Humanity Return

Ch. 122 – Linker Troubled?

The afternoon, right after the morning classes ended.

“...so I started digging a deep enough hole, then I used the nearest twigs...”.

“Kyuu..?”

A young man was walking on one of the stone paths in the park inside the academy, visibly immersed in his own story. He moved his hand to clarify his story, which was greatly enjoyed by the transparent lump on his head.

Some people looked a little surprised when they heard someone walking and talking to themselves, then more surprised when they realized that the young man was Leinn Springleaf.

Their reaction is now not as excessive as the first few days, it is because they have seen his behavior over the past few weeks. The fear of someone will eventually disappear if that person always smiles kindly when meeting you.

So now they didn't run away, just turned to look at his face.

“...after I waited long enough, he finally showed up! But-hm?”

“Kyuu...? Kyuu!?”

Clear began to tremble strongly when Leinn suddenly stopped her story, then began to look in the direction that the young man was looking.

“Kyuu!”

And he found a pink-haired girl who was reading a thick book alone at the garden table.

The girl was seen drowning in the book in front of her, until not realizing the young man who was already standing on the other side of her desk.

“...m...hm..

Leinn then moved and sat down beside him, peering at the row of writings Aura was reading while muttering that.

Clear jumped up and landed on the table, then moved closer to the book as well. Reading a string of letters that he did not understand.

“Kyuu..?”

“..m...hm...Hm?”

Noticing the transparent blob at the edge of his gaze, Aura turned her head to the side.

“...”

“Yo”

Aura looked at the face of the young man who was smiling widely beside her, then turned back to face forward.

One long breath.

“Hai”

Aura swallowed back the scream that was almost coming out of her mouth, while calming down her startled feeling. He had not seen the young man for several days and without a cue, he appeared beside him while he was reading a book alone.

“So, why are you reading books here?”

Leinn asked as he looked around, not finding anyone else who was also reading a book. He was pretty sure Aura usually read books if not in the Academy Library, definitely in his own room.

What changed today?

The aura that had stabilized his emotions again looked at Leinn's face.

“I found a different atmosphere could help open my mind, ease the tasks I received”

Aura then closed the tome in front of her, showing the title ‘Magic Theory for Beginners’.

Leinn glanced back at the title of the book before looking back at Aura's face, then looking back at the book's cover. This was the first time in a long time that Leinn had questioned his own vision.

Aura was visibly aware of that puzzled look, then started to explain.

“Oh! The task that Adeline and I received was related to revising one of the middle-early magic. Adeline's been done since this morning and actually I've been.”.

His hand began to stroke the cover of the book in front of him.

“...but I feel I can still make it better, so now I'm trying to read this book to find inspiration”

“Hoh..”.

Leinn heard that with an interested expression, she did not expect that there was such an interesting thing in the classroom. Even if he doesn't understand how to do that.

“How about you...? I haven't seen you train Uther and Setanta since the last week”

Leinn who had just pulled the thick book in front of him turned towards Aura after hearing that.

Leinn began to open and look at the pages of the thick book in his hands randomly.

“So I spent my time training with him, and only today I decided to take a walk”

Aura showed a worried face when she heard the ‘ part did not have the money’, then started to feel something strange. During the previous week, Aura had only found Leinn in the Open Exercise Field or on the rooftop of the Dorm at night. Leinn has not taken the same class as herself since two weeks ago.

Is she...?

“Leinn-“

“Oh yes, Aura! My linker has been a little weird since this morning, can you check it out for a minute?”

Leinn pulled out his Linker from inside his pocket, which showed a triangle with an exclamation mark in the background. He then placed it in front of Aura.

“Luckily I was able to turn off the noise with a few tries, it was very disturbing”

Aura did not take her eyes off the Linker for a while, then finally reached out her hand and started fiddling with the tool.

...beep beep beep!

After those few seconds of silence, the Linker in Aura's hand suddenly started flickering with a bright red color.

“Yes, like that! Last morning he also did that with a louder voice”

The aura did not immediately reply, making Leinn feel even more confused.

“Aura..?”

“Leinn... when was the last time you entered class...?”

Getting the question out of nowhere, Leinn began to try to recall a moment.

“Should have.. three days before I coached Uther and Setanta”.

Leinn nodded his head, satisfied that he had managed to get the answer.

Aura finally lifted her head and looked at Leinn with an expression of disbelief.

“You have. zero Merit”.

“Oh”

The short answer answered Aura's statement, which came out from the young man who was showing a blank expression. He clearly did not understand what the girl in front of him meant.

Aura could feel the pain that was slowly appearing in her head because of that young man in front of her.

“You didn't attend class at all and as a result, you didn't get any assignments from the teacher who served to add Meritmu”

“Hm”

Leinn understood what Aura meant, in part.

“Merit you need to pay for your needs within the Academy, which is still available for up to a week... Merit which at that time will also serve as your currency as well as your value in the academy.!”.

The aura involuntarily began to raise its tone, and it looked slightly lit up.

“...Merit that stopped you from getting kicked out of the Academy!”

Hearing that made something click in Leinn's head. It explained the alarm in his Linker, which informed the matter, which also explained the reason for the expression of the girl in front of him at this moment.

Leinn then looked at his Linker who was still flickering on the table then with a flat expression...

“So, if I can't get Merit at all in one week.”.

Aura looked at that Linker once more before looking back at Leinn seriously.

“You.... will be expelled from the academy?”

“Hm”

Leinn then turned his head to the side, looking at Aura with an awkward smile on her face.

“So... How to get Merit?”