actually worked...!'

Marveling inwardly, Seria answered in a somewhat timid voice.

"I-It's called Kkang Shrimp. It's a shrimp-flavored snack..."

As she spoke, she nervously glanced around.

Sure enough, the watching students were practically brimming with anticipation.

'Whoa, Violetta's about to say something.'

'Violetta doesn't need to worry about Yekaterina.'

'I knew it. You're finished now, commoner.'

But Violetta's next words plunged the room into silence.

"Can I try some?"

"Ah, sure."

Seria obediently held out the bag.

"Oh, thanks!"

Violetta immediately pulled out one of the snacks.

It was a striped stick, and the smell was powerful.

"Mmm~"

Bringing it closer to her nose made the aroma even stronger.

The other students grimaced at the sight, but Violetta seemed completely unconcerned as she popped the snack into her mouth.

Crunch!

The moment she bit into it, Violetta froze on the spot.

Not because Yekaterina's cold was too strong. She was overwhelmed by a texture she'd never experienced before.

'What is this insane crunch?'

And then there was the flavor.

It was explosively intense, as though a hundred shrimp had been ground down and concentrated into one bite. The seafood umami was incredible.

In reality, it wasn't made purely from shrimp. Shrimp-flavored oil and various seasonings had been added, but Violetta had no way of knowing that.

One thing, however, was certain.

It tasted ridiculously good.

"Wow! This is delicious!"

It was only natural that the students were shocked by her candid reaction.

'She thinks that tastes good?'

'Seriously? Even though it smells that awful?'

Yet watching Violetta repeatedly marvel at how delicious it was inevitably stirred their curiosity.

'...How good can it possibly be?'

Some genuinely wanted to try one and see, but they quickly shook their heads and cast the thought away.

Still, Violetta was famous for being honest. Why would someone like her bother lying?

The students had to struggle to suppress the curiosity that kept rising inside them.

"Can I have some more?"

"Ah, sure. You can have the whole thing."

"Really? All of it?"

Violetta's eyes widened, and Seria nodded.

In truth, she'd been desperately hoping Violetta would take it. She wanted the bag out of her hands as soon as possible.

The gazes of the students glaring at her were uncomfortable, and honestly, the snack wasn't really to Seria's taste either.

If anything, she found Violetta strange for happily eating something that smelled like that.

"Thanks! You're really nice!"

Oblivious to Seria's true thoughts, Violetta looked delighted.

"Still, I'd feel bad eating everything myself. You should have some too."

Then she abruptly shoved a snack into Seria's mouth.

Pop!

It happened in an instant. Seria had no hope of reacting to Violetta's swift movements.

"Huh...?"

Seria's eyes widened when she suddenly found herself holding a Kkang Shrimp snack in her mouth.

'Ugh, the smell...'

But then something strange happened.

'It's better than I expected...?'

Now that she kept smelling it, it somehow didn't seem that bad.

Crunch.

Curious, she bit down, and the taste wasn't bad either.

No, it was salty and delicious.

'No way...'

Shocked by the unexpected result, Seria whipped her head toward Yekaterina.

Wasn't delicious food meant to be shared with friends?

"...?"

Yekaterina understood the intent behind Seria's sparkling eyes at once, and her eyebrow twitched.

"...I am absolutely not eating that."

At the astonishingly cold and decisive response, Seria's shoulders drooped.

Violetta couldn't have cared less. She continued crunching away happily.

*

'Hmm... I wonder if she's doing all right.'

I leaned against the counter with my chin in my hand, lost in thought.

Unfortunately, the Academy's main building was the only place where outsiders were strictly forbidden from entering, so I couldn't go advertise there myself.

That's why I'd come up with the idea of indirectly advertising the convenience store's products through Seria.

I wasn't expecting anything grand.

If one person took interest, then two became curious, and eventually the students simply started talking about it, that would be enough.

A convenience store existed to sell things, and if you wanted to sell things, people first had to hear about them.

Seria wasn't exactly the most reliable kid, but I'd explained the method several times, so all I could do now was pray she repaid me with good results.

Jingle.

"Welco─"

Thinking the effects had already begun, I cheerfully greeted the customer, only for my voice to die away.

"Oh? That's quite the rude way to greet a customer, isn't it?"

The beautiful woman with short brown hair pointed at me and scolded me.

"...I'll tell you in advance, I'm not drinking with you today."

"Tch, you say that every day."

"That's because you ask me to drink every day. Anyway, what brings you here today?"

"What, I can't come see my friend's face?"

Delilah giggled and naturally sat down at one of the tables.

"This is a store that sells things, not a lounge."

"Are you going to keep being so stiff? And here I came bearing good news."

"Good news?"

"Yes. Curious?"

Hmm.

Her face looks suspiciously playful.

I seriously wondered whether I should play along.

"Hmm. Not curious? It's a chance to massively increase your sales~"

"...What is it?"

"You want to know?"

Grin.

Delilah raised the corner of her mouth as though she'd caught me.

"Hmm, should I tell you~ or shouldn't I~"

"I could always stop selling you alcohol from now on."

"Whaaat?!"

She can't outplay me.

Normally, the customer should hold the upper hand and the owner should be the weaker party, but now that I knew she was crazy about alcohol, I'd always have the advantage.

This was the only place where she could practically shuffle out in slippers(it's a metaphor) and buy decent alcohol this easily.

She could get cheap beer or wine in the village, but the quality couldn't compare to what I sold.

"That's dirty!"

So what?

I shrugged and asked,

"...So what's the good news?"

Glare.

Delilah gave me a sulky look before answering.

"The Evaluation Tournament is next month."

"...Evaluation Tournament?"

I tilted my head.

I could roughly guess what the name implied, but I didn't know the details.

"Ah. You said you don't know much about the Academy."

Forgetting our bickering from moments ago, Delilah eagerly explained.

"It's an annual event where every student from first through fourth year participates and publicly demonstrates their academic training."

Of course, 'academic' here covered far more than what the word usually brought to mind.

It wasn't limited to things learned at a desk. Everything the Academy taught, including magic and combat, was evaluated comprehensively.

For fairness, the Evaluation Tournament's theme changed every year, but the principle that it had to assess every category evenly never changed.

In short, for noble children, it was a stage to raise their family's prestige, while for commoners, it was a chance to catch the eye of whatever organization might recruit them in the future.

Either way, it was undoubtedly a major event for both the Academy students and the professors.

The problem was that it had nothing to do with an outsider like me...

'If that were really true, Delilah wouldn't have brought it up.'

I immediately caught her intention and started running numbers in my head.

At the same time, I asked,

"Are people allowed to sell things there?"

I didn't even need to hear the answer.

Delilah's lips had already curved into a smile.

Jingle─

That was when a group of students entered.

A female student I'd never seen before came in shivering, followed immediately by several familiar faces.