Who Needs Magic in a Fantasy World Anyway?

Chapter 54: Cheering Up

"It's terrible, Christina! We're going to be separated now!" Koko complained to her roommate later that night, holding her adventurer card in front of her as she watched her rank for any changes. "I'm even already rank eight-hundred and seven now! I'm doomed to be sent to some monster infested hamlet somewhere!"

"You're only that rank because that's how many students have dropped out of the academy. The headmaster hasn't even changed the system yet." Christina sighed in reply.

"Last is best!" Koko declared as she flopped down on her bed. "Besides, now that those cultists got all creepy at the end, I think I REALLY want to be in the capital with the hero now."

"So you say, but I wasn't even there..." Christina suddenly sounded depressed.

"Hey, you went off to fight a dragon while I just stayed behind and tried to train." Koko turned her head so that she could look her friend in the eyes. "If anything, I'm still mad about not being able to go with you. Though... Richard would have died if that had happened, so I guess it's a good thing."

"That's true, but you do have Magic Domination Immunity now, don't you?" Christina asked thoughtfully.

"Ah! That's right!" Koko couldn't help but raise her voice as she became excited. "From now on, whenever you're going on a subjugation, you'd better bring me along to! I'll watch your back!"

"Alright, thanks." Christina smiled warmly in reply. "It'll be good to have someone that I can trust there with me."

"Leave it to me!" Koko snickered, feeling ecstatic now that she could finally fight beside er friend. Yet another milestone in her new life has been accomplished! Well, it had the potential now at least, seeing as they haven't fought together yet.

"I'll be counting on you then." Christina laughed as well, though as soon as she stopped, Koko put away her adventurer card and started thinking about a more serious topic.

"But still, things must be really heard on Richard right now." Koko said in a concerned voice. "Not only was he about get tortured and sacrificed, but most of the people he cared about betrayed him."

"He'll certainly have a lot to think about, though I wouldn't worry about the cult that much." Christina agreed. "Now that he knows that they're after him, I very much doubt he'll let something like that happen again."

"Yeah, he is pretty strong, I guess..." Koko sighed. "But still, I can't help but feel like it's somehow my fault. After all, those girls did only target him once he started talking to me, and then he even moved in front of a bolt of lightning to protect me..."

"Koko... you didn't become a member of his harem, did you?" Christina asked in shock.

"No! Of course not!" Koko replied in a disgruntled manner. "It's just... the way he did it makes me feel really guilty."

"If you're that concerned about it, then why don't you do something to cheer him up?" Christina asked.

"He's a womanizer. I fear that anything I could do to help him would either stain my honor or make me hate myself." Koko replied in frustration. "Though... maybe if the line isn't crossed, there is one thing that I know will definitely cheer him up. Though, I'll hate myself afterwards."

"If it's something you'll regret, then don't do it." Christina shrugged.

"No... I think I can live with it, and from what I've learned about him, it'll definitely cheer him up." Koko replied while steeling her resolve. "But I'll need to get the proper equipment for it. Besides, there some stuff I want to talk to him about, so doing this will solve two things at once."

"Do you need help?" Christina asked.

"I would never forgive myself if I allowed you to do the stunt that I'm about to pull. You're much to innocent." Koko laughed slightly. "But thanks anyway."

"Is it that lewd?" Christina asked in horror.

"Hey! I said it wouldn't be crossing the line and it's not really lewd at all!" Koko defended her idea, though she wasn't even sure if she should seeing as she was still on the fence about doing it or not. "But it's not going to happen any time soon. First of all, I'll need to send a letter home and ask them for the proper equipment."

"Are you sure that it will be worth it? He may have gotten over it by the time you get a response." Christina wondered.

"This is both to help him get over his betrayal as well as ease my guilt of him almost dying over me." Koko replied. "Don't worry, it'll be fine."

"If you insist." Christina sighed before the conversation ended there and both of them got ready for bed. Though even after Christina blew out the light, Koko was still awake for another hour as she wondered if she was really prepared to do what she was planning. After all, normally it would be a member of a harem that would do it, but she certainly wasn't planning that. He was a friend, nothing more and nothing less. And cheering him back was was what a friend would do.

Waking up the next morning, Koko sent a letter back home before going through all of her classes just as she had always did until she received some shocking news. Though, everyone in the academy received the news at the same time as they all had to once again go through the magical ability scanning because the headmaster had changed the system to judge on overall stats rather than just MP. And after her turn of scanning, Koko looked down at her adventurer card in shock as she saw the change.

Name: Koko Cryner

Dorm: C-12

Class: 1

Rank: 3

"Rank three?!" Koko asked in shock as she saw the number, making her unsure of how she should feel as she was both proud that her work was being recognized as well as fearful that she would be separated from Christina. And with her sudden announcement, the students all around her suddenly started talking to each other, some of them seeming to become suspicious of show she'd ranked up with others suddenly getting stars in their eyes while looking at her. Though now that she saw them, everyone who had stars in their eyes were the people who had seen her train.

"I knew it! I knew that she wasn't weak!" One of the guys from her class shouted out. "You guys all watched her carry those logs, right? There's no way that someone ranked last could do that! Heck, even I can't do it now!"

With his words, it seemed as if the gossip erupted in the room and her new rank and fame would spread even if she tried to stop it. And so, Koko sighed to herself, dragging her feet again as she headed back to class where everything was normal again. This continued for an entire week before Koko suddenly heard a knock on her dorm room's door and she opened it with a smile, accepting the package that had come in the mail.

"Good Ol' Jazzy, she always delivers!" Koko smiled before she looked over the contents of the package and took a deep breath. After all, talking about doing something a week in advance felt entirely different than actually preforming it. And even now, Koko felt a lump of nervousness catch in her chest before she reached inside and lifted the fabric so that she could see the entire thing.

Knowing that today was one of their free days and that Christina was still in Goldgate handling the aftereffects of Father Celdric's incident, Koko took another deep breath as she knew that she would have to move that night or not at all. And now that it was almost time, wondered if Richard would even appreciate what she was doing for him now before she started changing her outfits. Wait, no! He had better appreciate this, because if he didn't then Koko grew determined that she would make him feel just as much pain as she was feeling from embarrassment.