Lumilia looked at the letter that Jusmin was holding. She received it and looked at Jusmin and Fred. Both of them were looking on the ground not daring to look at her eyes.
"From father..." She muttered and she opened the letter. She spread the paper and read the words written in the paper.
"This..." After she finished reading it, the letter fell down on the ground. She couldn't believe what she had read just now. She opened her tremblings lips and said, "But I'm still trying my best here in the institute..."
"Something came up in the family and lord asked us to bring you back..." Fred said as he lowered his head. He knew that there's nothing he could do as he was just a mere butler of the Asvares Family.
"I understand..." Lumilia said as she bit her lower lips and clenched her fists tightly.
"I'm sorry, young miss. We couldn't help you." Jusmin apologized to Lumilia.
"It's okay. It's not your fault." Lumilia lifted up her head and forced out a smile at them.
...
The next day...
"The cultural festival will start next month, so you lot needed to prepare for your project," Bargan explained to his students the cultural festival.
This month the students were going to enjoy being a normal student. There's no battle that will happen and the institute forbid the duel this month. Still, they could learn spells or combat arts here. The institute only forbids battles, not learning or training.
They could still rent the training ground to train their skills.
Right now, the students were trying their best to increase their strength even a little, so this kind of announcement stunned them.
Bargan smiled at them and said, "You've all worked hard, so let's enjoy a normal life this month. No more fighting. I'll let you talk to decide what you'll do at the cultural festival."
He picked up the book on the table and exited the classroom. He gave time to his students to talk about things and will let them decide what will they do at the festival.
Everyone started to talk about the cultural festival. Everyone has different suggestions, so it was hard to decide what will they do.
Souta noticed that Lumilia was silent. It seems that she wasn't in the mood for this kind of thing. She's not in her usual self. Usually, she will be in charge of this kind of situation and she will handle this professionally like she always did.
"What's wrong with her?" Souta muttered as he rubbed his chin.
Alice who was sitting beside him glanced at him. She saw him rubbing his chin and knew that when he rubbed his chin he was thinking deeply about something or planning wicked things.
...
"Mila! Mila!"
Lumilia snapped out of her daze when she heard someone called her name. She looked up and saw that Nayo and Lynn were looking at him with concern in their face.
"What's wrong, Mila?" Lynn asked her with a worried expression.
"Nothing." Lumilia shook her head and didn't say anything more than that.
"If you say so..." Nayo said while looking at Lumilia. She was still bothered by the fact that Lumilia wasn't in her usual self. Since Lumilia didn't want to talk about it, she naturally has to respect her decision as her friend.
"If you have any problem you can always talk with us," Lynn said to Lumilia.
'It's useless to talk about this. No one can help me.' Lumilia thought as she bit her lower lips. If she's only stronger and managed to secure the top 10 ranker then the institute would help her, but now... It seems impossible.
Lynn looked at Nayo and saw her shaking her head. It means that she shouldn't bother Lumilia or else it would make her angry.
"Let's leave her for now. We will take in charge of the class and when she's back at it we could leave it in her hands." Nayo said to Lynn.
"You're right," Lynn said as she took a glanced at Lumilia once again.
Lumilia recalled Souta's words a week ago. At that time, Souta said that if she has any problem she could ask for his help and he will help him with everything he got.
...
The class decided to continue the discussion tomorrow as they didn't manage to come up with something today. They were still eliminating those things that were impossible to do.
Bryan wanted to make a tournament where he's the final boss.
What kind of idea is that? So Lynn and Nayo eliminated this idea making Bryan throw a tantrum. Well, some of the students of Mage Class 1-B didn't deny that idea. Some of them wanted to do what Bryan said like Randolf.
That mysterious guy who defeated Yuriko in one strike. Since this guy likes Bryan's idea, it almost made Souta manipulate Bryan to probe this guy's strength but he holds himself back as there's no point in doing that. Bryan could hardly defeat the top 10 ranker Johnson, so he wouldn't be able to draw out Randolf's true strength. It's possible if he would fight Randolf in person but would that guy agree to him.
So at the end of the discussion, they didn't manage to come up with anything possible so they will continue it tomorrow.
While packing his things, Souta saw a figure approached him. He lifted up his head and saw Lumilia.
Alice and Bryan who was sitting beside Souta also looked at Lumilia.
"Do you want something, class rep?" Souta asked her.
"Can I talk to you for a minute, Souta?" Lumilia asked back as she lowered her head.
"Okay." Souta nodded his head.
"Thank you." Lumilia thanked him before she turned around and exited the classroom.
Souta looked at her back and wondered what she's going to say.
Bryan looked at Souta and asked, "What's wrong with class rep today?"
"I don't know," Souta said as he shrugged his shoulder and followed Lumilia outside the classroom.
...
Outside the classroom...
"So what is it?" Souta asked as he looked around and saw the no one followed him and Lumilia here.
"Um... Can I leave Cl.u.s.ter in your care?" Lumilia hesitated at first before she managed to ask him.
"Okay. I'll take care of her." Souta nodded at her.
Lumilia looked up at him with a surprised expression. She was surprised that Souta agreed to her without hesitation even though he didn't know the reason why she's leaving Cl.u.s.ter.
She slowly opened her mouth and asked, "You will not ask the reason?"
"Hmm... Do you want me? Okay, why are you leaving her to me?" Souta nodded and asked her like she wanted.
"Actually, I'll go back the Gripin City this weekend, to my family. I couldn't bring Cl.u.s.ter with me because of some private matters, so I wanted you to take care of her while I'm gone." Lumilia said in a sad tone and she lowered her head.
"Weekend? Actually, I'm taking a quest this weekend so I'm not free at all." Souta said to her that he didn't have free time.
"Wha-" Lumilia was stunned. She didn't know what to do right now.
"Did you forget about Bryan? You can leave Cl.u.s.ter to her. Don't worry about it Bryan could handle himself. Also, once I'm finished with the quest I'll quickly go and fetch her from Bryan." Souta said as he assured her.
"Right? I forgot about him." Lumilia said in a low voice. She was actually reluctant to leave Cl.u.s.ter with Bryan. She wasn't sure if Bryan knew how to take care of a child.
"Don't compare Cl.u.s.ter to other children. It's true that Cl.u.s.ter is a child but she's different from other children. Remember when we first met her. Up until now, she hasn't told us why those people were after her or how she managed to escape in the Desolate Woods where thousands of monsters live." Souta said to Lumilia. He looked at Lumilia and saw that she didn't say anything. He sighed and patted her shoulder. "Don't worry about it, I'll talk to Bryan."
Souta then walked away from her.
Lumilia lifted up her head and looked at Souta's back.
"You said..."