“Up next is the champion of the Ranger tournament, and the recipient of the snazzy luxury room on the top floor of the dorm! He’s none other than contestant eight, Rein Xilris!”

The crowd erupted, Rein, becoming a fan-favorite after his victory against Dwayne, which even though they have no memories of it, they still feel a sense of gratitude towards him.

He walked out of the waiting room and into the center of the arena, meeting the principal there. Instead of handing him the scholarship, she threw it to him along with the key to the luxury room. Rein caught them, confused as to why she did that.

“Wouldn’t want you learning what my Spring is, would I Rein? Wouldn’t that ruin the fun?” She teased.

He quickly realized why she opted for that. She didn’t want to make contact with Rein, somehow knowing that Rein could deduce what a Spring was by touch. He smiled at her, then shrugged his shoulders innocently, walking past her with his eyes closed. As he passed her, she whispered something into his ear, making his face grow stern as he continued past her to the first place pedestal. He tried putting what she told him at the back of his mind, trying to erect a facade of confidence to the cheering crowd, but hints of unease could be seen growing on his face.

“And that concludes the Ranger tournament award ceremony! The new term will begin on November 26th, five days from today. Participants under first place, excluding the princess, will receive their dorm keys from the receptionist on their way out. Your dorm expenses will be covered until the beginning of the term, so if you want to stock up on some funds, now is the time to do so! With that, I wish everyone the best of luck in future endeavors!”

As the ceremony was wrapped up, they all exited, obtaining their dorm keys. They all made their way to the first-year dorms, where the group found their rooms and entered them. Reggie paid the tuition earlier during the day, and he was granted a dormitory key as well. They soon found out that the dorm was cut in half, on the bottom half of the dorm was the boys, and the top was the girls. It was 6 stories high.

On the ground floor was the receptionist, the pantry and kitchen, and a training room, equipped with training dummies, a variety of weapons, and medical supplies. There was also an eastern-style public bath, whose construction was proposed by the principal for some reason.

Floors 2 – 3 were the boy’s rooms. Although they each got a key, they still had to share rooms, to make extra space. The rooms were fairly spacious and could easily fit two people. Quint was paired with Reggie, while Clyde was paired with the masked man.

Floors 4 – 5 were the girl’s rooms. Nobody of particularly current importance resided there.

Floor 6 was the biggest and was divided into 4 with incredibly large luxury rooms. Each of the previous floors had about 20 rooms, meaning that the luxury rooms were more than 5 times the size. Unlike the regular rooms, the luxury room had its own kitchen, 3 bedrooms, a living room, and 2 bathrooms, each of them having a hot spring, one being slightly larger than the other. It also had a large, empty room in the back that lead to the balcony, Rein planning to turn it into a training room. Most of the rooms were already furnished, with things such as a couch in the living room, beds in the bedrooms, and other simple furnishings like tables, chairs, and closets.

“Amazing!! This place is huge!!” Exclaimed Emria excitedly.

“Indeed. It is almost the same size as our house, but it is much cleaner and fancier, thanks to the fact that my father won’t be here,” Saphrilla expressed with slight satisfaction in her voice, happy that she doesn’t have to build another soundproof room.

“Alright, let’s get to dividing these rooms before the others get here. You girls can claim anything you like. I’m fine with whatever,” said Rein, turning around to face Chloe who was still standing outside of the room with a gloomy expression.

“What’s wrong?” He asked.

“This… do I really deserve this? All I’ve done up until now was lie to you guys… I don’t—” Rein started laughing.

“You think you’ve been deceiving us? Sorry, but I’ve known about your identity since the first day. Remember when you tripped? I knew since then but kept it a secret from you. This is the least I could do,” he laughed.

“But at least—” She felt herself being pulled in, looking down to see that the girls grabbed her by the arms.

“If you really want to pay me back for this, then make the girls happy. That’s all I ask for,” Rein told her as she was being pulled in.

“Right! And if you wanna make us happy, you’d live here with us!” Expressed one of the girls, with the other nodding her head. Chloe was so happy that she could’ve broken down in tears on the spot. But she held her crying in, and simply smiled jubilantly at Rein, accepting his offer.

After the 4 entered the luxury room, the girls immediately claimed the larger bathroom for themselves, and two of the bedrooms. Rein was okay with that division, as if the girls had to share a bathroom, it would only be natural that they’d get the bigger one. Rein, Emria, and Saphrilla began unpacking the things they stuffed into Rein’s inventory. It was a plentiful bunch of stuff, and heavily relieved some of the weight on Rein’s shoulders.

Strength: 237.0 → 240.3

“Damn, four days of holding that shit and only 3.3 strength? Versys, you’re a ruthless man,” Rein thought in his mind, to which Versys laughed.

Rein stretch his body, feeling as light as a feather. They waited for the others to arrive, as they all decided to meet up in the luxury room before going to sleep. While they waited on the couch, Rein sprung up a conversation with Chloe while the girls were organizing their things in their room.

“Well, I guess you won the bet,” he told her.

“What? What bet?” She responded, tilting her head in confusion.

“‘If you’re in that luxury room by the end of the tournament, I’ll tell you everything,’ is the deal I proposed. And look, you’re here in luxury room,” he professed, smiling at her.

“Huh? Wait! But I didn’t win… This doesn’t really count…”

“Do you want to know, or not?” He asked her. She paused for a while. She knew her would be yes, but didn’t want to sound too eager.

“…Yes…” She finally whispered.

“Huh? I didn’t catch that?”

“..Yes..” She said it a little louder this time.

“Speak up, is that a yes I hear?” He continued teasing.

“Yes! There, are you happy now!” She expressed angrily, blushing extravagantly.

“I see…” He said with a serious expression on his face, catching Chloe’s attention.

“Well, I was gonna tell everyone, either way, tonight, whether you said that or not,” he laughed innocently, pissing her off.

“You jerk!!” She threw a couch cushion at him, hitting him directly in the face.