A tiny little Loren.
Facing off against Juliana today.
Do your best, Dean Loren, on whom we've pinned all our hopes!
The light-blue-haired girl sat at an open-air cafe on the street corner, jotting notes in her pad while sipping iced coffee as though on vacation.
A magic recording camera hung around the young reporter's neck, and two staff badges were pinned to her chest.
Beyond serving as secretary of the student council, Luweixier was also a reporter for the Hutton Times.
It was currently 8:10 on a Saturday morning.
Every now and then, she glanced over toward the distant pedestrian plaza.
Far away beneath a large tree, beside a circular wooden bench, stood a somewhat anxious-looking young man.
“Kukurca, at their core, reporters aren't much different from detectives. When we tail an eighth-tier powerhouse, we can't focus our attention directly on them, or we'll get spotted in no time. We can only show up at just the right distance in a commercial area, mind our own business, and record whatever luck brings us. In short, let's treat today as a casual outing together. It doesn't matter whether we capture anything or not.”
Luweixier looked up and addressed the dark-haired underclassman sitting across from her.
To dig up information on Dean Loren and Miss Juliana, Luweixier had poured herself into student council duties over the past few days and mingled extensively with the academic delegation from Aloran Royal Academy. At last, she had deduced the time of Juliana and Loren's date.
And throughout that process, this cute underclassman—Kukurca, an exchange student from Aloran Royal Academy—had been a huge help.
Kukurca was now an intern at the Hutton Times, and the editor-in-chief had placed her under Luweixier's wing.
“I'll remember that, Senior.”
The crimson-haired girl nodded. But as she lowered her head, her eyes brimmed with utter disgust for Loren.
That man had finally failed to suppress the lust in his heart today and was going to make a move on Lady Juliana.
*Incubus...*
She muttered in her heart, a mixture of fear and loathing.
“Too bad Frey isn't around. Otherwise, I wouldn't have had to investigate this sort of thing myself at all—I could've just commissioned him and gotten all the information.”
Sensing that Junior Kukurca was nervous on her first undercover reporting assignment, Luweixier changed the subject with a sigh.
That lovely junior had vanished right at the start of this semester.
Aside from being expensive, he basically had no flaws.
A while back, he seemed to have taken on a commission from his mentor—Dean Sphintos of the School of Knights—reportedly related to the disappearance of his senior apprentice brother, Duke Mikhail, though no one knew if that was a joke.
After all, no matter how formidable Frey was, there was no way he could actually track down leads on Duke Mikhail.
“Frey...”
Kukurca had some impression of the name; before coming to Ikerite Academy, she had heard tales of this school's student council.
“Next time he gets back, if there's anyone you want investigated, you can hire him. As long as the price is right, he can get practically anything done.”
Luweixier briefly introduced Frey's services.
“Alright... That's wonderful...”
Kukurca clenched her fists tightly, as if she had just obtained crucial intelligence.
“Shh, she's here, she's here.”
Noticing a figure approaching from another direction, Luweixier immediately shushed Kukurca.
...
In the Ikerite Pedestrian Plaza, a good number of people were already strolling through this bustling urban commercial district on a weekend morning.
A man stood quietly at the designated meeting spot. His gaze occasionally swept over the hurrying pedestrians and occasionally drifted into the distance.
Loren was dressed rather casually today, sharp and stylish. Compared to his usual dignified look in a black dress shirt, he gave off far more of a suave, handsome presence right now.
“Drillmaster, is this really going to be all right?”
Loren mumbled almost inaudibly under his breath.
His work had piled up into mountains over the past several days.
This single day off had been pieced together from scraps of time; to keep his date with Juliana, he had barely scraped together a bit of time for himself.
However, it so happened that Paladin Commander Florence of the Church of the Goddess of Fate had also expressed a wish to meet him today.
A dear friend who had traveled thousands of miles—and whose length of stay in Ikerite remained uncertain—was someone Loren had no idea how to decline. If he turned down a comrade of life and death just for a date, his friend would surely be deeply disappointed.
On top of that, he could receive a transmission at any moment calling him back to the church to coordinate affairs with the Ice Snow Witch.
The Ice Snow Witch had been helping him manage church duties all this time; if he were to just throw up his hands and walk away, it would look outrageously irresponsible.
If she found out that Loren had dumped his work on her just to spend an entire day out on a date, she would be furious.
Just picturing the Ice Snow Witch's chilly, aloof expression was enough to make Loren shudder in dread.
[Relax. Just follow the schedule I drew up for you.]
The voice of the Love Drillmaster came through the invisible magic earpiece.
Loren had been seeking guidance from this mysterious instructor over the past two days.
He was practically Loren's last lifeline.
[First, focus on your date with Juliana. Take her to the theater and settle her in the audience seats. Partway through, find a chance to slip away to meet the Paladin Commander, then rush back and continue dating Miss Juliana. If necessary, you can always say you're going to the restroom and ask Juliana to wait, dash back to the church to handle the business, and return as fast as possible. Whatever you do, don't let the Ice Snow Witch leave the church cathedral.]
The Love Drillmaster instructed over the earpiece.
“Isn't that a little too dangerous...?”
The more Loren thought about it, the more frightened he became.
In theory, his schedule had become so intricate that it resembled an interlocking flowchart. Multiple tasks were scheduled for each time slot; not a single misstep was permitted.
To make it easier for him to shuttle back and forth, all the venues chosen for today's date were in the vicinity of the Church of the Goddess of Fate's Ikerite cathedral.
Moving from one spot to another, with his wind magic agility technique, he could definitely arrive within a minute.
Such an audacious, out-of-the-box plan—if the instructor hadn't devised it for him, Loren would never have imagined such a possibility existed.
[Operating on the limit inevitably comes with proportional risk. If you want to satisfy all their demands simultaneously, the only way is to concentrate them all in the same area while ensuring they never cross paths with each other.]
The Love Drillmaster lectured.
“...”
Loren went silent.
Calling this "on the limit" was an understatement.
Would anyone in reality actually dare to date like this?
[Isn't your goal to make everyone happy? How can you achieve that without being properly resolved?]
The instructor pressed Loren further.
“...Understood.”
After a bout of inner turmoil, Loren seemed to have resolved his dilemma, and determination settled into his eyes.
What made him rather ashamed was that during his lessons with the Love Drillmaster over the past two days, the instructor had asked many questions about the lady, yet Loren hadn't been able to answer any of them.
He had never seen Juliana in her everyday life; their past interactions had almost entirely consisted of official duties or joint combat operations.
Fortunately, the instructor was an exceptionally patient person who taught him with boundless enthusiasm and a profound sense of responsibility, touching Loren to his core.
Chapter 621