Socially anxious Beilixiya

The girls’ dormitory area was a world apart from the solemnity of the library or the elegance of the garden.

The air was filled with the unique scent of youthful girls. Laughter and whispers occasionally drifted from the corridors, along with the soft clicks of opening and closing doors.

Beilixiya, holding the last thick stack of promotional cards, stood outside a dormitory door adorned with a cute wind chime. She took a deep breath, striving to maintain her maidly decorum, and knocked gently.

The door opened to reveal several young, curious faces. When they saw who was standing outside, a small gasp of surprise erupted.

“Miss Beilixiya!”

“It’s the Wolfgang family’s Beilixiya!”

“Please, come in!”

Before Beilixiya could even state her purpose, she was half-pulled, half-dragged into the room by the enthusiastic girls.

It was a four-person dormitory, cozy and slightly crowded. The promotional cards instantly captured everyone’s attention.

“Wow! An event by the Adventurers’ Association?”

“Young Master Xia Ya and Miss Beilixiya are the special guests!”

“And there’s a live demonstration! Oh my god, I have to go!”

The promotional cards were quickly snatched up.

But soon, the girls’ attention shifted from the cards to Beilixiya herself. They surrounded her, their eyes sparkling with undisguised excitement, curiosity, and a thirst for gossip.

“Miss Beilixiya! Is Young Master Xia Ya always so… uh… interesting at the manor?”

“Does he really blow up the study when he researches magic?”

“Miss Beilixiya, just how strong are you? How heavy is that ‘Wrath of the Stars’?”

“What type of girl does Young Master Xia Ya like?”

“Does he have any favorite snacks?”

“I heard he always skips class, is that true? Are the academy tutors helpless against him?”

“Miss Beilixiya, you and the Young Master…”

The questions came like a tidal wave, one after another, from all angles and covering every topic imaginable. Beilixiya felt as if she had been thrown into a boiling hot spring, surrounded on all sides by scalding steam and clamorous noise.

She stood with her now-empty hands, her dragon eyes filled with confusion and helplessness.

She was used to silently guarding the young master’s back, to speaking with her sword, to executing clear commands. Faced with this intense, well-intentioned but overwhelming barrage of enthusiastic gossip, her brain nearly shut down.

“I…” she opened her mouth, trying to answer the question about the young master’s magic research, but was immediately cut off by the next question about snacks.

“The Young Master, he…” she wanted to explain that the young master didn’t actually like skipping class, it was just… the classes were too boring? But she was immediately asked what type of girl he liked…

Looking at the several pairs of bright eyes filled with a thirst for knowledge (and gossip), Beilixiya, for the first time in her life, felt a sense of powerlessness deeper than when she faced the Minotaur.

She took a deep breath and decided to adopt the most direct and character-appropriate response.

“Ladies…”

The chattering girls fell silent instantly, looking at her expectantly.

Beilixiya pointed to the promotional cards in their hands, her expression exceptionally serious.

“Regarding matters of Young Master Xia Ya… at the promotional event… he will answer them himself. You… can ask him yourselves.” She paused, adding a sentence she believed to be very persuasive, “The Young Master… is very good at talking.”

(At least in Beilixiya’s eyes, her young master could talk black into white and the dead into the living.)

After speaking, without waiting for the girls’ reaction, Beilixiya gave a slight nod, turned with a fluid motion, and walked away at a pace significantly faster than when she had entered. She almost fled the room full of “enthusiasm,” leaving a group of bewildered girls staring at each other.

After a few seconds of silence, laughter erupted in the room.

“Pfft! Let Young Master Xia Ya answer himself?”

“Miss Beilixiya is so cute, does she have a fan club?”

“Was she shy just now?”

“Now I’m even more excited for the event!”

Beilixiya walked quickly through the corridors of the girls’ dormitory, her cheeks still feeling a little hot.

She subconsciously quickened her pace, wanting only to leave this place that made her feel so helpless and return to her young master’s side, even if it was just to stand quietly behind him.

Just as she turned a corner onto a relatively secluded path leading to the back gate of the dormitory area, her foot seemed to step on something thin and angular.

She looked down.

It was a small booklet bound with rough parchment, very thin, its edges worn and curled, with no writing on the cover. It looked unremarkable, like a piece of scrap paper someone had carelessly tossed aside.

Beilixiya didn’t intend to bother with it. But just as she lifted her foot to leave, a gust of wind blew past, flipping open a few pages of the booklet.

Her gaze swept over it unintentionally.

On the pages, drawn in dense, crooked lines, were runes!?

Though messy and simple, they were undeniably magic runes! And they were basic elemental runes! Beside them, written in charcoal, were tiny, equally messy annotations and derivations.

Beilixiya’s steps halted. A trace of surprise flashed in her amber dragon eyes.

Although her main focus was swordsmanship and strength, having been by Xia Ya’s side for so long, she had picked up enough to recognize the most basic magic symbols and theories.

The content of this booklet, though rudimentary, exuded an astonishing seriousness and… a certain clumsy yet persistent talent.

The rune lines were twisted, but the key nodes and markings for mana flow were exceptionally clear.

Whose was this? How did it end up here?

Judging by the paper and binding, it was clearly not something used by the well-off students of the academy.

Beilixiya hesitated for a moment.

She remembered her young master often saying “knowledge is power,” and how he had been overjoyed for days after getting his hands on a worn-out magic notebook.

This booklet was simple, but the handwriting… one could feel the heart and soul its owner had poured into it.

If it was lost… its owner would surely be very anxious, right?

She knelt down and carefully picked up the slightly dusty parchment booklet.

It was light in her hand, the paper so rough it almost cut her skin. She flipped through a few pages; they were all filled with similar basic magic symbols and derivations, densely packed, showing that the owner was learning desperately under very limited conditions.

Although she didn’t know whose it was, Beilixiya felt that the fruits of such hard work should not be left discarded on the roadside.

She closed the booklet and slipped it into the side pocket of her maid uniform. She would give it to the young master to look at when she got back; he might know what to do with it.

Having done this, Beilixiya lingered no longer and quickly left the dormitory area, heading towards the rendezvous point she had agreed upon with her young master.