The Author's POV

The air around the room was tense. It felt suffocating. Almost as if I was stuck inside of a cramped room with no room to breathe.

The reason for such atmosphere?

Quietly sitting on my chair, a stunningly beautiful young girl with glossy black hair and porcelain white skin devoid of any imperfections, was curiously looking around my room.

Amanda stern.

Someone who I had never thought of interacting with privately.

Seeing her sit on my seat as if it was the most natural thing to do, my eyebrows twitched.

Just what did I do to deserve this?

...no, I knew why, I just wanted to deny reality.

Sighing, I spoke up to try to break the awkward atmosphere.

"Would you like green tea or water?"

Hearing my voice, Amanda's eyes paused on my face for a couple of seconds and after a short pause she said

"...green tea"

"Alright"

Heading to where my teapot was stashed, I took it out and poured steaming hot water into the pot.

After a couple of seconds, I took a bag filled with tea leaves and gently threw them into the pot.

While waiting for the tea to be ready, I turned around and noticed Amanda's obsidian black eyes staring at me.

Taken aback by her odd behavior, I asked

"...Need something?"

Hearing my voice and seeing that I had caught her red-handed, Amanda looked to the side and acted as if nothing happened as she lightly murmured.

"...Nothing"

Smiling, I looked back at the teapot.

What do you mean nothing? You were obviously staring at me!

Even a blind person could tell you were looking at me.

Pinching my brows, I decided to think about this in a positive way.

From the looks of things, it at least seemed that she had no hard feelings against me. Since I knew her personality well, I knew that if she were to have had a grudge against me, she would've avoided me at all costs.

Treating me as if I was nonexistent.

Seeing how she had actively come looking for me, I knew that she didn't hold what happened against me.

...so what did she come here for?

There was definitely a reason for her visit. I sort of had a hunch on what it was, but I wasn't too sure.

Most likely, she came to express her gratitude for saving her.

If so, I better get this over with fast. If someone found out 'the Amanda Stern' who was the talk of the academy was having a private meeting with a boy in his own room, I wouldn't even know how I died.

The fact that she was in my room meant that my life was in danger.

Sigh.

Just when I thought things weren't going to become more troublesome suddenly a new troublesome situation arose.

Looking at the water in the teapot that had started turning murky brown, I carefully removed the teapot from the heater and poured the tea into two porcelain teacups.

Walking back to where Amanda was seated, I handed the steaming hot teacup to her and sat in front of her.

"Thank you"

Taking the teacup with both hands, Amanda gently blew on the cup and took a sip.

Closing her eyes and savoring the taste of the tea, Amanda nodded slightly said

"...it's good"

"Thank you"

tea. It had a slightly bitter aftertaste that even after a couple of

you

that we couldn't just spend all the time drinking tea,

teacup down, Amanda's indifferent face stared

"...Thank you"

Frowning slightly, I said

"For what?"

"For saving me"

leaned back on my chair

ever recall helping

"Yo-.."

to answer, I cut

like you forgot what I had told

'..forget what you saw'

little bit. Her brows continuously knit

"I can't do that..."

teacup down.

her crystal black eyes that were looking back at

if you're really sorry then

Amanda sighed in

was visibly relieved by my

"Okay"

quickly went to

this, I couldn't help but bitterly

personality was just like

disliked owing

to feel indebted to anyone other than herself. No, it was

owed so that she wouldn't build any unrealistic expectations

5 million U

million U?

soon as I processed what she had said, I almost

what did you

and was looking at her with wide eyes,

5 million, not

mean that's

my hand, I immediately shut her

rich second generation kids treating money as if it

"...so 5 million okay?"

"Sigh, hold on"

my chair,

that much money, I could pretty much solve the problem of finding a

Amanda, an idea suddenly came into

ask for something else instead

lightly, the room temperature dropped and

that she was probably misunderstanding something,

am not asking for any dates or anything that is

Amanda's brows relaxed. Nodding

"...Okay"

relief,

you get me

"A sword art?"

request, Amanda looked at me

I was confused by her reaction, but remembering what

looking for something to disguise

"oh"

if she understood something,

misconception about my strength. In the end, I said nothing. I

solve the misunderstanding,

if she misunderstood or not. At the end of the day, she wasn't the type of person

Meaning that my

type of sword

a

would like a sword art that primarily

chin for a second, Amanda pondered

"How many stars?"

offering me around 5 million U, I guess something that went along

for a bit, Amanda scrolled through her phone

me have

holographic function on the phone, a long list of

what I got from the criteria that

of manuals, my mouth twitched. If I said I wasn't

master of the number one guild in

of resources and manuals that would cause anyone to turn green from