55. The Curse of Puberty

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'Though it's really surprising that I have only seen them today and not in Clover Castle yet,' Akeru thought about this discrepancy.

"You guys should chill more. Why so serious?" a scarlet-haired girl said while taking a bite of the cake on her plate.

"Erza, that's why you are still Second-Class. With that attitude, it's very hard to rise in rank," Sujin said coldly.

"Heh, I don't think having a stick up your ass is really necessary to climb up the ladder," the girl retorted.

Akeru glanced at the only redhead in the room.

'Erza Doughnut, Second Class Senior Knight, 17 years old, Blue Rose. Though I have a feeling that I have seen her before,' Akeru's eyes met Erza's, the latter smiling.

"I look forward to our future encounters," she said with the same smile.

'Wait, that phrasing, is it just me? No, don't show it, don't show it, uhh- Bystander's Magic: Still Spectator.'

Akeru was really thankful for this spell today, which could help him think multiple times faster than usual, thus he could use that time to calm down and thus make him not show any undesirable expressions on his face.

He did this by focusing on something else, generally mental processes—like analyzing a spar he had before or analyzing an array design, and seeing how it could be broken.

"Y-Yeah, same," Akeru said while looking at other people present in the room.

'Her smile is really dangerous. It makes me feel something else. If I didn't know what her magic was beforehand, I would have thought it was something related to charm,' Akeru thought while internally adding Erza to the list of people he needed to be cautious around.

His gaze went to the familiar cyan-coloured individual.

"I think we have met before, but let me formally introduce myself. I am Fuyumi Vail, and it's my pleasure to work with you," Fuyumi said in the same stoic phrase she had used before.

It felt like she was reading a script.

"Yeah," Akeru nodded.

"Sooo... Do we really have to do introductions? I would rather sleep," a voice said from beside Akeru, followed by a yawn.

Akeru stiffened.

There was a reason he hadn't looked directly to his left and was actively ignoring his peripheral vision in that direction.

Unfortunately, he couldn't continue to do that as it would give the wrong message.

"Tsukimi, didn't you sleep since the battle ended? Actually, where were you during the battle? I didn't get any report from your area," Rill said, his eyes narrowing.

"Uhh, Captain, it was too chaotic for me to remember all the details, so I can't make a report, but rest assured, nobody died or got seriously injured," the purple-haired girl quickly said.

'Tsukimi Astarte, Aqua Deer, Third Class Senior Knight. Her hair is so beautiful; I wonder if there is a way to make my hair purple too,' Akeru wondered while using Still Spectator to observe her hair.

'Though, now that I look at her properly, I feel sleepy. That does align with her magic, though I don't sense any use of mana. Is it a kind of passive effect, or is it just how she was from the beginning?' Akeru wondered.

Akeru deactivated his spell just as the girl in question looked at him.

"Well, you probably know who I am. If not, then the captain would provide our case files. I hope that your arrival will help us slack off—I mean reduce our workload." One of her half-closed eyes, which seemed ready to shut fully at any time, winked at her last statement before her head plopped down on the table.

She went to dreamland instantly.

"Yeah," I said with a deadpan. 'I think she would be more fitting as a member of the Coral Peacock, though if she actually becomes the Vice-Captain, then I don't think that squad would be functional anymore.'

Akeru averted his eyes from the last girl in the room.

'Is it just me, or do all female Senior Magic Knights seem to be this dangerous? It's quite hard not to stare.'

Akeru in this life, after turning 12, had only met a handful of female members.

The most interaction he had would be with Mimosa and then Noelle, though both were just kids, so Akeru didn't feel much even when he started seeing changes of puberty.

Due to not meeting anybody's gaze in the Vermillion Estate to avoid trouble initially and not getting much time later, he hadn't properly observed the "matured women."

Unfortunately for him, when he was near the peak of his rising hormones, he had to see not only mature women but also mature women whose bodies were dangerous enough to affect Akeru—both physically and emotionally.

'Is it due to them being nobles, or is it due to the high density of mana in them?' Akeru thought while trying to recall anything he had read related to this.

Though mana does have some significant contribution to how one looks, and nobles generally tend to be more "beautiful," so in this case, it's likely to be both contributors.

'The curse of puberty is real. It seems those otaku-senpais from my previous world who seemed to simp on their waifus were correct after all. Though I have adapted to this world's beauty standards to not simp on anybody, I would be lying if I said I am not affected,' Akeru thought while his gaze went once again to the redhead.

'No, I must stare at boys instead, so that they would think that I am analyzing people irrespective of their genders.'

With that, Akeru looked at one raven-haired male.

"I am Kaiser Claymore, and I am really excited to work with you."

"Same," Akeru replied with a smile.

'Though, this guy is the only one who actually surprised me when I read everyone's file here. What are the chances that we would meet again?'

Akeru internally giggled as he looked at the youth who was wearing a Green Praying Mantis outfit.

Akeru had fought with him when he was 12 years old, just before having his first meeting with Yami.

It was also the same fight in which he had learned to partially use his Ki-sense.

So, he was naturally grateful to Kaiser for that, though he didn't really like the way they had met, as any wrong move from Akeru would have possibly led to his demise.

Though this whole situation was created due to a misunderstanding, Akeru had mixed feelings about Kaiser, though he wouldn't let that affect him when he interacted with him.

'At least, I hope I am unbiased,' Akeru internally smiled wryly and moved on to the next person.

"I am Ren, and I look forward to our cooperation," another raven-head said briefly.

"The feeling is mutual," Akeru nodded at that.

'Ren Dove, Coral Peacock, 22 years old, First Class Senior Knight. Now that I think about it, we do have a lot of First Class people here.'

"Well, it seems I am the last, though I don't mind. I am Gastric, and I would be happy as long as you perform your duties well."

"Indeed," Akeru nodded.

'Gastric Akuma, 25 years old—the oldest one here, Purple Orca.' Akeru didn't really think much about the rude greeting he got.

He wasn't really expecting only one person to act this way, as he was prepared for everyone looking at him like that—openly.

'Well, it seems whoever gave Rill this batch was thoughtful about how Rill would handle this, as he has got a diverse variety of people here who would mostly listen to him,' Akeru hummed as he gave another glance to everyone in the room.

"So, now that we are done with the introductions, let's move on to the main topic of our meeting," Rill said while drawing everyone's attention.

"We will be starting off with the number of casualties and how many people were severely injured."

The mood of the room instantly darkened.

'What a way to start,' Akeru thought while looking at the various types of emotions he could observe in the people in this room.

Akeru looked at the bundle of papers sitting in front of him.

Everyone sitting at the table had the same so that they could follow at their own pace and see through it if they missed something.

"We had 67 deaths, and 95 severely injured people who can't continue serving at this front anymore."

***

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